As one leaves the eastern Australian coast, the land becomes desert-like. It's country out here. This Central/Western region of the New South Wales state is known as the Big Sky Region. Its unpolluted skies are normally perfect for star gazing, unless it's been rainy as it has been in the last few days.
The Parkes Radio Telescope Dish
The large 64m telescope at Parkes made famous by the movie The Dish. The movie reputedly has great Aussie humor and is based on a true story.
A radio telescope maps the radio frequencies of the universe and can thus operate day and night. The space frequencies are reflected off the dish and concentrated at the receiving foci that extends out in from the middle of the dish. The images it produces are like the infrared diagrams from night vision goggles.
The telescope complex showed some very well done films that attempted to put size in perspective. What is BIG? Bigger than BIG? The universe is so massive that its size is barely comprehensible. It takes hundreds of millions of millions of light years to travel to the end of our known universe. So far, scientists have mapped our universe, but what is beyond that? If we began with the Big Bang and the universe is currently expanding, what is it expanding into?
In a way, it seems that we have been more successful at micro level studies. We understand protons, electrons and their energy components. We understand energy and matter. But on the other extreme, what lies beyond our universe? If you're like me, I usually gloss over the exhibit literature for the flashy interactive displays in science museums.
Take a moment seriously. Now. Just think. Imagine the night sky. Picture the stars. Their satellite moons. That starlight we see is millions of years old. Looking into the sky is like going back into time. We are seeing the light of stars that has traveled millions of millions of light years. In a way, time travel is possible if we can travel faster than light!
The Parkes Radio Telescope Dish
The large 64m telescope at Parkes made famous by the movie The Dish. The movie reputedly has great Aussie humor and is based on a true story.
A radio telescope maps the radio frequencies of the universe and can thus operate day and night. The space frequencies are reflected off the dish and concentrated at the receiving foci that extends out in from the middle of the dish. The images it produces are like the infrared diagrams from night vision goggles.
The telescope complex showed some very well done films that attempted to put size in perspective. What is BIG? Bigger than BIG? The universe is so massive that its size is barely comprehensible. It takes hundreds of millions of millions of light years to travel to the end of our known universe. So far, scientists have mapped our universe, but what is beyond that? If we began with the Big Bang and the universe is currently expanding, what is it expanding into?
In a way, it seems that we have been more successful at micro level studies. We understand protons, electrons and their energy components. We understand energy and matter. But on the other extreme, what lies beyond our universe? If you're like me, I usually gloss over the exhibit literature for the flashy interactive displays in science museums.
Take a moment seriously. Now. Just think. Imagine the night sky. Picture the stars. Their satellite moons. That starlight we see is millions of years old. Looking into the sky is like going back into time. We are seeing the light of stars that has traveled millions of millions of light years. In a way, time travel is possible if we can travel faster than light!
Five of the six radio telescope dishes at the Australia Telescope Complex in Narrabri. Instead of one huge dish, the six telescopes operate in conjunction and are more efficient in mapping the sky. The telescopes move into position along a 3km long railway track at 4km per hour according to researcher needs.
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