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Radio telescope Tasmania
Hi
Interesting post. Many people don't know about the pioneering work of Grote Reber. He was the worlds first radio astronomer and after pioneering the field in the USA he migrated to Tasmania in 1954 where he set up a facility with the University of Tasmania. In the 1960's he built a 1km2 array on his property near Bothwell on the lower Central Plateau north of Hobart. I remember seeing the posts and wires of his construction in the 1980's but never took a photograph. The attached image from 1975 is taken from the open access Tasmanian State Goverment collection. I think that until quite recently the Bothwell array was the largest (not the most powerful) radio telescope array in the world. Quite a wonder. Much of his equipment, including his radio-shack, is on display at the Mt Pleasant Observatory at Cambridge (near Hobart Airport). Whatever is left at Bothwell should be nominated as a historically significant site in my opinion.
Ian
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