Swinburne Library Blog

Readers may be aware that Swinburne has just signed an MOU with Caltech which will see extensive collaboration in radio and optical astronomy over the next 5 yrs.* This will include access to the world's largest and most powerful optical telescope: the twin 10m telescopes of the W. M. Keck Observatory for up to 20 nights a year:

Then 1937

(From Article in the 1937 edition of Open Door, The Swinburne College magazine)

'On the roof of the Art School building, there is an iron structure which houses the Swinburne telescope (donated to the college in 1926). ** This instrument has not attracted very much attention from the students until this year when a group of determined students banded together and set about putting the instrument in working order.'

Now 2008

'We'll be able to start new research into the observation of galaxies and distant universes, quasars and the structure of the local universe,' he said.*

Then 1937

'Notable among things of interest which have been observed by the students in their nocturnal study of sytematical "telescopology"are the rings around Saturn, the satellites and markings of Jupiter, the craters on the moon and the polar caps on Mars.' **

Now 2008

Professor Karl Glazebrook, also an astronomer at Swinburne, believes the agreement will have a significant impact on the learning environment for astronomy students who will be able to access equipment that nobody in Australia has had access to before. *

Then 1960

(Listed in Special classes section of the 1960 edition of the Swinburne Technical College Handbook)

'Special classes - Astronomy ***

'Instructor: Mr J Long, A.M.T.C., M.S.R., M.I R.

'The class caters for beginners who wish to be able to recognise the various types of heavenly bodies and to know something of the methods by which astronomers have obtained their knowledge of these bodies. The College has an eighteen inch Newtonian telescope which is used in conjunction with the class.'

(Photograph available online from Swinburne Image Bank and through Picture Australia)

Now 2008

'Access to Keck's giant mirrors and state-of-the-art instruments is going to make an enormous difference,' he said.

'In particular, Keck has taken the lead in Adaptive Optics. This is where a laser beam is projected 90km into the Earth's atmosphere to create an artificial star. Astronomers can then use this star as a reference point, allowing them to compensate for atmospheric distortions and make corrections.' *

Then 1937

'The telescope itself is one of no mean size. The length of the barrel is eight feet and the diameter twenty-one inches. The instrument is a reflecting telescope, that is, based on the principles of reflected light.. Light coming from a heavenly body passes down the barrel in parallel rays and strikes upon a spherical mirror eighteen inches in diameter. This mirror is so made that when rays parallel to its principal axis, the centre line of the barrel,  strike its silvered surface, they are reflected back to converge at the focal point which is about six feet six inches from the mirror. This small flat mirror collects the light rays and reflects them at right angles to the principal axis at the eyepiece where the image is inspected.  The eyepiece is so arranged that magnifications from 50 to about 500 can be obtained.' **

**  From Article in the 1937 edition of Open Door, The Swinburne College magazine

*** Listed in Special classes section of the 1960 edition of the Swinburne Technical College Handbook