The Australia Telescope National Facility The Australia Telescope National Facility

The Australia Telescope National Facility (ATNF) operates the Australia Telescope, a set of eight individual radio telescopes, as a national research facility for use by Australian and international researchers.

Six of the telescopes make up the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA), located at the Paul Wild Observatory near the town of Narrabri. Each of these antennas has a reflecting surface with a diameter of 22 metres. A further 22-metre antenna, known as the Mopra telescope, is located near Coonabarabran.

The Australia Telescope also includes the Parkes 64-metre radio telescope. This telescope has been successfully operated since 1961. Recent upgrades to accommodate a 13-beam focal plane array have maintained its world-class position as a state-of-the-art instrument.

The eight telescopes can be used together as a Long Baseline Array (LBA) for a technique known as Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI).

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➼ www.narrabri.atnf.csiro.au

➼ www.parkes.atnf.csiro.au