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Exterior of the 74-inch

This is the largest telescope at Mount Stromlo (1.9m) and is used for spectroscopic work.

Close-up of the 74-inch slit

This picture was taken at one of the MSO Open Days. We have an Open Day once a year and on that day visitors are able to look through the 74-inch telescope which is pointed at a bright star or planet.

The 74-inch telescope

Note the size of the mounting and counter-weight. This telescope was built in the 1950's when large, heavy and expensive mountings and domes were the best way to build a telescope. These days, computer controlled telescopes can be built in such a way that such large domes and mounts are not required.

Exterior of the 50-inch

This is the telescope used by the MACHO team in their search for dark matter in our Galaxy. For more information and pictures, click here

The 30-inch telescope

This telescope is also known as the Reynold's telescope and has recently been refurbished to be used for photometric work by the MACHO team.

The Yale-Columbia telescope

The Yale-Columbia is a 26-inch refractor used exclusively for astrometric work (stars positions and movement). This picture shows as much of the telescope as you can fit into a 28mm wide-angle lens :-)

The main administration building

This building was one of the first constructed at Mount Stromlo. It once housed all the staff at the Observatory. These days it provides offices for our administration staff, drawing office and library. The dome seen in the picture holds the Farnham 6-inch refracting telescope which is still occasionally used today for simple star-gazing.

The courtyard

This is where Stromlo staff meet for morning/afternoon tea and lunch.

View from Stromlo

Hot-air balloons seen at dawn from Stromlo. Canberra hosts the National Balloon Festival as part of the Canberra Festival each year and I managed to drag myself out of bed one morning to see it. It's not unusual to have a balloon land in someone's front yard at this time of the year. The tower in the photo is the Telstra Tower on top of Black Mountain. The tower is one of Canberra's main landmarks and gives great views from the revolving restaurant.

Some of the local fauna

A fine example of the Hairy-Nosed Wombat. Note the slightly aggressive posture - don't mess with this bloke! If you look carefully, you might also see the rare and very shy Bearded Dragon lurking in the bushes.