Zadko Observatory

Observatory

Location of Zadko Observatory

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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.

History

The 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

The observatory operates one robotic 1.0-metre Cassegrain telescope for scientific studies. In addition, the observatory hosts several instruments operated by private companies.

References

^ "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.