Parkes Observatory report
Staff
Lewis Ball has joined the Observatory on a six-month secondment from the University of Sydney and is doing a sterling job as deputy Officer-in-Charge, quickly immersing himself in all aspects of Observatory activity.
Dr Zheng-wen Sun and Dr Wei Xia Wang from the Urumqui Astronomical Observatory in China have arrived in Parkes for a one-year sojourn. Sun and Wang are receiver engineers building a new cooled L-band receiver for the Urumqui Observatory 25-M telescope, as part of a contract with the ATNF. Graham Gay of the Marsfield receiver group is also closely involved in this project and has spent several weeks at Parkes recently assisting Sun and Wang, and with local operations.
Stacey Jeffery has joined us as a trainee in adminstration and reception until the end of the year, and has quickly become an invaluable mamber of the Administration team.
Rob Eslick is back with us as a casual, assisting in site services including grounds maintenance. The long-overdue trimming of the trees in The Avenue is but one of Rob's visible contributions in recent months.
Kimberly Robertson has joined the dedicated and hardworking band of casuals working in Observatory Visitors Centre. With the sustained high level of visitor numbers in the `post-Dish' era, we are relying enormously on this team to keep the VC running smoothly.
Operations News
Operations have proceeded very smoothly in the last few months, with few major technical problems of note. The fix to the SWEO drives made by Andrew Hunt (see ATNF News, June 2001 issue) has worked spectacularly well, with not a single problem with the antenna drives reported since. Other antenna systems have likewise performed reliably and the fraction of time to lost equipment remains at low levels - less than the time lost to wind and bad weather.
An operational problem that has affected observers and staff was the sudden collapse on 14th Sept of Ansett Airlines and its subsidiaries, including Hazelton. All regular air services to Parkes ceased on that date, and at the time of writing have only recently resumed on a limited basis, with an unpublished and uncertain timetable. Visitors who would normally use this service should contact Hazelton or the Observatory before booking travel.
The Galactic pulsar survey is approaching completion, as the list of new discoveries pushes well beyond 600. The high Galactic latitude surveys and globular cluster searches are also proving very productive. The Northern ZOA HI survey will be finished in December, completing the Northern HIPASS/ZOA extension to the original surveys. A Galactic bulge extension to the ZOA has already started and will run well into 2002.
Operational Developments
Mal Smith's Interference Monitoring System (IMS) is nearing completion, with full commissioning expected early in the new year. Parts of the system have already been put to good use, as was illustrated during a recent concerted campaign to identify an apparently new source of pulsed RFI impacting badly on the pulsar searches. It transpires that at the northerly observing angles now required to complete the survey, the DME ("Distance Measuring Equipment") beacon at Parkes airport is directly illuminating the feeds. The beacon contains modulation with strong components at 135 Hz and 675 Hz, which have been observed for some years but have only recently become particularly troublesome. Means of alleviating the problem are being actively pursued.
Stacy Mader has been adding some useful new features to the Parkes Website, including Web-based viewers for weather data, GPS timing and receiver usage. A Web-based sensitivity calculator is under construction. Steady progress continues with upgrading and revision of documentation and user manuals.
Site Services
A contract of approximately $AU100K has been let to manufacture replacement gearboxes for the zenith drive. The pinions in particular were inspected last May during a shutdown and found to be wearing noticeably. Given the overall state of wear of the gearboxes and the integral nature of the pinions and gearboxes, it has been decided to replace both gearboxes early in the new year. A substantial sum of money has been provided through CSIRO Corporate for this refurbishment.
The last few months have been no less busy than usual with, among other work, preparations for the Parkes Open Day weekend on 3 _ 4 November in full swing. Lovers of the oleanders around the tower have been dismayed to find them removed and replaced by a selection of local native shrubs. The OiC takes full responsibility for this long overdue improvement! A number of other plantings and improvements about the site are also evident - thanks mainly to the efforts of Tom Lees and Rob Eslick. Keen-eyed observers will also note that the telescope tower has been resprayed with vermiculite, the final step in repairing the cracks and delamination that first appeared some years ago.
The two Observatory houses in the Parkes township and the third house about 1 km from the Observatory entrance have all been sold. The latter house, though in a handy position, was considered not worth refurbishing.The proceeds from the sale of the houses will be put towards a number of improvements and additions to the site buildings, particularly at the Quarters. Extensive repainting of the Quarters and Opera House (Administration building) has already been completed.
Visitors Centre
The Parkes Visitors Centre continues to attract large numbers of visitors, and fields enquiries from near and far. The usual surge in patronage over the school holiday period saw the record for visitor numbers broken yet again, with more than a thousand visitors per day.
Following the release of the video on October 10th, the complete set of Video, DVD and CD related to "The Dish" are now on sale. It is interesting that the fraction of visitors who admit to having seen the movie is steadily declining and is now below 50% —other forms of follow-on publicity are evidently taking over.
The 3-D audio visual show "Our Sun the Star" was a run-away success over the school holidays, outselling "The Invisible Universe" by a factor of twofor all categories except senior travellers who express a preference to learn more about the famous radio telescope.
The increase in visitors seems to be accompanied by what might be the leading edge of a few undesirable visitors: the large Earth globe was removed from its plinth in June, but fortunately was recovered from the car park as apparently it would not fit in the culprits car. The superficial damage was repaired and the globe has been reinstalled.
The fourth sandstone plinth in the revamped front garden is still unoccupied by a display. A competition for students to propose a display for the fourth plinth will be announced in an upcoming edition of CSIRO's Double Helix magazine.
John Reynolds
Officer-in-Charge
(John.Reynolds@csiro.au)
Lewis Ball
Deputy Officer-in-Charge
(Lewis.Ball@csiro.au)