Overview

The Culgoora Solar Observatory is located 25 km west of the town of Narrabri, in north-west New South Wales. The observatory conducts continuous optical and radio observations of the sun every day of the year.

Please note that this site is off-line until further notice due to loss of power.

Observing instrumentation includes:

• a single mount carrying three telescopes with cameras: one for H-alpha, one for calcium K, and one for white light, used to observe solar flares and other phenomena
• a 30 cm heliostat, used to observe sunspot evolution
• a solar radiospectrograph which sweeps through a frequency range of 18 - 1800 MHz every three seconds, used to monitor solar radio bursts

Regular reports and forecasts of solar activity are transmitted to the Australian Space Forecast Centre in Sydney and are disseminated to similar organisations internationally. Particularly significant solar outbursts are reported to a wide range of interested parties around the world within minutes of their occurrence.