I just thought I'd bring this to your attention, if it hasn't already been mentioned here. A recent study has shown that the 30-plus-year-old Anglo-Australian Telescope is ranked number one in the world for a telescope of its class (ie. 4m) based on two important criteria, and it ranks number five out of ALL telescopes -- ground- or space-based -- on those same criteria. Pretty fantastic.
Hi Jonathan,
It is great news that the AAT is still held in such high esteem and is still so productive. It really is essential, I think, to have a world class optical telescope in this country.
Although it is good to have an interest in Gemini, I think as a matter of national pride, we should still have our own major instrument in Australia.
Australian's have made such significant contributions to astronomy, particularly radio astronomy that we need our government to support a major prescience in this field.
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