Australia as a country is progressing in leaps and bounds when it comes to scientific achievements. These achievements have improved with the country’s infrastructural upgrade over the course of the past few years. Australia is now inching closer to carving a spot in the top-tier of astronomically researched countries. When you visit Australia, these are the few observatories you should look out for.

Parkes Observatory

The Parkes Observatory is located twenty kilometers north Parkes, that is just off the Newell Highway. This Observatory is most for its Radio Telescope also known as “The Dish” This telescope is almost fifty years old but is still considered to be one of the world’s most powerful single dish radio telescopes in the world. All visitors to the place are allowed to enjoy the ravishing view from this telescope. Apart from that, the visitors can also enjoy the displays, 3D exhibits and audio- visual presentations. The observatory also has a Dish café and picnic garden that is equipped with barbeque grills; so this can be a fun and educational trip for your entire family.

Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex

This space communication center is located about thirty-five kilometers to the Southwest of Canberra. It is one of Australia’s most premier space complexes and forms a distinct and important part of NASA’s Deep Space Network. Tidbinbilla, as this complex is also called, establishes communication with long touring spacecrafts that explore our solar system and then gathers information for computation and research. The most famous attraction here is the almost seventy meter long antenna which is the longest in Australia. A special visitor’s center that has been created for tourists facilitates visual presentations, images and models from spacecrafts that are touring the solar system. Another important tourist attraction here is the Moon Rock which is one of the very few actual moon rocks in the world. The Moon Rock Café and the adjoining gift shop is a fun destination to take a break and buy a few souvenirs.

The Mt. Stromlo Observatory

The Mt. Stromlo Observatory is one of Australia’s oldest observatories. This observatory is part of the Australian National University’s Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics. The Siding Spring Observatory which is its sister observatory is also a part of the University. Considered to be a heritage site amongst observatories, Mt. Stromlo used to house telescopes that dated back to the 17th century. However, a fire storm in 2003 ruined the observatory and damaged a major part of its collection. The famous observatory does not perform any research any more but the University that it is a part of has built a high-powered telescope called the “SkyMapper” in Siding Spring that compensated to a large extent to the loss of researching techniques that had been incurred due to the fire.

Observatories and astronomical structures have become a part of Australia’s guided efforts towards scientific development in the country. These structures have been developed rapidly over the past few years and have now put Australia on the world map when it comes to space research.