Parkes 60th Anniversary

National Heritage plaque unveiling at the Parkes Observatory

       

A small ceremony was held at the Observatory on Monday, November 1st to unveil a plaque recognising the telescope's National Heritage listing. The event, with former Parkes Observatory Officer-in-Charge John Reynolds as Master of Ceremonies, featured some of the contributed videos available on this page, speeches from the Director of CSIRO Space and Astronomy, Douglas Bock, and Councillor Bill Jayet from the Parkes Shire Council, and the cutting of a 60th birthday cake. A recording of the event is now available. A GatherTown virtual gathering was held afterwards, and the timeline of photos can still be explored: information for accessing the GatherTown Parkes History space.

 

       

The Parkes telescope, given the Wiradjuri name Murriyang in 2020, is celebrating its 60th birthday in 2021!

For Parkes' 30th anniversary, 40th anniversary, and 50th anniversary, symposiums were held at the Observatory. Due to covid restrictions, we will not be able to continue the fine tradition of meeting at Parkes to commemorate the 60th anniversary. However, we are gathering contributions from former staff and users of the telescope, describing highlights from their time at, or use of, the Dish. Some people have provided a written contribution, others have recorded a short video, and these are made available below.

Written contributions

Peter Robertson has written an illustrated summary of the Planning and Construction of the Parkes Dish (.docx) (also available as a .pdf). Peter is the author of Beyond Southern Skies: Radio Astronomy and the Parkes Radio Telescope, published in 1992, which covers the history of the Parkes telescope in more detail.

Jim Roberts has provided an account from the early years of the Parkes telescope, Starting with a Splash, covering the discoveries of polarised radio emission, and the use of lunar occultations to pinpoint the position of the bright, but at the time unidentified, radio source 3C273 -- a key step in the discovery of quasars.

The critical role played by Parkes in identifying 3C273, and the controversy surrounding the affiliations of authors, is covered in detail in the article The Sequence of Events that led to the 1963 Publications in Nature of 3C 273, the First Quasar and the First Extragalactic Radio Jet, by Cyril Hazard, David Jauncey, Miller Goss, and David Herald, published in the Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia in 2018.

John Sarkissian also has a webpage dedicated to the Parkes lunar 3C273 occultations.

Jay Ekers describes moving to Parkes in 1964 with her husband, Ron, in the middle of a drought, and working with John Bolton on the identification of radio sources.

Ettore Carretti used the Parkes telescope for a number of years, before joining CSIRO to become the Parkes Senior System Scientist. He recalls both his experiences as an observer, and as a staff member.

Barbara Manchester moved to Parkes in 1968 with her husband, Dick, and worked as a research assistant at the Observatory. She recalls colouring in a map of the Galaxy, looking after the Bolton's cat, and working at the telescope.

Betty Siegman wrote a short piece several years ago describing the "lifetime and a half" her family had spent at CSIRO, in which she mentioned observing at Parkes and working with John Bolton, and has described in more detail her trips to Parkes.

John Sarkissian has penned an article for The Conversation on the Parkes Telescope's first 60 years.

This CSIRO blog talks to Stacy Mader about how the Parkes telescopes received their Wiradjuri names.

For the Parkes 50th symposium, Jim Caswell contributed an article on Understanding Our Galaxy -- Key Contributions from the Parkes Telescope.

Ken Kellermann, also on the occasion of the Parkes 50th celebrations, described Early Parkes Observations of Planets and Cosmic Radio Sources

Marcus Price, for the Parkes 50th event, reviewed The First Observations with the GRT at Parkes

And also, from the Parkes 50th, Phil Edwards set a highlight from each of the telescope's first 50 years against the background of world events.

Video Contributions

Andrea Possenti recorded this message for the Parkes 60th celebrations (with a virtual background image of the inside of the Parkes Tower!).

George Hobbs has made a video covering various aspects of his connections to the telescope over the last 20 years.

Dick Manchester recalls how he got a job at Parkes in the 1960s, and the pulsar discoveries the telescope has made over its lifetime.

Jay Ekers has recorded her written contribution to a slide show of images of Parkes in the 1960s.

Rob Hollow has provided a collection of images from Teachers Workshops held at the Parkes Observatory.

Ron Ekers describes the pioneering variable baseline interferometer experiments at Parkes in the late 1960s.

Jimi Green looks back on his experiences as an observer with the Parkes telescope.

Danny Price, part of the Breakthrough Listen team searching for extra-terrestrial techno-signatures, describes work at Parkes.

Mary Putman, a member of the HIPASS project team looks back on her visits to the telescope.

Kat Ross explains how participating in a PULSE@Parkes session changed her life.

Miller Goss, who worked at Parkes in the early 1960s recalls the pioneering days of the Observatory.

Ken Kellermann, who also worked at Parkes in the early years of the Observatory, recounts how he was kicked off the telescope to allow a search for OH, as well as efforts to ensure his subsequent observing time was not lost!

Elaine Sadler, who was also a member of the HIPASS team, remembers a gruelling introduction to observing with Parkes during her PhD, as well as being the observer for Y2K.

Lister Staveley-Smith, who played a key role in the development and commissioning of the 20cm multi-beam receiver, recalls the impact this innovative receiver has had, and describes plans underway for the CryoPAF receiver.

Jill Tarter, who led the Project Phoenix use of the Parkes telescope in a Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence in 1995, looks back on her six month stay at the Observatory.

Lewis Ball, who was Deputy Officer-in-Charge at Parkes in the early 2000s, looks back on some hair-raising moments with the telescope.

The movie The Dish is based upon Parkes' involvement in the Apollo 11 moon-landing. This behind the scenes youtube video tells some of the story of how the movie was filmed.

Rob Sitch, one of the writers and producers of The Dish, recalls the making of the movie and the impact the movie has had.

More videos coming soon!

ATNF Daily Astronomy Pictures of Parkes

The ATNF Daily Astronomy Picture has included many pictures of Parkes. Here's a selection:

Other
Public