Visitors Guide to the Mopra Antenna

The Mopra antenna is located in the beautiful scenery of the Warrumbungles National Park.

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Introduction

The Mopra 22-m antenna is operated by the CSIRO, but funded through contracts with interested users. On its own, it is used for single-dish observations, particularly at millimetre wavelengths. It is occasionally used together with ATNF (Australia Telescope National Facility) antennas (the six 22-m dishes at Narrabri, and the 64-m Parkes dish) as part of the Australian Long Baseline Array.

Observing time is managed by users who purchase telescope time from CSIRO. For information on how to access time on the Mopra telescope, please make contact at the details below.

The Mopra antenna is situated about 20 km west of the town of Coonabarabran, which is nearly 500km north-west of Sydney. It is on the eastern edge of the Warrumbungle National Park, and about 4 km due east of the Siding Spring Observatory (a lot more by winding road). It was called the Mopra antenna after Mopra Rock (elevation > 1000 m) which is about 2 km south-west of the telescope and can be seen as you approach from Coonabarabran.

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Remote Operation

Operation from a remote location or the Science Operations Centre (SOC) in Marsfield are now the default observing modes for Mopra.

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Visiting the Mopra Antenna

All visits to the Mopra Antenna must first have approval from the Narrabri Site Leader. Please make contact using the details below.

The Mopra site consists of the antenna and a control building which are not accessible to the public.

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Contacting The Mopra Observatory

For information on Mopra please contact the Paul Wild Observatory, Narrabri:

The Australia Telescope National Facility, CSIRO
1828 Yarrie Lake Rd
Narrabri NSW 2390
Australia
email:narrabri@atnf.csiro.au
tel: +61 2 6790 4000

Control Room at Mopra: +61 2 6849 1801 (normally not monitored)
Mopra desk in the SOC: +61 2 9372 4648

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Last updated: Peter Mirtschin (5 November 2017)