Zadko Observatory is an astronomical observatory (obs. code: D20) located within the Wallingup Plain in the Gingin shire, Western Australia. It is owned and operated by the University of Western Australia.
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| Organization | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Observatory code | D20  | ||||
| Location | Gingin, Western Australia, Shire of Gingin, Australia | ||||
| Coordinates | 31°21′31.4″S 115°42′47.2″E / 31.358722°S 115.713111°E | ||||
| Altitude | 50 m (160 ft) | ||||
| Website | www | ||||
| Telescopes | |||||
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  Location of Zadko Observatory | |||||
History
editThe Zadko Observatory was created in 2008 to host the Zadko Telescope,[1] a 1.0m instrument donated to the University of Western Australia by James Zadko,[2] CEO of Claire Energy.[3] It was then expanded to fit several other instruments in 2011. The Observatory is located close to the Australian Interferometer Gravitational Observatory. The original construction cost AUD 1 million.[4]
Observations are performed robotically every night, and have led to various important results, such as the observation of the first detected counterpart of a gravitational wave source, GW170817.[5][6]
Instruments
editThe observatory operates one robotic 1.0-metre Cassegrain telescope for scientific studies. In addition, the observatory hosts several instruments operated by private companies.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Western Australia's Zadko telescope opens". April 2009. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
- ^ "The Benefactor Wall – Giving". campaign.uwa.edu.au.
- ^ Coward, D.; et al. (January 2017). "The Zadko Telescope: Exploring the transient Universe". Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia. 34. Publication of the Astronomical Society of Australia. arXiv:1609.06445. Bibcode:2017PASA...34....5C. doi:10.1017/pasa.2016.61. S2CID 85440948.
- ^ "State's largest telescope installed". WAtoday. 10 July 2008.
- ^ Andreoni, I.; et al. (December 2017). "Follow Up of GW170817 and Its Electromagnetic Counterpart by Australian-Led Observing Programmes". Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia. 34. Publication of the Astronomical Society of Australia. arXiv:1710.05846. Bibcode:2017PASA...34...69A. doi:10.1017/pasa.2017.65. S2CID 54027251.
- ^ Abbott, B.P.; et al. (October 2017). "Multi-messenger Observations of a Binary Neutron Star Merger". The Astrophysical Journal. 848 (2). The American Astronomical Society: L12. arXiv:1710.05833. Bibcode:2017ApJ...848L..12A. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/aa91c9.
