The Dish at Parkes is 50!

The Dish at Parkes (the tracking station that is, not the movie) has reached the grand old age of 50 years.

However, it's only old on the outside. Everything inside is new and some 10,000 times more sensitive than when it was built.

Here's an interesting fact: half the known pulsars were found by Parkes!

Here's the audio and transcript of an interview from Radio National's great Science Show about the Dish:
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/scienceshow/stories/2011/3350831.htm