Title: The Life and Times of the Parkes-Tidbinbilla Interferometer Authors: Ray P. Norris, M. J. Kesteven
The Parkes-Tidbinbilla took advantage of a real-time radio-link connecting the Parkes and Tidbinbilla antennas to form the world's longest real-time interferometer, perhaps the earliest example of eVLBI. Built on a minuscule budget, it was an extraordinarily successful instrument, generating some 24 journal papers including 3 Nature papers, as well as facilitating the early development of the Australia Telescope Compact Array. Here we describe its origins, construction, successes, and life cycle, and discuss the future use of single-baseline interferometers in the era of SKA and its pathfinders.
Parkes Telephone Exchange's involvement with the Moon Landing
Parkes P.M.G (now Telstra) involvement was intensive. The Parkes Telescope in conjunction with NASA's Tidbinbila Tracking Station were given the task of receiving telemetry and pictures of the moon landing. Read more
Title: Using the Parkes Pulsar Data Archive Authors: J. Khoo, G. Hobbs, R. N. Manchester, D. Miller, J. Dempsey
The Parkes Pulsar Data Archive currently provides access to 165,755 data files obtained from observations carried out at the Parkes Observatory since the year 1991. Data files and access methods are compliant with the Virtual Observatory protocol. This paper provides a tutorial on how to make use of the Parkes Pulsar Data Archive and provides example queries using on-line interfaces.
It is rare for a piece of scientific equipment to hold a place in a nation's heart. But 'The Dish' - the CSIRO's Parkes radio telescope - has in its 50 years come to come to mean a lot more to Australians that just a complex piece of technology. The telescope is a 64-metre diameter parabolic dish used for radio astronomy, located about 20 kilometres north of the town of Parkes, New South Wales - about 380 kilometres west of Sydney. Opened on 31 October 1961, the telescope is perhaps best known to Australians for its role in the 1969 moon landing. Read more
Ed ~ October 31, 2011 marks the 50th anniversary of the inauguration of CSIRO's Parkes radio telescope.
Title: The Parkes Observatory Pulsar Data Archive Authors: G. Hobbs, D. Miller, R. N. Manchester, J. Dempsey, J. M. Chapman, J. Khoo, J. Applegate, M. Bailes, N. D. R. Bhat, R. Bridle, A. Borg, A. Brown, C. Burnett, F. Camilo, C. Cattalini, A. Chaudhary, R. Chen, N. D'Amico, L. Kedziora-Chudczer, T. Cornwell, R. George, G. Hampson, M. Hepburn, A. Jameson, M. Keith, T. Kelly, A. Kosmynin, E. Lenc, D. Lorimer, C. Love, A. Lyne, V. McIntyre, J. Morrissey, M. Pienaar, J. Reynolds, G. Ryder, J. Sarkissian, A. Stevenson, A. Treloar, W. van Straten, M. Whiting, G. Wilson
The Parkes pulsar data archive currently provides access to 144044 data files obtained from observations carried out at the Parkes observatory since the year 1991. Around 10^5 files are from surveys of the sky, the remainder are observations of 775 individual pulsars and their corresponding calibration signals. Survey observations are included from the Parkes 70cm and the Swinburne Intermediate Latitude surveys. Individual pulsar observations are included from young pulsar timing projects, the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array and from the PULSE@Parkes outreach program. The data files and access methods are compatible with Virtual Observatory protocols. This paper describes the data currently stored in the archive and presents ways in which these data can be searched and downloaded.
Four outstanding soloists, including Parkes born and bred Dallas Watts, will feature in this Octobers inaugural Opera at the Dish concert in aid of The McGrath Foundation. Read more