ATNF outreach

Sport in Space competition

The Sport in Space competition was the ATNF's contribution to National Science Week which ran from 14 – 22 August during the Olympics. Our competition was open to school students from around Australia. We received nearly one hundred entries from schools across Australia. Students displayed great ingenuity and creativity with their work. Many of the entries were displayed the Parkes Observatory Visitors Centre during National Science Week and on the recent Open Days.

The competition had three levels of entry. Primary students wrote an illustrated tale about a sport being played somewhere in the Solar System. The winner was Jesse Webb-Smith from Geraldton, WA with his wonderful story Rollo's Big Year Out about the girl who named Pluto, Venetia Burney and her friend Rollo who performs gymnastics on Pluto. Junior Secondary students had to design a sport that could be played somewhere in outer space and take advantage of the special conditions there. The winners were Nichola Farnan and Aliki George, from Telopea Park School, ACT with their sport Moon Diving.

The winner of the Senior Secondary category was Hsu-Lynn Lee, also from Telopea Park School with her entry Martian Dry Ice Skiing which discussed the problems faced trying to ski on the polar ice caps of Mars. All the winning entries can be read on our outreach website at: http://outreach.atnf.csiro.au/events/sportinspacewinners/ .

The prize for the winners was an overnight trip to the Parkes radio telescope, whilst the runners-up received book prizes. All entrants received a certificate. Unfortunately Nichola and Aliki were unable to attend as they were finalists in another national competition being held that week but fortunately one of the runners-up, Chi Kit So was able to take their place. He, Hsu-Lynn and Jesse travelled to Parkes on Monday, 16 August. They had a lengthy tour of the telescope, including a hayride and a chance to explore the Visitors Centre and 3D theatre. A wonderful, cold, clear night sky provided a chance for some star gazing. Jesse became quite a media star once home in Geraldton following his first flight to and from Sydney.

Rob Hollow
(Rob.Hollow@csiro.au)

Redevelopment of Narrabri Observatory Visitor Centre

Plans for the redevelopment of the visitor centre at the Compact Array are progressing. An exciting feature of the new centre will be a walk through artistic models of the Milky Way Galaxy and the Solar System. Visitors will be able to discover the work at the Compact Array and other facilities at the Observatory through displays and interactive exhibits spread around a circular path outside the Visitor Centre building. An observation deck with clear views down the east-west track will complete the circuit between the veranda and the current landscape paths. The plan is designed to fit with the current landscaping established in the last year and take advantage of the good views across the site. The staff that operate the telescope and astronomers from around the world who use it will feature in the displays. It will also relate their research achievements to the scale model of the Milky Way. The displays will be mostly illustrations and images with minimal amounts of text aimed at the lay person, the typical visitor to the observatory. Artists are being invited to present concepts for the galaxy and solar-system models. Several interactive design companies have also been invited to present concepts based around the plan of the displays. The plan can be viewed at www.narrabri.atnf.csiro.au /vcplans.

John Smith
Visitor Centre Coordinator
(john.m.smith@csiro.au)

Work experience at the Narrabri Observatory

The ATNF offers the possibility of one or two weeks work experience (WE) for high school and TAFE students of normally 16 – 17 years of age. WE programs help students make future career choices by seeing what work life is like in practice. As such they form part of the ATNF's public outreach program.

At the Australia Telescope Compact Array in Narrabri we offer a wide range of subjects to which students can subscribe: astronomy, electronics, computing, administration and hospitality. Students are often local, from the Narrabri Shire, but sometimes come from further afield, either in New South Wales or elsewhere in Australia. This year, one student from England took part in the program.

The placement of WE students at the observatory is done by the WE coordinator (Michael Dahlem). The availability of WE programs at Narrabri depends primarily on the ability of potential supervisors amongst our staff to offer suitable projects at the time for one or two weeks, i.e. work that can be performed by a young student without prior knowledge of the field and with only a limited amount of time. Such projects are created on a best-effort basis and might not always be available.

Requests for WE programs are normally directed to us by the students' schools. Students are selected for available projects based on their CVs together with a sponsoring letter from their schools and a telephone interview conducted by the WE Coordinator. WE programs are governed by rules that ensure the students have insurance cover during their stay and that they perform only tasks suitable for them.

During their visit, students are shown how the Observatory operates in their chosen area, and participate in simple tasks supporting work in that area. As examples of the type of work performed, a student in computing could install an operating system on a personal computer. A student working in astronomy might assist with some aspects of astronomical data reduction or routine analysis. As part of their program students are required by their schools to keep a diary of their activities or to write an essay about their experience. Teachers from local schools often visit us briefly while their students are visiting, others will usually call on the phone to inquire about their students' progress and performance.

The WE programs at the ATNF are highly sought after. Students come to us with high expectations, knowing that they are enrolled in a program with a renowned national research organisation, which will be considered a big plus on their CVs. The ATNF, on the other hand, profits from its participation in the WE program via the positive image of its work conveyed to young Australians, who might one day make the choice to come back and work on our staff.

Finally, some statistics: We hosted six work-experience students in 2003. So far eight students have been accepted for 2004. Of these eight students, three chose astronomy, two each chose computing and electronics and one chose hospitality. Five students were from local communities, two from the Sydney area and one from abroad.

Michael Dahlem
Narrabri work experience coordinator
(Michael.Dahlem@csiro.au)