The 74 inch telescope dome looks much the same, and alas, it is.
The outside paint is still good, but the inside is still a burnt out mess.
From late 2009 until April 2010, Canberra's National Gallery of Australia had scored a rare and magnificent exhibition of "the crème de la crème of the Musée d’Orsay’s collection" to quote the press release. Figuring this would be good to see, and that Canberra is a much easier place to visit than Paris, a plan was hatched. I booked tickets for March 3rd, hoping this might be something of a quiet time before the likely rush of visitors towards the end.
The plan evolved, so on Tuesday, March 2nd, I rode down to Bendalong to have lunch with my brother Peter and Yvonne, then headed off to Canberra for a couple of nights with Peter and Sarah. And so it happened.
Well, this time I did visit the whole museum, but I have to say my initial impression of my short first visit did not change. I just don't "get" this museum - it seems to be a collection of unrelated stuff. The only theme appears to be that it's Australian stuff.
By then it was time to visit the gallery. One benefit of riding was having reserved motorcycle parking quite close to the gallery entrance. And the timing was excellent, as the wait to enter was about 10 minutes. I opted for the audio headset, which worked well, with useful and relevant information on the major works. The exhibition was excellent; it is one thing to see artworks in a book; it's another whole matter to see them in the flesh, where you can peer into the detail, for instance. Naturally, no photos are allowed inside the gallery!
After the exhibition, Peter came down and we went to the cafeteria; Peter for a drink, but I wanted something to eat - for a late lunch! After lunch, Mt. Stromlo became the destination.
The 74 inch telescope dome looks much the same, and alas, it is.
The outside paint is still good, but the inside is still a burnt out mess.
The business end of one of the telescopes, or rather former telescopes.
The ring structure would have been at the focal point of the instrument.
A close up of the "seeing" section of the former telescope. Clearly
it has seen better days.
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| Lens remnants? | Light electronic sensor? |
It's not entirely obvious what the piece on the right is; that on the left appears to be a (former) lens.
The old main building is still a shell. Perhaps never to be rebuilt.
A view of the Brindabella Ranges from Mt. Stromlo, near the old main building.
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The above photos are the remnants of the Oddie Refractor Telescope, or more precisely the building left after the 2003 fire.
This is the combined Satellite Laser Ranging Facility and Electo Optic
Systems Space Research Centre. The former replaced a previous
facility destroyed in the 2003 fire. It is used to measure the changing
shape of the earth and movement of the crustal plates. The latter is
more concerned with tracking space debris, benchmarking of optical
performance of instruments and telescope technology test facility.
It opened after the 2003 fire.
Telstra's Black Mountain tower, as seen from Mt. Stromlo.
Lake Burley Griffin and the Commonwealth Avenue bridge, as well as
the Museum of Australia, the latter being to the left of the bridge,
and marked by the red and yellow colours.
Next morning I rode out to Tidbinbilla. Since the last visit, the Deep Space dish - from the Apollo days - has been decommissioned, but is still standing there. So, no photos.
Then the ride home was uneventful, and life was back to "normal" after a couple of very pleasant days of riding and friendship. Oh, and art exhibition!
2010