The Parkes Observatory (Photo: CSIRO
This week saw the Parkes Observatory (also known as 'The Dish') celebrate 50 years of Operations. One of Australia's most well known science facilities, the Parkes Observatory is famous for its role in the Apollo 11 Moon landing as well as its depiction by the Australian film 'The Dish' in 2000.
The Observatory itself is located in Parkes, NSW, and is a 64m movable radio telescope. Behind the physical dish, there are a series of receivers and processing electronics that have been upgraded over the last 50 years making the Observatory more than 10,000 times more sensitive than when it was built. The Observatory is capable of observing frequency ranges of 0.3 to 43 GHz, and operates 24 hours per day, every day of the year.
The facility itself remains highly popular with tourists, with around 120,000 people visiting the Observatory every year. It is also one of the most successful Radio telescopes in terms of its science output, ranking 3rd in global science paper citations.
Google Australia also marked the celebration with a 'google doodle' for the day.
The Parkes Observatory 50th Birthday Google Doodle (Image: Google)
Lets hope the next 50 years are just as productive and successful for this iconic Australian Science facility.
Happy Birthday!
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