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The Contribution of the Division of Radiophysics Dapto Field Station to Solar Radio Astronomy, 1952–1964

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Highlighting the History of Astronomy in the Asia-Pacific Region

Part of the book series: Astrophysics and Space Science Proceedings ((ASSSP))

Abstract

By the early 1960s the Solar Group within the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation’s Division of Radiophysics had established an international reputation for solar research, largely through the achievements of Paul Wild and his collaborators at the Division’s Dapto field station south of Sydney. This paper describes the innovative instruments found at this field station, the ways in which they were used to unravel many of the mysteries surrounding different types of radio bursts from the Sun, and some of the reasons for the success of the Dapto team.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    All three authors of this paper were very familiar with the developments that occurred at Dapto during the life of this field station. Stewart and Orchiston were members of the CSIRO’s Division of Radiophysics Solar Group from 1965 to 1988 and 1962 to 1968, respectively, and worked on Dapto projects. Slee joined the Division of Radiophysics in 1946 and subsequently transferred to the Australia Telescope National Facility and later the Division of Astronomy and Space Sciences when these groups were formed in 1988 and 2009, respectively. Today he continues to conduct research as an Honorary Fellow of the latter group. Whilst never a member of the Solar Group, he maintained an interest in the work of this group and published a number of papers on the nature of the outer corona.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science Division for supplying images from the ATNF Historic Photographic Archive.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Astronomy, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, 4811, Australia

    Ronald Stewart

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  1. Ronald Stewart
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  2. Wayne Orchiston
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  3. Bruce Slee
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Correspondence to Ronald Stewart .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Astronomy, James Cook University, Townsville, 4811, Queensland, Australia

    Wayne Orchiston

  2. Higashi-Ikebukuro 2-51-4, Toshima, 170-0013, Japan

    Tsuko Nakamura

  3. ASTRON, P.O. Box 2, AA Dwingeloo, 7990, Netherlands

    Richard G. Strom

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Stewart, R., Orchiston, W., Slee, B. (2011). The Contribution of the Division of Radiophysics Dapto Field Station to Solar Radio Astronomy, 1952–1964. In: Orchiston, W., Nakamura, T., Strom, R. (eds) Highlighting the History of Astronomy in the Asia-Pacific Region. Astrophysics and Space Science Proceedings. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-8161-5_18

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