The Hobart 26-Metre Radio Telescope

Watch the Hobart 26-metre radio telescope in motion and read about how it travelled from Canberra to Tasmania.

The Hobart 26-metre radio telescope is located at the Mount Pleasant Radio Observatory about 20 km east of Hobart, Tasmania (Australia). The 26-metre radio telescope was originally built in 1964 at the Orroral Valley Tracking Station in the Australian Capital Territory near Canberra. First, it was used as a satellite tracker for low Earth orbit spacecraft. Later is was used to support NASA crewed missions. The University of Tasmania (UTAS) acquired the radio telescope from NASA for the symbolic price of $1. However, UTAS paid about $1 million to relocate and assemble it in Tasmania. Since then it was used for geodetic VLBI observing sessions.

This experimental AuScope science communication project was conducted in collaboration with Geoscience Australia and the University of Tasmania (UTAS).

It has been designed, created and produced by Dr David Schunck and Dr Lucia McCallum from the geodetic VLBI research group at the University of Tasmania.

All graphics and animations on this website may be used freely for educational and non-commercial purposes with appropriate attribution.