hi joe...
i thought as much when i googled..thank you for this clarification... the night sky is certainly filled with awe and wonder... last night on telly a short doc on the voyage 2..i presume you know of this...it is breaking through the magnetic field...you must bear with me..i am a science ignoramus... and the voyage 2 going into the beyond the beyond so to speak.... it is really amazing this earth... here we all are on this ball and out there is this vast endless universe if not universes... seemingly may i suggest we are "orphans"... where are the other life forms?... certainly gives us food for thought and makes for realisation that we are but as individuals smaller than a grain of sand.. in fact as individuals we are invisible... all the huffing and puffing we carry on as individuals.. puffing out chests out and bursting with the song..."here i am"..is not even a whisper in the universe... no sound is heard what so ever... merle Merle, Yes, Parkes is an extremely famous and important RADIO-observatory, where a lot of radio-astronomy was invented after World War II, using military-surplus radar instrumentation, and making improvements on it (especially on the Receivers). Radio-astronomy was my first specialty in my career, so I look to Parkes as one would look to, say, White Sands, or Cape Kennedy for the development of rocketry after the War. It is that important. Many astronomical discoveries were made there. But it is not an Optical observatory. Often, the needs (of siting) of a radio observatory are at cross purposes with those of an optical observatory. A rad. obs. wants to be LOW, where its antennas can be shielded from artificial radio signals from radio and TV, etc., transmitters. An optical observatory wants to be HIGH, where it can be above air and dust and lights, and air currents that disrupt the wave-front of the light. Parkes is no good for my current work as an optical observer, and was no good for my past work in radio, because it is too LOW. We chose to site our instrument in Chile because it is high and dry there, and our radio waves of choice are so short (microwaves) that water vapor and clouds DO disrupt them. Chile was / is ideal. There are places in Chile that make the Nullarbor Plain of Australia look like the Garden of Eden! I loved getting to know the stars of the South, Merle. It was like starting over. I've had several lifetimes, already. And they say there's no such thing as Reincarnation! ;-) --Joe > Merle Lester <merlewiitpom@...> wrote: > > joe... i believe their is an observatory out at parkes..nsw..i'll check >net..yes i have walked to top of mount k ... it's a very easy "stroll" > joe i know nothing about stars... sorry... on a clear night yes you can see > all..it's gorgeous.....no we do not get glow of sydney..yes it is pitch > black...sydney you see the lights of city in the very very way off > distance... cheers merle
