EYES ON THE SKY

Karen Bradford has always loved looking up at the sky. The 64-year-old from Glenorchy is fascinated by astronomy and loves the opportunity to share her passion.

Which makes her the perfect person to operate the Grote Reber Museum at the Mt Pleasant Radio Telescope Observatory at Cambridge, where thousands will flock tomorrow for a free open day.

Part of National Science Week, the event will give the public a chance to see the site’s radio telescope with its distinctive 26m antenna dish, operated by the University of Tasmania’s School of Natural Sciences.

Visitors will be able to fire water rockets, try liquid nitrogen ice-cream, watch 3D films and explore the museum honouring late radio astronomy pioneer Grote Reber, the first person to build a “big dish” antenna for mapping the sky at radio frequencies.

Reber was from the US but moved to Tasmania in the 1950s – aged in his 40s – because of the state’s unique location close to the south magnetic pole where radio waves are the strongest. He lived here until he died in 2002, aged 90.

Among those greeting visitors will be Bradford, who expects about 3000 people to attend. She worked at the University of Tasmania for years and helped establish the museum. She’s retired but has maintained involvement as manager/curator of the museum as a volunteer.

“It’s that wow effect,” she says of the telescope and museum and the impact they have on awe-struck visitors.

“It’s a really interesting thing to visit. There’s lots to see and do.”