For centuries, the field of astronomy have seen great minds such as Galileo Galilee extending the knowledge about the Universe beyond its extant limits and helping mankind discover not only truths about the Universe but also about the history of earth. This field of study has also inspired the search for extraterrestrial life elsewhere and have culminated in various theories such as Area 51 in the United States of America as well as entertainment series’ such as The X Files. Regardless of this search, the study of celestial bodies promises great depths of knowledge as seen in the research surrounding the Higgs Boson and the Rover missions to Mars and observatories set up all around the world facilitate the furthering of such interests.
For an astronomy buff residing in Country Comfort Hotel Parkes, the CSIRO Parkes Observatory is the perfect place to visit. Located a mere half an hour away from this Parkes Hotel, this Observatory is informally known as ‘The Dish’, an obvious reference to the twenty two metre radio dish, also known as the Parkes Radio Telescope. Visitors will be thrilled to find out that this particular observatory is home to one of the few radio antennas that received live images of the first ever moon landing by men in 1969. While the observatory itself was established in 1961 by E. G. Bowen subsequent to pursuing an idea he conceived during the Second World War, in the 21st century, the observatory plays an active role in tracking a number of missions including Voyager, Galileo, Mariner 2 and 4 and Giotto as well as playing a role in the NASA Galileo Mission to Jupiter.
The Parkes Observatory is therefore an iconic place to visit for any person with even a fleeting interest in astronomy, not only due to its historical associations with groundbreaking space missions but also because of its continued importance in furthering human knowledge regarding the universe.
Pushpitha Wijesinghe is an experienced independent freelance writer. He specializes in providing a wide variety of content and articles related to the travel hospitality industry. Google+