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Observing

40-inch Historical Overview

In the early 1960s, the Australian National University established a new astronomical site at Siding Spring in central New South Wales, partly in the expectation that it would provide somewhat clearer skies than those at Mount Stromlo, and partly to escape the increasing light pollution of the growing Canberra. The selection of Siding Spring followed an extensive site-testing programme organized by the then Director, Bart Bok. The new site was instrumented with three reflectors of modest size, all made by Boller & Chivens. The 40-inch is the largest of these, the other two being a 24-inch and a 16-inch. It has proved a useful instrument especially for photometric and imaging work.