Mount Pleasant Radio Observatory

The Mount Pleasant Radio Observatory is a radio astronomy based observatory owned and operated by University of Tasmania, located 20 km east of Hobart in Cambridge, Tasmania. It is home to three radio astronomy antennas and the Grote Reber Museum.EquipmentThe observatory has three radio telescopes: the Mount Pleasant 26 metre antenna, the 14 metre Vela Antenna and a 12-metre AuScope VLBI Antenna. The Observatory is linked to the University of Tasmania's Hobart campus with a 25 km fibre optic cable, installed in 2007.The 14 m Vela telescope was constructed in 1981 as a dedicated instrument for observation of the Vela Pulsar. The telescope has tracked the pulsar 18 hours a day, nearly continuously for over 20 years.The 26 metre Radio dish came from the Orroral Valley Tracking Station, ACT, where it was used as a satellite tracker within the Spacecraft Tracking and Data Acquisition Network and then for support to NASA manned missions. The 26 metre telescope is used in Australia's very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) network.Other TelescopesThe University of Tasmania also operates three other radio astronomy antennas: the 30 metre Ceduna Radio Observatory (SA) and two additional AuScope 12 metre antennas at Katherine (NT) and Yaragadee (WA).