Parkes Observatory report

Site Services

The last quarter has seen Site Services continuing the installation of irrigation systems and new landscaping at the Visitor's Centre. We are aiming to complete this project ready for an opening ceremony in mid March. Despite a month of temperatures above 40 degrees, the 400 seedlings planted out are doing well and the grounds work is attracting favourable comment.

Extensive slashing and mowing to reduce fire risk was carried out in early January. New storage facilities have been constructed in the Carpenter's shop. Fabrication of the Mark II batch of computer RFI cages is nearing completion, re-organisation of the electrician's workshop and office is under way and repairs are being undertaken to facilitate extensive painting works to be carried out later in the year.

During the short shut down at the end of January the Aerial cabin lift guide sheaves and cable drum bearings were replaced, UPS power was installed at the ME and the mains failure indicator installation was completed.

Operations

The October 2000 term has been an interesting one in terms of operations at Parkes.

The Multibeam Northern HIPASS, ZOA and Pulsar surveys continued as they approached completion. Quasi-daily timing observations of the millisecond pulsar J0437-4715, a project led by Willem van Straten of Swinburne University, are proceeding well and are achieving timing residuals of unprecedented accuracy. The GPS systems at the Observatory are being upgraded to ensure the best possible long-term time reference is available for timing projects such as this. A common-view GPS receiver is under construction and should be operational some time in the first half of 2001, allowing comparison of Observatory time direct with the NIST standard in Boulder Colarado, in addition to the comparisons with GPS/USNO time provided by the conventional GPS receivers.

There has been very little observing time lost due to equipment failure or wind. The figures for the October 2000 term (2/10/00 to 11/01/01) were 1.9 per cent of time lost to failures and 1.5 per cent lost to wind-stows. For the first time in many years, the observatory was shutdown in the Christmas to New Year period.

Visitors Centre

The Visitors Centre has enjoyed unprecedented popularity since the release of the film "The Dish" in mid-October, 2000. All-time records for daily visitor numbers and revenue were frequently broken. Business activity has more than doubled compared to the same period previously. Similarly, the number of visitors rose to 34,000 from 15,000 in that time.

For several weeks, countless media interviews, with television and radio appearances kept many on site busy. Some of the old hands (all retired) were inundated with media requests, all wanting to know how true to the events the film's depiction was. At times it seemed they weren't retired at all.

Arousal of public interest and awareness was always expected. It is interesting to note that a significant fraction of recent visitors claim that they "had never heard of the Parkes Radio Telescope before" - in contrast with previous years when many visitors claimed that they had "been meaning to call in for years".

On December 18, an Apollo 11 re-union was organised in Old Parliament House, Canberra. It was the first time that everyone who was involved in the Australian side of the mission was able to get together and reminisce. It was organised by the CSIRO, NASA and Working Dog Productions. With the imminent release of the Video in the next few months, and the launch of the "The Dish" in the USA and Europe, interest in the Observatory is sure to remain high. A report on the Parkes Observatory's support of the Apollo 11 mission can be accessed at the folowing URL, http://www.parkes.atnf.csiro.au/apollo11/.

The long-running audio-visual multiprojector slide show was replaced in August 2000 by a completely reworked show, "The Invisible Universe", made by Australian Business Theatre with help from ATNF staff including Raymond Haynes, Rick Twardy, Helen Sim and John Reynolds.

The influx of visitor interest was smoothly handled in the enlarged visitors centre, completed in August 2000. Finishing touches to the grounds, and alteration to content of displays took a little longer. Labour, organisation and instruction skills for the grounds improvement were the product of a work-for-the-dole scheme, itself an outcome from approaching the Parkes Shire Council for assistance.

John Reynolds (Officer-in-Charge), John Sarkissian, and Rick Twardy
(John.Reynolds@atnf.csiro.au)