Australian SKA hosts reach out to local communities for National Science Week

CSIRO Outreach & Education Specialist Rob Hollow giving a talk during National Science Week at a local school in Western Australia.

Credit: CSIRO

Hot on the heels of the big 50th Anniversary of Apollo 11 in Australia was National Science Week, themed The Moon, of course!

At CSIRO, we teamed up with Curtin University and ICRAR to celebrate science in Geraldton, the nearest large town to the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory (MRO). Our team started with a chat to the students who attend Meekathara School of the Air (MSOTA). These students live in the outback and attend school via the airwaves, and they are plugged in and switched on to science, keeping us busy with questions about the MRO and our precursor telescopes. CSIRO’s Outreach and Education Specialist, Rob Hollow has been visiting MSOTA since 2006 and has built a great relationship there. The team visited a range of schools around Geraldton and held some fun activities – noise levels with 300 young people modelling the Solar System were substantial! Students are so curious about the Universe, one even asked whether it’s possible to leave it?! They also love to hear about the SKA, it’s kind of special to know it’s being built in your own “backyard”. Our booked-out event at the local Museum, “From the Moon to the Murchison” took the audience on a journey from CSIRO’s involvement in the Moonlanding, with our Parkes Radio Telescope, across to Western Australia’s role in the space programme including new missions handled through the ESA deep space tracking facility and up to the Murchison, with it all leading towards the ultimate instrument – the SKA.

by Annabelle Young (CSIRO)