What is the Parkes radio telescope?
The Parkes radio telescope is a 64-metre dish in New South Wales, operated by CSIRO, that opened in 1961. It is famous for helping relay television pictures of the Apollo 11 Moon landing in 1969.
The telescope stands on farmland about 20 kilometres north of the town of Parkes in central western New South Wales. It was one of the first large movable dishes in the world and became a model for later telescopes.
Its Aboriginal name, Murriyang, was given in 2020 by the Wiradjuri people and means Skyworld.
The Moon landing
During the Apollo 11 mission in July 1969, Parkes helped receive television signals from the Moon, including footage broadcast to hundreds of millions of people. The telescope's role was dramatized in the 2000 Australian film The Dish.
Parkes has made many scientific discoveries, including a large number of pulsars, rapidly spinning stars that emit beams of radio waves. In 2007, data from Parkes led to the discovery of fast radio bursts, a mysterious type of cosmic signal.
The telescope is part of CSIRO's Australia Telescope National Facility. A visitor center at the site explains its history and science, and the dish has been placed on the Australian National Heritage List.
Did You Know?
The Parkes telescope has also helped track spacecraft such as Voyager 2.