Uppsala Southern Schmidt Telescope

The Uppsala Southern Schmidt Telescope features a 0.5-meter diameter lens and operates at an elevation of 1150 meters in New South Wales.

The telescope moved from Mount Stromlo Observatory to Siding Spring Observatory in 1982 to escape increasing light pollution from Canberra.

Scientists used this telescope to capture the first astronomical photographs of Sputnik 1, the world's first artificial satellite, in October 1957.

Researchers employed the telescope's wide-angle survey camera to develop over two thousand photographic plates of the Southern Milky Way and Magellanic Clouds.

The instrument contributed to the discovery of comet C/2006 P1, which became the brightest comet observed in more than four decades.

Location: New South Wales

Elevation above the sea: 1,150 m

Diameter: 0.5 m

Part of: Siding Spring Observatory

Website: http://mso.anu.edu.au/~rmn

GPS coordinates: -31.27333,149.06444

Latest update: June 6, 2025 23:27