Australian Sky & Telescope - June 2018

16 AUSTRALIAN SKY & TELESCOPE July 2018

historyoftheAustralianAstronomical

Observatory (AAO).

Until2010,AAOwasthe

Anglo-Australian Observatory, a

UK-Australian institution with joint

fundingthatwasfrequentlyheld

up as an exemplary international

collaboration. Following the UK’s

withdrawal from the agreement in

2010,theObservatorybecamea

divisionoftheAustralianGovernment’s

sciencedepartment,whichtodayisthe

Department of Industry, Innovation

andScience(DIIS).Thatmetamorphosis

leftthekeyfunctionsoftheoldAAO

intact; namely, the operation of the

3.9-m Anglo-Australian Telescope

(AAT)and1.2-mUKSchmidt

Telescope(UKST)atSidingSpring

Observatory near Coonabarabran, and

the Observatory’s headquarters and

technologyandfacilitiesbaseinSydney.

TheadventofAustralia’spartnership

withESOdrawsalineunderthis

chapterintheAAO’shistory,and

theDIISoperatingmodelwillcome

toanendonJune30,2018.What

willreplaceitisamovefromthe

government to the research sector,

with the Coonabarabran and Sydney

operations moving into two different

OBSERVATORIES

S RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME The Anglo-Australian Observatory (as it was known in 1987)

was perfectly placed to study supernova 1987A. This was the brightest supernova seen in

almost 400 years, and was best observed from the Southern Hemisphere.

S NEW VISTAS The deal with the European Southern Observatory gives Australian

astronomers access to world-leading facilities in Chile, including the four, 8.2-metre telescopes

of ESO’s Very Large Telescope.

DAVID MALIN/AAO