We all know that Parkes has become internationally renowned for the Elvis Festival each January.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
However, the town has also been quietly building another festival over the past 15 or so years – the CWAS AstroFest, hosted by the Parkes-based Central West Astronomical Society.
AstroFest has been held each July since 2003 to foster an interest in astronomy and to celebrate the town’s world-famous film star, the Parkes Radio Telescope, affectionately known as “The Dish”.
The connection between Elvis’ rock n’roll and astronomy is closer than people may think.
Fans may have possibly seen documentaries hosted by Professor Brian Cox.
Although now an astrophysicist, he was the keyboard player with English groups Dare as well as D:Ream in the 1980s.
Dr Brian May is another astrophysicist. He first became known to the public as the lead guitarist in British rock band Queen.
In fact, Dr May wrote many of the supergroup’s best known hits, including ‘We Will Rock You’.
Sadly, neither of these two rock star-astronomers will be at this year’s AstroFest.
However, the two-day celebration will feature many other international “rock stars” of the astronomy world.
This year’s AstroFest will take place this Saturday, July 15 (in the Coventry Room next to the Parkes Shire Library) and this Sunday, July 16 (in the Visitor Centre of The Dish, about 20 kilometres north of Parkes).
The prestigious “John Bolton Lecture” is one of the highlights of the weekend and is this year delivered by Peter Robertson from the University of Melbourne.
Peter has recently written a biography of John Bolton, “John Bolton and a New Window on the Universe”.
John Bolton was the first director of the Parkes Radio Telescope and was the leading Australian astronomer of his time.
The character in the movie “The Dish” played by Sam Neill was loosely based on John.
Another of the weekend’s highlights is the AstroFest dinner and presentation of the David Malin Astrophotography Awards on Saturday evening.
David Malin is a world-famous pioneering professional astrophotographer.
The fact that David Malin is the judge of the competition is one of the reasons that astrophotographers from all over Australia travel to Parkes for the weekend to have their beautiful images of the heavens judged and critiqued.
The other reason for the competition’s popularity is that Canon Australia supports it each year with prizes worth thousands of dollars.
The winning entries will also be on display at the Visitor Centre of The Dish from Sunday morning.
A series of fascinating talks will be given by international astrophotographers Dr Yuri Beletsky and Christopher Go, and Australian astronomer Dr Brad Tucker.
Previous knowledge of astronomy is not necessary to enjoy these talks.
All attendees need is a little curiosity to learn more about some of the amazing things in our night sky.
Dr Yuri and Christopher Go will also be conducting workshops for people who may want to refine their astrophotography skills.
The AstroFest is structured so that people can attend the entire festival or the sessions that are of particular interest to them.
Although people may register in person from 9am on Saturday morning at the Coventry Room, they may also register on-line to avoid queues.
The full program, and registration and other details are available at www.cwas.org.au/astrofest/
More details on guest speakers:
Dr Yuri Beletsky
Dr Yuri Beletsky, astronomer and astrophotographer, will be conducting an astrophotography workshop during this weekend’s AstroFest. He will also be explaining how amateur astronomers can remotely use three large telescopes high in the Chilean Andes of South America to take beautiful astrophotographs.
Christopher Go
Christopher Go is an internationally-renowned astrophotographer who has collaborated with professional astronomers in confirming many new discoveries in our Solar System. Having an asteroid named after him is only one of his many achievements. He will be conducting a workshop during the AstroFest to help participants improve their astrophotography. He will also describe many of his adventures in astronomy.
Peter Robertson
Peter Robertson will give the prestigious John Bolton Lecture, appropriately enough about John Bolton himself. John Bolton was the first director of the Parkes Radio Telescope and was the leading Australian astronomer of his time. The character played by Sam Neill in the movie, The Dish, was loosely based on John Bolton. Peter Robertson has also recently written a biography of the great astronomer.
Brad Tucker
Dr Brad Tucker is an astrophysicist and cosmologist from the Mt Stromlo Observatory at the Australian National University. He gained his PhD while working with Australian Nobel Prize winner Brian Schmidt. Brad will be speaking at the AstroFest about exploding stars, dark energy, explosions and collisions in space, and the end of the Universe (although this won’t happen for billions of years so we have nothing to worry about).
