The Parkes open day

I spent my second weekend in a row at Parkes, this time it was the Parkes open day. Given all the visitors, helicopters and media broadcasting the RFI environment was bound to be terrible but George managed to persuade Vik and me that it was worth trying to get some observations for one of our projects.

As we gathered for the briefing on the Saturday morning there were already people queuing to get in. Some had come from Victoria and Queensland. It wasn't long before the line for the telescope tours was stretching around the telescope and was 3 hours long. Despite that everyone seemed to be very cheerful and enjoyed the tours. We were in the control room, one of the last stops on the tour and we became expert in explaining what we were observing in 60 seconds or less! George, Vik and I took turns talking to the relentless tours, doing the observations and checking e-mail.

There were stands from local groups, science outreach people from further afield, shows in the 3D theatre, walks around the grounds, science talks in the marquee and even a bouncy castle!

I gave a live interview on ABC radio in the morning. I was surprised that it lasted 5 mins or more rather than the usual sound-bite. Later a punter from Dubbo told me that he'd heard this fella on the radio talking about pulsars - fame at last! There was a lot of media interest with all the major TV stations sending at least one crew. The ABC arrived in their helicopter.

By the end of the first day we were all knackered. There was a BBQ and bonfires at the woolshed for the volunteers. We stayed late drinking beer (purely medicinal, to sooth our sore throats), telling tall stories and jokes.

The next day I had a talk to give at the main marquee and it was nearly packed. There were lots of good questions and interest and another visitor had heard my radio interview. It was great to meet so many people who are genuinely interesting in what we do.

Later on I took a helicopter ride around the telescope. It was a tiny thing with bubble like windows, you could feel every tweak of the controls and gust of wind. It was great to see the telescope from a different angle. It looked much more steeply curved than it does from the ground. I took a few photos and even some video. It was a great trip and has got me thinking about flying lessons again.

We drove through the night on Sunday to get back to Sydney and I decided that Monday morning just wasn't going to happen. It was a long, exhausting but fun weekend. More than 6,500 people visited and more than 3,000 of those took the tour through the telescope. And we may even get some data out of it!

A surprise visit to Parkes

I had a quick and unexpected trip to Parkes this weekend. I wasn't expecting to be going but Dunc and Maura had managed to get hold of the director's time during the weekend. As they're in the US and John was busy I volunteered to cover the observations. Luckily I managed to get a car and a room in the lodge despite only having a day's notice.

I arrived on Friday evening and found that the Italian contingent were doing their polarisation survey that requires the dish to make repeated slews across the sky. Above-left is a 60 second integration (sorry, exposure in camera speak) taken towards the end of one of the slews. The scene is lit by the nearly-full Moon at the bottom left of the picture. I took several other photos (e.g. above-right) that were more carefully composed but that first one is still my favourite.

I left on Sunday evening and had a very quick drive back through the night. There were a few close encounters of the roo-kind but thankfully no collisions.

Getting ready to go to Germany

There are 55 days to go until the move to Germany. I have a huge to-do list which must all be ticked off before I leave. Of course most of it can only be done in the last couple of weeks but I have managed to get a few important things done already. I've booked the removal company, sorted out the shipping insurance, short term accommodation for the first two months and a couple of days ago I booked my flights. I was surprised to find that Qantas had a route between Frankfurt and Cologne. I wanted to see who the code-share was so I clicked on the link:

It was a train with a QF number! I like the "Aircraft type: Train" :-) I can image wandering round the airport looking for the right gate only to be directed to a platform. While Bonn and Cologne share an airport they have different stations so it's good to know before I turn up with all my bags after a 24hr flight.