Parkes Observatory

Parkes Observatory

"The Dish" at Parkes Observatory as seen in 1969, when it received signals from the Apollo 11 Moon Landing.
Organization	Australia Telescope National Facility
Location	Parkes, New South Wales, Australia
Coordinates	32°59′59.8″S 148°15′44.3″E / 32.999944°S 148.262306°E / -32.999944; 148.262306
Established	31 October 1961
Website	www.parkes.atnf.csiro.au
Telescopes
Parkes Radio Telescope 64m movable radio dish
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Coordinates: 32°59′59.8″S 148°15′44.3″E / 32.999944°S 148.262306°E / -32.999944; 148.262306

The Parkes Observatory (also known informally as "The Dish") is a radio telescope observatory, located 20 kilometres north of the town of Parkes, New South Wales, Australia. It was one of several radio antennas used to receive live, televised images of the Apollo 11 moon landing on 20 July 1969. Its scientific contributions over the decades led the ABC to describe it as "the most successful scientific instrument ever built in Australia" after 50 years of operation.

The Parkes Observatory is run by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) as part of the Australia Telescope National Facility (ATNF) network of radio telescopes. It is frequently operated together with other CSIRO radio telescopes, principally the array of six 22-metre (72 ft) dishes at the Australia Telescope Compact Array near Narrabri, and a single 22-metre (72 ft) dish at Mopra (near Coonabarabran), to form a very long baseline interferometry array.