In 1962 the newly completed radio telescope at Parkes, N.S.W., Australia (aka The Dish) played an important role in defining the characteristics of the recently discovered strong radio source 3C273, soon to be called a QUASAR.
The problem was, the resolution of radio astronomy at the time, didn’t have arc-second positioning precision to allow identification of the source in the optical wavelength. However a series of Lunar Occultations of the radio source was identified and The Dish was in an ideal spot to observe. The observations were successful (after hacksaw modifications of the new telescope) and a position was determined. The optical source was identified as a 13th mag star-like object, and a red-shift of 0.158 was determined.
Out of this galaxy!
Sixty years later there is to be another lunar occultation of 3C273 visible from Parkes and CSIRO Space and Astronomy have decided to broadcast the event and in real-time. The event is to occur Sunday morning 20th Feb, 1:23am – 1:43am AEDT (UTC 19 Feb 14:23 to 14:42) and a historic chart recorder has been resurrected in the hope to see the spectacular Fresnel diffraction pattern as the source is occulted and in the method and circumstances of the 1962 occultations.
Anybody remotely interested in Astronomy and Science has got to see this… Here is the url…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOrkMKp__BE
