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The 50 Inch

The Great Melbourne Telescope

The 50" telescope on Mount Stromlo was originally the Great Melbourne Telescope. This telescope was built in 1868 and originally had a mirror made of speculum, an alloy of copper and tin.

The Great Melbourne Telescope was moved from Melbourne Observatory to Mount Stromlo in the late 1940's, where it was modified to use a glass mirror. It looked as it does in this picture until the 1990's. If you look closely, you can see one of the original speculum mirrors hanging on the wall in the background.

This is how the 50" looked after refurbishment in the early 1990's for use by the MACHO project which searched for evidence of Dark Matter in the Universe.

The 50" after the fire of January 18th 2003. Note: All images are copyright and must not be reproduced or mirrored in any form without written permission.