New England Tours6, Cotton CapitalNarrabri Nanaburi
250 km from Lightning Town, the inland town of Narrabri, located five hours northwest of Sydney, has a population of about 6,000 and is the most famous cotton planting and processing center in New South Wales.
History and current status of Australian cotton development. Cotton was introduced to Australia in 1788. The first export to England was in 1830, consisting of only three bales of cotton. In 1934, cotton production increased to 17,000 bales (1 bale = 227 kg). In 1975, the total cotton production reached 110,000 bales. Cotton production has developed rapidly since the 1980s, and the total cotton output reached 1.1 million bales in 1985. In 1998, the total output reached 3 million bales. In the past 20 years, due to the promotion of new varieties and technological progress, the lint cotton production has increased by 50-60%. The current average yield has reached 1,600 kg/hectare, making China one of the countries with the highest cotton yield in the world. By 1991, Australia had become the world's sixth largest cotton producer and third largest cotton exporter, with its total cotton production accounting for 5% of the world's total. In 2018, the cotton harvested area reached 600,000 hectares, and the total lint cotton output reached 3.55 million bales (806,000 tons), setting a record high.
Cotton is Australia's fifth largest agricultural industry, with an annual output value of A$2.5 billion and cottonseed output value of A$200 million. Narribri is the cotton center of Australia. The cotton industry directly employs 6,000 full-time permanent staff, and including the service industry in cotton-producing areas, the total output value of Australia's cotton industry is approximately A$3 billion. Cotton is Australia's fourth largest agricultural export, with 95% of cotton sold to international markets. However, due to severe drought and other reasons in the past three years, Australia's cotton planting area has declined rapidly and total output has dropped sharply.
Other agricultural industries in the Narribri area include wheat, beef and lamb. Nearby attractions include Mount Kaputar National Park, Paul Wilder Observatory Centre (managed by CSIRO) and Cotton Agricultural Centre. To the south of the town is the Pilliga Forest, the largest remaining temperate forest in eastern Australia. There are also small hot springs and the Narribri Fish Farm, a freshwater fish farm, nearby.
My favorite attraction is the Sawn Rocks National Park 30 kilometers away. In fact, these rocks were formed by volcanic activities 17 million to 21 million years ago. After that, the local basalt weathered and peeled off for a long time to form its current appearance. The appearance is like an artificially carved organ, which is very magical. The hike is suitable for the whole family, but it is recommended that you go to see it as soon as possible, otherwise the long-term peeling may soon change the shape.
The local observatory center (Australia Telescope Compact Array) has six huge astronomical telescopes. The 70-foot-wide telescope helps study stars that are surrounded by clouds of glowing diamond dust, and has been used to image spectacular supernova remnants and nearly invisible ghost galaxies. Visitors to the impressive Astronomy Center can enjoy free admission every day.
Want to explore the wonders of the universe without the light years and journeys? Welcome to the exciting world of astrotourism, where Earth-based astronomers and their telescopes take you on a journey to the stars. Narribri's clear skies and largely uninhabited land make it one of the top five observatories and telescope centres in NSW.
IWeThe only life in the universe??
The Australian National Astronomical Observatory's Parkes Radio Telescope has joined the search for alien civilizations program and will work with the US observatory to search for alien signals in space.
According to the Australian ANN (Aussie Network News) website, Russian billionaire Yuri Milner said: "The addition of the Parkes telescope is a milestone. These observation instruments are the ears of the earth, listening to the signals of other civilizations."
In 2015, Milner invested $100 million and co-founded a ten-year search for aliens program with British scientist Hawking - the Breakthrough Initiatives, one of which is the Breakthrough Listen project.
The project uses radio and optical technology to observe signals within the Milky Way and a hundred nearby galaxies, and to screen and judge signals from extraterrestrial civilizations.
divisionstudyThe world pointed out that the rootData machineRate analysis,Countless distantIn the galaxy,SeveralIt is almost impossible that there is no alien life.
Matthew Bailes, an astronomer at Swinburne University of Technology in Australia, is the Australian coordinator of the Breakthrough Listen project. He said: "Breakthrough Listen will not only search for extraterrestrials (ET), but will also use the Parkes telescope to simultaneously explore astronomical phenomena such as pulsars and fast-ray bursts (FRBs), which is also the main task of this telescope at present."
The telescopes currently used in the Breakthrough Listen project include the Green Bank Radio Telescope in West Virginia and the Automated Planet Finder at Lick Observatory in Mount Hamilton, California. Both telescopes began searching in January this year.
Douglas Bock of the Australian National Academy of Sciences (CSIRO) said that the Parkes telescope is facing space in the southern hemisphere, which will increase the chances of receiving alien signals. Scientists say that although the Parkes telescope has joined the Breakthrough Listen project, finding aliens is not easy.
John Reynolds of the Australian Academy of Sciences said: "Although I am a little skeptical, I like the idea of looking for aliens. Although the chances of success are small, this is real scientific exploration." However, the late famous physicist Hawking also warned again that if humans receive alien signals, they need to be cautious and not respond. This is related to the safety of the entire earth in the universe.
Just in 2016, scientists found evidence that Proxima Centauri, the closest star to us (other than our sun), is the "sun" of another Earth-like planet. Many exoplanets have been discovered before, but Proxima b is different because it is within the detectable range. Although four light years is a very long distance, it is conceivable that if there is a habitable environment there, it will become the first place for humans to colonize in the future.
The next episode will take you to the final stop in New England: the capital of country music.
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