Mayor Meets Anglo-Australian Telescope Board During Visit to Armagh

The Mayor of Armagh City and District, Councillor Charles Rollston, will on Sunday welcome the Anglo-Australian Telescope Board to the City of Armagh for its first ever meeting to be held at the Armagh Observatory. Members of the Board comprise three members from Australia and three from the UK, with the Chairperson alternating between the two countries.

The Anglo-Australian Telescope Board oversees operations of the Anglo-Australian Observatory on Siding Spring Mountain, New South Wales, where UK and Australian astronomers have access to some of the most advanced telescope technology in the world. The facilities include the 3.9-metre Anglo-Australian Telescope (see image) and the 1.2-metre UK Schmidt Telescope. Following their two-day meeting in Armagh, members of the Board will attend the Royal Astronomical Society UK National Astronomy Meeting, which this year is being held at Queen's University Belfast, with a record attendance of more than 600 astronomers.

Current members of the Board are Professor Warrick Couch, Swinburne University, Melbourne (Chair); Professor Stephen Warren, Imperial College, London; Professor Ian Chessell, formerly Australia's Chief Defence Scientist; Professor Sean Ryan, University of Hertfordshire; Dr Brian Schmidt, Mount Stromlo Observatory, Australian National University; and Dr Colin Vincent, UK Science and Technology Facilities Council.

The Board members have wide-ranging expertise in astrophysical instrumentation and techniques, and research interests ranging from the formation of the chemical elements to the origin of our Milky Way Galaxy, and extragalactic astronomy and cosmology.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: John McFarland at the Armagh Observatory, College Hill, Armagh, BT61 9DG. Tel.: 028-3752-2928; FAX: 028-3752-7174; jmfarm.ac.uk

Last Revised: 2008 March 31st

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