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Parkes Telescope Observatory - The Largest in The World



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The CSIRO Parkes radio telescope has discovered more Pulsars (the collapsed remnants of massive stars) than all of the other radio telescopes in the world colle...
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The CSIRO Parkes radio telescope has discovered more Pulsars (the collapsed remnants of massive stars) than all of the other radio telescopes in the world collectively. Astronomers at the Parkes radio telescope use pulsars to study some of the fundamental laws of the universe. The telescope has played a part in determining the nature of quasars, and has found most of the 2000 known pulsars, but it is best known by Australians for the critical roles it played in space missions, particularly man's landing on the moon and the return of the crippled Apollo 13 flight to earth.
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Contest Finalist in Technology Wonders Photo Contest
Peer Award
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Superb Composition
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Mij BOULENGER Lovephotography80 CliffordPugliese MarioRuiDias MaryAnne306 tlotter +3
Absolute Masterpiece
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Superior Skill
diegoscaglione Athena_B Barbpsp4
Outstanding Creativity
Renatto greglinck
All Star
Orcus99 JanetDaniel
Exceptional Contrast
nehaagrawal
Jaw Dropping
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Objects Photo ContestTop 30 rank week 1
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11 Comments | Report
barbarabrock Platinum
 
barbarabrock June 03, 2013
Beautiful clarity and detail...
ChrisKIELY
ChrisKIELY March 21, 2015
Thank you so much Barbara.
MirelaPilko
 
MirelaPilko June 14, 2013
love it...great composition
ChrisKIELY
ChrisKIELY March 21, 2015
Thank you so much Mirela.
HD_EyeBallz
 
HD_EyeBallz July 06, 2013
Very nice
ChrisKIELY
ChrisKIELY March 21, 2015
Thank you so much HD-EyeBallz.
tlotter
 
tlotter October 10, 2013
Great shot,nice detail
ChrisKIELY
ChrisKIELY March 21, 2015
Thank you so much tlotter.
KeithHillsdon
 
KeithHillsdon March 12, 2015
Excellent HDR processing, and composition.
ChrisKIELY
ChrisKIELY March 21, 2015
Thank you so much Keith. I appreciate and value your feedback.
kathleenweetman
 
kathleenweetman March 21, 2015
A real wonder ...voted
ChrisKIELY
ChrisKIELY March 21, 2015
Thank you so much Kathleen. I appreciate your feedback.
MaryAnne306 PRO+
 
MaryAnne306 March 24, 2015
Wonderful photo--great detail, clarity, color, and composition. And excellent composition, too. Congratulations on being a finalist!
ChrisKIELY
ChrisKIELY March 24, 2015
Thank you so much Mary-Anne for your wonderful comments and feedback. I was totally surprised to see my photo won the Award for being a finalist. I was over the moon.
snowdon PRO
 
snowdon March 24, 2015
Great photograph, congratulations on your Finalist Win in Technology Wonders
ChrisKIELY
ChrisKIELY March 24, 2015
Thank you so much my friend!! Long time, no see :) I was totally surprised to see my photo won the Award for being a finalist. I haven't learnt any more results yet. That in itself is fantastic. I saw your face pop up on here the other day, and I thought I must track you down and say g'day.
Kazza60
 
Kazza60 April 12, 2015
Congrats Chris .. missed this one .. so pleased for you !!!! an awesome image !!
kathleenweetman
 
kathleenweetman May 20, 2015
Voted in Astronomy comp.k
kathleenweetman
 
kathleenweetman May 31, 2015
Write a comment voted in Arcitextural design.
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Behind The Lens

Location

This photo was taken near Parkes, New South Wales, Australia - a few hours' drive from home. We were driving past on our holiday, and could see the massive structure for miles/kilometres, and decided to detour and visit this historical and magnificent Telescope.

Time

I took this photo around midday.

Lighting

The sun was shining which made perfect conditions for photographing this massive Telescope. With no clouds covering the sun, it provided a clear image to capture the finer details of the Dish.

Equipment

I used my Sony a500 to capture this image, without a tripod. I was able to rest my elbows on a fence, which served as a tripod, to keep the camera still.

Inspiration

I was inspired to take this photo, as we had driven past on many occasions over the years, not stopping to take a closer look at this historic monument. Five decades after starting work, the CSIRO's Parkes Telescope is still one of the World's leading radio telescopes. This Telescope is known informally as "the Dish". It was one of several radio antennas used to receive live, televised images of the NASA Apollo 11 Moon landing on 20 July, 1969. Its scientific contributions over the decades led the ABC to describe it as "the most scientific instrument ever built in Australia" after 40 years of operation. It is run by the CSIRO. It can tilt 60 degrees from vertical and would take 15 minutes to perform a 360 rotation. It has been instrumental in discovering many distant stars, comets and planets in our Universe. It stands 64 metres tall.

Editing

The only post processing I used for this image was to sharpen it a little. Other than that, it was left pretty much as it came off the camera.

In my camera bag

In my camera bag I carry two lenses. A Sony Alpha Telephoto/Macro Lens and a Portrait/Scenery lens. I also carry lens cleaner and wipes, several spare memory cards, a spare charged battery, battery charger, lens hood, and Book of Instructions which came with the Camera.

Feedback

I would advise anyone endeavouring to capture a large structure like this, in a fairly limited area with buildings and other obstructions, to use their smaller lens to be able to capture the whole of the structure as closely as possible, and edit out any buildings or subjects in the way. With this image I chose to concentrate on the Dish itself to try and express the enormity of the structure and show the detail of supporting architecture and housing beneath it. A telephoto lens would restrict the amount of the structure captured in the image.

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