MOUNT STROMLO OBSERVATORY

Walter Geoffrey Duffield, an astronomer and scientist specializing in the field of the Sun, had campaigned for an observatory in Australia in 1905! It had thus proposed the establishment of a Commonwealth Solar Observatory (CSO) to address Australia's delay in this area. A first telescope, named Oddie (name of the patron who gave it), was installed in 1911 at Stromlo Mountain in order to perform the first tests to verify the quality of the site. The atmospheric conditions are excellent, and the proximity of the Australian capital to the capital, Stromlo, was definitely chosen for the construction of the future observatory. After delays in the outbreak of the First World War, the Commonwealth Solar Observatory was established in 1924 within the Commonwealth Interior Ministry. Over time, new buildings were built (residences, workshops…) and new instruments deployed. Unfortunately, in the 1950 ' s and 1960' s, the growing development of Canberra and its consequent luminous pollution affected the quality of the observations on the site on a lasting basis! It became increasingly clear that the construction of a new observatory, in a much better area, would impose… The decision was made to build the famous Siding Spring Observatory near Coonabarabran. The story could have remained there, but it was counting without the great fires of 2003 that devastated large areas around Canberra, including the observatory, its telescopes, its workshops and some of its valuable archives! It was therefore necessary to launch a major reconstruction project, taking into account the security requirements of the site and the modernization of observation techniques… Thus a Precision Engineering Center was built to enable the manufacture and engineering of instrumentation, as well as a Center of Instrumentation and Advanced Technology for assembly, integration and testing of precision instruments and small spacecraft. An exceptional tool that is intelligently developed and translates into partnerships with large international observatories, especially in Chile.