Mount Stromlo Observatory
Mount Stromlo Observatory (MSO) is the home of the ÃÛÌÒÊÓÆµResearch School of Astronomy and Astrophysics and is located on the lands of the Ngunnawal and Ngambri people. It is about 18km southwest of Canberra city in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). The ÃÛÌÒÊÓÆµMount Stromlo Observatory covers an area of 81 hectares on the summit of Canberra's Mt Stromlo.
The administrative centre, the offices of the astronomers and students, the mechanical, electronic and optical workshops, and the computer laboratories are located at MSO.
MSO was badly damaged in the 2003 Canberra bushfires, so there are no longer working research telescopes here. All of the telescopes are now located at Siding Spring Observatory. However, the reconstruction of MSO has included the development of the Advanced Instrumentation Technology Centre and rebuilding the heritage Commonwealth Solar Observatory building.
Aboriginal Heritage
The Ngunnawal people were the first observers of the stars from Mount Stromlo, as the night sky has been used by Aboriginal people for navigation, as a calendar and features in the stories of the Dreaming. The dark nebula of the Milky Way is indicative of the Emu in the Sky and the Pleiades star cluster represents the Seven Sisters. Archaeological evidence of celestial calendars made of rocks in Victoria and the unparalleled cultural epistemology of the Dreaming suggest that Aboriginal people were the world's first astronomers.
Archaeologists have found isolated and scattered artefacts of Aboriginal heritage in areas adjacent to Mount Stromlo. On the Stromlo Campus itself, two isolated unretouched flakes have been found (Faulkner 2004). These findings indicated a concentration of cultural matter on level ground, closer to river systems. The site is listed on the .
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- +61 2 6125 0230
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