• Home
  • Articles
    • Front Page
    • General Interest
    • Snippets
    • Mayoral Notes
    • Letters to the Editor
  • Competitions
  • Our Community
    • Our People
    • Question of the Week
    • Jobs in the Central West
    • Be Seen
  • Features
    • Rural Round Up
    • My Place
    • Health & Wellbeing
    • Loving Local Living
    • Just a Short Drive
    • Real Estate
  • Sports
    • Bowls
    • Cricket
    • Equestrian
    • Footy Tips
    • Golf
    • Netball
    • Rugby League
    • Rugby Union
    • Soccer
    • Touch Football
  • Contact Us
    • Contact Page
    • Advertise with us
    • Testimonials
    • Submit an Article
    • Subscribe to the Parkes Phoenix

Parkes Phoenix

The Science Game Changer In Our Backyard

August 16, 2018 By editor

This National Science Week, we are asked to think about “Game Changers & Change Makers.” There is no better example of this than what we can find in our own backyard – the CSIRO Parkes Radio Telescope.

The telescope has stood quietly in the middle of a sheep paddock for nearly six decades – a fixed landmark for those used to its existence, a wonder to those who visit, and a powerhouse for scientists across the globe. Since 1961 the telescope has been evolving and is now more than 10,000 times more sensitive than it was when it first opened its radio eyes.

Although the Dish may be best known for its role in the Apollo missions and helping broadcast mankind’s first steps on the Moon, the telescope has played pivotal roles in numerous scientific breakthroughs.

Parkes has time and time again been called on by the likes of NASA and the European Space Agency to help track some of the most successful space-based missions.

In 1973, Parkes was the first telescope to discover a stream of material trailing our nearest neighbour galaxies, the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. This formed a more complete picture of the “neighbourhood” in which our galaxy, the Milky Way, resided.

In 1998, observations taken with the then new multibeam receiver proved that our Milky Way was responsible for the destruction witnessed between the Magellanic Clouds.

The multibeam receiver is considered by many to be the single most productive and successful astronomical instrument the world has ever seen. In addition to mapping out our local neighbourhood, the dynamic duo of Parkes with the multibeam receiver have discovered more than half of a specific type of star known as pulsars.

Pulsars behave like cosmic clocks and observations of them allow us to test some of the most extreme physics – including gravitational waves and Einstein’s general relativity.

Earlier this year, Parkes had another upgrade with the installation of a receiver called the Ultra-wide Bandwidth Low (UWL). In the past, most telescopes either studied objects as they changed over time, or recorded how they change with wavelength, or “colours”.

The new receiver will make Parkes the first telescope in the world able to do both at the same time opening up an entirely new window through which we can study the Universe.

The CSIRO Parkes Radio Telescope stands as an icon of Australian scientific achievement – constantly looking out for the next big discovery.

* CSIRO hosts and manages a wide range of science-ready national research facilities that are used by thousands of Australian and international researchers each year. This includes Parkes radio telescope, part of the Australia Telescope National Facility, which is funded by the Australian Government.

By Jane Kaczmarek

Filed Under: Articles, General Interest

Latest Print Editions

Click here to download the recent issue (249) of The Parkes Phoenix (1.6MB PDF) – 5th March 2020

STAY CONNECTED

The Parkes Phoenix would like to thank you, our Facebook friends, for your continued support and readership!

CENTRAL WEST RURAL ROUND UP BOOKLET

Click here to download the Rural Round Up Booklet 

SEARCH THE PHOENIX

Recent Articles

  • Memories From Margaret March 5, 2021
  • New CUC Students Meet NSW Governor March 5, 2021
  • Be Seen @ The 2021 Flock Ewe Competition March 5, 2021
  • CanAssist Garage Sales Tick So Many Boxes March 5, 2021
  • Plenty Of Places For Parkes Swimmers March 5, 2021

CONTACT THE PHOENIX

Head Office Phone: (02) 6344 1846

Postal Address PO Box 203 Canowindra NSW 2804  

Editorial – Maggi Barnard Phone 0403 080 085 editor@parkesphoenix.com.au

Sales – Rochelle Frame Phone 0490 517 590 sales@parkesphoenix.com.au  

View our Privacy Policy.

View our Conflict Resolution Process.

View our Ethics and Complaints Policy.

Want to advertise with us?

Information on our Community Promotions.

Submit an Article

We are always looking for new articles of interest to the local community.

Please feel free to submit an article for possible inclusion in a future issue.

To submit an article, click here to use our online article submission form.

Receive The Phoenix via Email

* indicates required

Copyright © 2021 · Website setup by WebSysMan