Visitors can see at least some of the six 22 m dish shaped radio telescopes making up the Paul Wild Observatory, which form part of the multi-site Australia Telescope. Even though the dishes are spread out over up to 6 km, they work together, and they can be moved on a very wide guage railway track to change their configuration.

There is an unstaffed visitors centre at the facility, with displays and videos explaining how the telescopes work and radio astronomy more generally. Outside there are a pair of large whispering dishes and there explanatory signs around the grounds.

There is a picnic and barbeque area for visitors. Admission to the visitor centre is free.

The facility is approximately 25 km to the west of Narrabri. Drive about 20 km along Yarrie Lake Road until you see a sign on the right pointing the “Australia Telescope”. The observatory is about 2 km down that road.

Photo: Luke Chapman (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)