Science & Technology

Head of Faculty – Science & Technology

Chris Pacey

CSIRO Young Indigenous Women’s STEM Academy – PULSE@Parks

On Wednesday June 3, Year 9 students Patience Hampton-Tungutalum and Jorja Triffett participated in the PULSE@Parks seminar through the CSIRO’s Young Indigenous Women’s STEM Academy.

The half day workshop had an Astronomy focus, exploring pulsars – celestial objects, thought to be rapidly rotating neutron stars. Patience and Jorja had the opportunity to remotely operate a 64m Parkes radio telescope to observe pulsars and analyse the data they collected to learn more about Astrological anomalies.  

ABOVE: The CSIRO Parks Radio Telescope

During the session they also had the opportunity to discuss astronomy and science careers with astronomers and educators alike. When asked about the experience both participants agreed that it was interesting, but very involved. “While I don’t think I will pursue a career in astronomy, it was a good experience to learn more about pulsars from experts in the field,” Patience said. Jorja found the whole experience very engaging “It was really fun being able to ‘remotely’ operate the Parks telescope”.