The Australian National Radio Astronomy
Observatory was the first observatory (1971) to detect the organic molecules thioformaldehyde
and formaldimine in interstellar matter. Located near Parkes, New South Wales, its 64-m (210-ft) radio
antenna, commissioned in 1961, can operate at wavelengths as short as 1.35 cm and is guided by a computer. The antenna has since become part of a much larger radio array known as the Australia Telescope (AT). The core of the AT, dedicated in 1988 and called the Compact Array, consists of six rail-mounted 22-m (72-ft) radio dishes at Culgoora. The eventual intent is to span Australia with other such antennas to form a very long baseline array.