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Early Australian Optical and Radio Observations of Centaurus A

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2013

Peter Robertson ,
Glen Cozens ,
Wayne Orchiston ,
Bruce Slee  and
Harry Wendt
Peter Robertson*
Affiliation:
Centre for Astronomy, James Cook University, Townsville, Qld 4811, Australia
Glen Cozens
Affiliation:
Centre for Astronomy, James Cook University, Townsville, Qld 4811, Australia
Wayne Orchiston
Affiliation:
Centre for Astronomy, James Cook University, Townsville, Qld 4811, Australia
Bruce Slee
Affiliation:
Centre for Astronomy, James Cook University, Townsville, Qld 4811, Australia CSIRO Astronomy and Space Sciences, PO Box 76, Epping, NSW 2121, Australia
Harry Wendt
Affiliation:
Centre for Astronomy, James Cook University, Townsville, Qld 4811, Australia
*
CCorresponding author. Email: peter.robertson@jcu.edu.au
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Abstract

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The discovery of the radio source Centaurus A and its optical counterpart NGC 5128 were important landmarks in the history of Australian astronomy. NGC 5128 was first observed in August 1826 by James Dunlop during a survey of southern objects at the Parramatta Observatory, west of the settlement at Sydney Cove. The observatory had been founded a few years earlier by Thomas Brisbane, the new governor of the British colony of New South Wales. Just over 120 years later, John Bolton, Gordon Stanley and Bruce Slee discovered the radio source Centaurus A at the Dover Heights field station in Sydney, operated by CSIRO's Radiophysics Laboratory (the forerunner to CSIRO Astronomy and Space Sciences). This paper will describe this early historical work and summarize further studies of Centaurus A by other Radiophysics groups up to 1960.

Keywords

Centaurus ANGC 5128radio galaxieshistory of Australian astronomyParramatta ObservatoryRadiophysics Laboratory
Type
Research Article
Information
Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia , Volume 27 , Special Issue 4: The Many Faces of Centaurus A , 2010 , pp. 402 - 430
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of Australia 2010

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