Dover Heights Research Articles

THE ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF EXTRAGALACTIC RADIO ASTRONOMY: THE ROLE OF THE CSIRO'S DIVISION OF RADIOPHYSICS DOVER HEIGHTS FIELD STATION IN SYDNEY

Initial post-war developments in non-solar radio astronomy were inspired by Hey, Phillips and Parson's report in 1946 of an intense source of radio emission in Cygnus. This so-called 'radio star' was unique, and questions immediately were raised about its true nature. But it did not remain unique for long. Observing from Sydney, John Bolton, Gordon Stanley and Bruce Slee followed up the Cygnus discovery with more radio star detections, beginning what would evolve into a long-term multi-faceted research program and one of the mainstays of the CSIRO's Division of Radiophysics. But more than this, these early discoveries in England and in Sydney opened up a whole new field of investigation, extragalactic radio astronomy, which has remained a major area of investigation through to the present day. This paper focusses on the early years of this program when the observations were carried out at Dover Heights Field Station in Sydney, and the ways in which new developments in instrumentation that allowed a major expansion of the program eventually led to the closure of Dover Heights and the founding of the Fleurs Field Station.

JOHN BOLTON AND THE DISCOVERY OF DISCRETE RADIO SOURCES

John Bolton was born in Sheffield in 1922 and educated at Cambridge University. After wartime service in the Royal Navy, in 1946 he joined the CSIRO's Radiophysics Laboratory in Sydney and began work in the fledgling field of radio astronomy. Radio emission from our Galaxy had been discovered and studied during the 1930s by the Americans Karl Jansky and Grote Reber. It was thought that the emission emanated from interstellar space, but the mechanism was unknown. In June 1947, observing from Dover Heights near the entrance to Sydney Harbour, Bolton discovered that strong emission from the constellation of Cygnus came from a discrete point-like source. By the end of the year, with colleagues Gordon Stanley and Bruce Slee (a co-author of this paper), Bolton had discovered a further five of these discrete sources. However, the positions measured for them were not accurate enough to allow them to be identified optically with any known celestial objects. In 1948 Bolton organised a three-month expedition to New Zealand where there were observing sites superior to the one at Dover Heights. The new observations gave more accurate positions and allowed Bolton to identify three of the sources: one was a supernova remnant in our Galaxy and two were unusual extragalactic objects. This paper will document this remarkable chapter in the development of twentieth century astronomy.

Early Australian Optical and Radio Observations of Centaurus A

AbstractThe 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.

Ingenuity and initiative in Australian radio astronomy: the Dover Heights 'hole-in-the ground' antenna

During the 1950s staff from the CSIRO's Division of Radiophysics based at the Dover Heights field station employed ingenuity and initiative in response to a lack of funding and support for a new radio telescope. In order to obtain the requisite aperture for the resolution sought they spent their own time excavating a 21.9-m parabolic depression in the sand at the field station, and when the viability of this prototype transit instrument was established its diameter was increased to 24.4 m, making this the largest radio telescope in Australia at the time. Operating at 400 MHz, this instrument was employed to map the galactic centre region and in a search for new discrete sources. It also was used to investigate polarization in the plane of the Galaxy, and in an unsuccessful search for the newly-proposed deuterium line. Today the Dover Heights hole-in-the-ground antenna lies buried beneath Rodney Reserve, and there is little at this public playing field to remind visitors of the important contributions made by this radio telescope, and others at this site, during the formative years of Australian radio astronomy.

Using Contingent Valuation to Estimate Environmental Improvements Associated with Wastewater Treatment

The contingent valuation method is a stated preference technique that can be used to estimate non-market values in the economic evaluation of alternative public sector policies. The method is often employed to generate estimates of willingness to pay (WTP) values for a range of alternative policy options. Dichotomous choice contingent valuation surveys have sought to estimate the value of multiple options using a single sample of the population. Such an approach may be open to framing effects and the WTP estimates for the different options may be cross-correlated. In order to derive robust and independent estimates of the community's willingness to pay for different options, separate sampling of the population for each option being considered is desirable. However, this approach can rapidly escalate surveying costs. A compromise, which appears to have some merit, is to undertake full sampling for one of the options being evaluated and then sample at only one bid level for the other options. This permits a willingness to pay bid function to be estimated for the fully sampled option and shifts in the function to be inferred for the other options. An application of this approach to sewage treatment and disposal options for the Vaucluse, Diamond Bay, Dover Heights and Watsons Bay area in Sydney is reported in this paper. One potential problem with this approach, the case of nonparallel shifts in the bid curve, is briefly examined.

Recollections of John G Bolton at Dover Heights and Caltech

Personal recollections are presented by the author of the commencement of galactic and extragalactic radio astronomy at Dover Heights and the design and construction of the California Institute of Technology's Owens Valley Interferometer.

John Bolton ? Some Early Memories

A review is given of a long collaborative association with J. G. Bolton and his colleagues, first in 1948 at the Dover Heights station of the CSIRO Division of Radiophysics, followed by joint visits to European astronomical institutions, and later in at the California Institute of Technology, to which Bolton had been appointed to institute a radio-astronomy program in the Department of Astrophysics.

Some Memories of the Dover Heights Field Station, 1946?1954

The author describes the first eight years of his astronomical career. His collaboration with John Bolton, Gordon Stanley, Kevin West fold and Dick McGee at the Dover Heights field station resulted in the detection and optical identification of the first radio sources outside the solar system. The first radio spectra, angular sizes and source variability measurements were made during this interval.

‘History of Australian Astronomy’:Radio Astronomy at Dover Heights

In this contribution, which is an expanded version of an invited lecture at the 1982 A.G.M. at Noosa Heads, the author recalls some of the early work in radio astronomy from Dover Heights.

HOUSE DUST MITES

Medical Journal of AustraliaVolume 1, Issue 17 p. 640-640b CORRESPONDENCE HOUSE DUST MITES BASIL WILLIAMS, BASIL WILLIAMS 169 Military Road, Dover Heights, N.S.W., 2030Search for more papers by this author BASIL WILLIAMS, BASIL WILLIAMS 169 Military Road, Dover Heights, N.S.W., 2030Search for more papers by this author First published: 01 July 1962 https://doi.org/10.5694/j.1326-5377.1976.tb140932.xAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume1, Issue17April 1976Pages 640-640b RelatedInformation