News and Events
- CSIRO Parkes Observatory 50th Anniversary Open Weekend
The CSIRO Parkes Observatory is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Parkes radio telescope's construction by giving members of the public a rare opportunity to tour the Dish. On the weekend of the 8 and 9 of October 2011, the Parkes Observatory will host an open weekend, offering guided tours up and through the famous radio telescope. The open days showcase the achievements of the Observatory as a world-leading astronomical telescope as well as its roles in supporting some of the most significant space missions in history. Find out more information.
- Opera at the Dish
On Saturday night, October 8, with The Dish as the spectacular backdrop, a magical evening of famous operatic arias and songs from some of Broadway's greatest musicals will be performed on stage by the region's top artists including sopranos Helen Barnett and Julie O'Connor accompanied by the Macquarie Philharmonia 50 piece symphony orchestra. The concert, titled Bellini to Broadway, is being planned by Parkes Under the Stars, a local community organisation established to deliver the inaugural Opera at The Dish in 2011. The major aims of the event are to help celebrate the Parkes telescope's 50th anniversary and raise funds for the McGrath Foundation to assist with their efforts in supplying breast care nurses to regional centres including Parkes.
| Did you know? The CSIRO Parkes radio telescope has discovered more Pulsars (the collapsed remnants of massive stars) than all of the other radio telescopes in the world collectively. Astronomers at the Parkes radio telescope use pulsars to study some of the fundamental laws of the universe. |
