VR film showcasing Australia’s SKA site launches

BY ICRAR

In December, the award-winning Perth-based production company White Spark Pictures launched a virtual reality documentary called Beyond the Milky Way. Filmed with specialised 360-degree cameras capable of extreme resolution and narrated by Professor Brian Cox, the film takes audiences on a tour of CSIRO’s Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory (MRO), the future home of the SKA-Low telescope.

Starting with the story of the SKA precursor telescopes, ASKAP and the MWA, Beyond the Milky Way highlights the wonder of high-tech radio telescopes within ancient Wajarri country at the MRO. Guided by SKAO, CSIRO and ICRAR experts, viewers experience the anticipation within the scientific community for the SKA telescopes and are left with a sense of awe at the scale and beauty of SKA-Low, and the deep Indigenous culture of the Murchison region.

December’s world premiere of Beyond the Milky Way, held at the WA Museum Boola Bardip, Perth, launched a bumper season that lasted until mid-March after a four-week extension due to popular demand. Next up is a tour of all WA Museum venues throughout Western Australia before showing across Australia, New Zealand and internationally.

Supported by CSIRO and ICRAR, the White Spark crew visited the MRO several times throughout 2021, overcoming technical challenges, pandemic lockdowns, and relentless flies to capture the unique nature of the site and surrounding landscape.

“We put SKA-Low Site Construction Director Ant Schinckel inside an ASKAP dish, we had an incredible campfire under the stars with Wajarri woman and CSIRO Aboriginal Liaison Officer Leonie Boddington, and we stood in awe as the first rays of sunrise lit up the prototype antennas for SKA-Low,” said Briege Whitehead, White Spark’s creative director. “In the years to come, through the power of VR, we will share these unique experiences with tens of thousands of people in Australia and beyond, giving them a better idea of what radio astronomy is and what the SKA project is all about.”

Professor Cathryn Trott from the Curtin University node of ICRAR. In this shot, Cath is about to give her lines as the first rays of sunlight strike the SKA-Low prototype antennas, lighting them up like… Christmas trees.

Credit: ICRAR