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batema
20-05-2010, 09:55 PM
Hi,

My mate Adam (on the right : Buddman) and myself ( Batema ) were lucky enough to be invited to talk about how we incorporate astronomy into our Physics course at high school at the radio observatory "THE DISH" at Parkes. The conference went for three days and on Saturday morning 15th May we were fortunate to do a tour of the telescope. It was a privilege and we thought we would post some picyures, not to gloat, but to share. It was truely amazing and an experience I will treasure for life.

To access the dish we went up through the control rooms in the centre and the electronic systems looked scary. The othe group of teachers waited until the dish lowered itself until they could litterally walk onto the edge rim and then it was raised to the upright position so we could walk underneath it to gain access through a hatch on the edge and we were on. After about twenty minutes the rolls were reversed and we waited until the group went down through the centre and we were lowered to the ground where we stepped off.

Other photos show the dish at sunset glowing with the setting suns rays and also at night.

It was an amazing experience and a true pleasure to see this amazing piece of scientific equipment as well as here from some very young PHD students and the research they were doing into black holes and binary pulsars to name a few.

Mark :D:D:D:D:D:D:D

batema
20-05-2010, 09:57 PM
Sorry one more.

DavidTrap
20-05-2010, 10:01 PM
Did you get a chance to play cricket?

Great pics - sort of jealous - not a big fan of heights...

DT

M54
20-05-2010, 10:25 PM
Oh, what great pictures!
You're so lucky.
I completely understand all those little grins...:D:D:D:D:D:D:D ;)

Omaroo
20-05-2010, 10:27 PM
It truly is a wonderful piece of engineering, isn't it? :thumbsup:

jjjnettie
20-05-2010, 10:58 PM
Look at you two!!!
I'm green with envy. Not as green as I'll be when you both head off to Hawaii.
Great photos! I look forward to hearing more about your trip next time we catch up.

[1ponders]
21-05-2010, 06:38 AM
Oh its soooo hard being a science teacher. Isn't it. ;) :lol: You go guys. hit that professional development. There should be more of this sort of stuff for science teachers.

batema
21-05-2010, 06:52 AM
It was a ton of fun.

Liz
21-05-2010, 08:01 AM
Great pics Mark, well done!!!
Have had a look around Parkes, and its great, though didnt get to go onto the dish, lucky you. ;)

iceman
21-05-2010, 08:12 AM
Awesome pics and thanks for the report!

h0ughy
21-05-2010, 09:07 AM
not a bad junket. next conference AAO?

jjjnettie
21-05-2010, 10:38 AM
I tell you Dave, it's like "The incredible adventures of Mark and Adam.":lol:

xstream
21-05-2010, 11:58 AM
Great report Mark.

You two look like two kids in a lolly shop! ;)

Buddman
21-05-2010, 10:52 PM
Did we play cricket?...No, just were silly buggers.

How do you climb off "The Dish" if you've snapped an Achilles tendon? You don't, it bows down to drop you off. Simple.

:D:D:D

What a day it was.

Adam

RobF
21-05-2010, 11:16 PM
Whoaaa! :eyepop:
How great is that!

Congrats on an awesome trip guys. I've only ever had a gawk at it from a distance from the visitors centre.

Buddman
21-05-2010, 11:20 PM
When we got off - the dish that is - there were a few expectant visitors who were somewhat dissappointed. Grinners are winners.

It's going to take surgery to get the smile off my face.