And now, a blatant plug for the podcast I host, Lateral! Episodes with William Osman, Simone Giertz, Devin "Legal Eagle" Stone, and loads more people are over at lateralcast.com - and there are highlights at trvid.com/u-lateralcast !
John is a very enthusiastic and informative guide, and you can tell he absolutely loves his job. It's always so amazing to see such passionate people sharing what they love, and Tom's sheer indulgence in it is infectious. Another banger!
@1:09 Seemed a little sad that not a lot of atronomers visit, like it would get quite lonely. Rather in the past, the place must have been a neat "social" environment. Since replaced with virtual access.
@Bran Arnold That's the reason behind the sheer size: radio waves sources are generally far away and really weak. For example one of the most important radio frequencies in radio astronomy is the 21cm hydrigen line. It's emitted by a hyperifne transition in the hydrogen atom and it's used to calculate spiral galaxies rotational velocities: the wavelenght is really long, meaning low amounts of energy are emitted. Also, the resolution power of a telescope (how small of an angle can be where it can resolve two things separated by said angle) is wavelenght divided by diameter. So for such long wavelenghts a reaaaaally big diameter is needed
Wir sind bewusstlos, wenn wir schlafen oder ohnmächtig werden. Wenn wir bewusstlos sind, wir haben keine Gedanken, keine Emotionen und können die Welt nicht sehen. Wenn wir bewusst sind, wir wissen alles. Bewusstsein ist Gedanken, Emotionen und alles in der Welt. Dieses Bewusstsein ist eins. Wird das Bewusstsein zweigeteilt? Bewusstsein ist nicht teilbar. Spürst du zwei Arten von Bewusstsein, wenn du mit einem Freund sprichst? Das Bewusstsein wird nur als eins empfunden. Bewusstsein ist eins. Ich bin Bewusstsein und ich bin die Welt. Evangelium nach Thomas "Denn viele der Ersten werden die Letzten sein und werden zu einem einzigen." Jesus sagte: "Zwei werden sich auf ein Lager legen; einer wird sterben, einer wird leben." Aus diesem Grund sage ich, Wenn einer alles ist, wird es voller Licht sein, aber wenn einer gespalten ist, wird er voller Dunkelheit sein. Jesus sagte: „Warum wäschst du das Äußere des Bechers? Verstehst du nicht, dass derjenige, der das Innere gemacht hat, auch derjenige ist, der das Äußere gemacht hat?" Jesus sagte: „Ich bin das Licht, das über allen Dingen ist. Ich bin alles: aus mir ist alles hervorgegangen, und zu mir ist alles gelangt. Spalten Sie ein Stück Holz; Ich bin da. Erhebe den Stein, und du wirst mich dort finden." Eine [Person sagte] zu ihm: „Sag meinen Brüdern, sie sollen den Besitz meines Vaters mit mir teilen.“ Er sagte zu der Person: "Herr, wer hat mich zu einem Teiler gemacht?" Er wandte sich an seine Jünger und sagte zu ihnen: „Ich bin doch kein Teiler, oder?“
Tom as a seventy year old Australian I have to say I am very jealous. I have seen the dish from a distance but not up close and personal. Given the number of pieces you have produced featuring heights I find your continued apparent discomfort rather interesting. Please keep producing this material. I really enjoy your work.
As David Berrimans relative, i once broke a dish after dinner into hundreds of pieces that i had to pick up and he told me he wasnt jealous while up close and personal....
One of these days you should just go down there, ask questions, and see if you can do some of these types of things! People that do this kind of work are very passionate and sharing that passion with others is one of the joys of life!
Can we all just take a moment to appreciate how good of a guide John is? Presenting technical (and quite elaborate) information in an easy to understand manner, coupled with little quirks and bits of trivia about the facility without skipping a beat. I assume he has done this many times, but wow! A round of applause!
I love how John is having SO much fun showing all of this cool stuff to someone who's excited to hear about it. You can tell he thinks it's really really cool, too.
@Matteo Maximov You could tell when some of the questions Tom asked were about more specific parts and John looked both slightly surprised and really glad to hear those specific questions
After seeing Tom all harnessed up and clipped onto the safest walkway Ive ever seen for the high dive video its funny seeing him here completely free walking along an absolutly giganstic tipping bowl.
@Galaxis Where Tom was most uncomfortable on the dish was when he was standing on mesh, which the video doesn't really show very well, so he would have been able to see the ground. I probably would have freaked out too.
It's always interesting to see how counterintuitive a risk factor can be. Standing on a thousand tonne rotating metal bowl is no more dangerous than walking down a moderate hill, whilst the diving platform is designed with the assumption that you want to fall off of it, even if you *really* don't.
I always laugh at how timid he is about everything, and yet he still does all of this stuff. He probably plays it up a bit to try to communicate the feeling to the viewers.
As an Aussie these videos are so exciting! So far I've visited some of these places and now my fave youtuber is making videos on them!!! That never happens in Australia!
So I live in Parkes right. Finished a very long shift and saw Tom walk past as I was locking up. Thought I had gone delirious until this video was posted!
I love all your stuff, Tom, but this is best video you've done in a long time. The dish is fascinating, John is a great guide, and the fact that you literally WALKED OFF THE TELESCOPE is just amazing. Great episode!
The film John refers to is called ‘The Dish’, and was made in about 2000. It’s a great movie, one of the last Aussie films that showcases Aussie larrikinism and wit. Great video, Tom!
I’ve worked on a couple of programs about the dish, in 1984 and 2000, and apart from being able to crawl all over the structure etc, the most memorable part for me was chatting with the astrophysicists working there over dinner. Their descriptions of deep space etc blew my mind.
I was incredibly lucky to walk on The Dish about 25 years ago at an Astronomy open day. It absolutely blew my mind as a young kid. This brought back some memories! Cracking video Tom
This was abbsolutely and incredibly fascinating, all the tech in use and all the details you captured, then explained in laypersons' terms. I was picturing a "full tilted" position and saw the edge 60+ feet up; I did NOT expect the rim to come within a few feet of ground! Thank you for taking us on so many grand adventures, Mr. Scott!
Highly, highly, HIGHLY recommended everyone watches "The Dish" from 2000 (starring Sam Neill and Patrick Warburton) -- it's a comedy movie about how a town in rural Australia was chosen to transmit around the world the images from the 1969 moon landing, and the technological challenges they faced way back then. Aussie humour and cinema classic👌🏻
the fact a feather hitting the floor is more energy than has even been collected from the stars is mind blowing to me, it's crazy how amazing technology is
Dish 43 at the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex at Tidbinbilla (outside of Canberra, about 3.5 hours drive from Parkes) is tracking Voyager 2 at this exact moment!
I admire these folks for using PDP-11 computers to steer this dish! The engineers of that system can continue to be proud of what they’ve built. This whole complex is made of high-quality, long-lasting parts. Long live the great people who maintain and use this fantastic facility! Long life to the Parkes Telescope!
You have no idea how well timed this was. I live in Australia and today I was actually looking to buy a decent telescope to get into astronomy and astro photography.
What an absolute legend and an incredible teacher! That feather demonstration absolutely blew my mind, and I think everyone's. That's just incredible. This is why we watch Tom Scott
So jealous Tom. I am a Arecibo fanatic, but until they rebuild it, I needed a new favorite terrestrial telescope. Thanks to both of you for showing us a fantastic piece of engineering
It wasn't until the last 10 seconds that it actually hit me what "tilting the dish towards the ground" meant. For _several_ minutes, I was like haha, Tom's gonna do camera magic and 'hop' off the side of the dish. Just holy cow, the SCALE of this thing (and the building) is so… difficult to fathom.
@PrinceCuddles what do you mean not just? to my knowledge they are just giant complex graves. is this other use a relatively new discovery maybe? could you specify this other use?
This feels so nostalgic to watch as I remember going to the Dish for work experience in school with John. Got to use the telescope to collect some data from a neutron star. I recommend people to visit it.
Another top video by Tom Scott and crew. Seeing that massive dish tilt right down to the ground was amazing, it must have been incredible to ride it. What a treat.
As an engineer, I just want to watch the structure move and stare at the machinery at work. Amazing stuff! (not saying Tom and John aren't good! It's great to see someone as invested in their work and happy to share!... and to see Tom as agog as I would be)
As an Aussie, I need to let you all in on a little secret: John the Dish Wrangler might love his job, but he would have been really keen to see the end of Friday afternoon so that he could go home and sink a few tinnies with his mates. Signed: Mick, A guy who also loves science and works in a pathology lab at a major hospital… also doing a science every day 😊
I knew you would need to get there sooner or later. It’s amazing how this thing is still in active use and decently reliable well past the intended lifespan.
Can we all just take a moment to appreciate how good of a guide John is? Presenting technical (and quite elaborate) information in an easy to understand manner, coupled with little quirks and bits of trivia about the facility without skipping a beat. I assume he has done this many times, but wow! A round of applause!
I love how John is having SO much fun showing all of this cool stuff to someone who's excited to hear about it. You can tell he thinks it's really really cool, too.
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Having been aware of this telescope because of the fantastic film The Dish, I never quite realized the scale of the thing until you were walking around just under it. Nor did I think when you said "...to touching the ground" I didn't ever think that meant quite literally. Absolutely amazing it can do that!
I believe the entire instrument was designed by Barnes Wallis and part of the genius of the design is that clever cantilevering means that when the collector is tilted from vertical, instead of it distorting under gravity, the redirected forces actually tighten up the focus.
No doubt! I never thought about having the edge of the scope go down to get the equipment into the dish. But then, I should have thought of it. I’ve used the power of a piece of heavy equipment to help assemble and disassemble itself!
Fun fact: this is the telescope that picked mysterious radio signals at random times during daytime for 17 years. Then they were finally able to identify the signals: they came from a microwave oven in the facility. Source: The Guardian - Microwave oven to blame for mystery signal that left astronomers stumped
Australians have historically been absolutely obsessed with developing radio technology (one factor being that we're in such a large expansive country), so I'm not at all surprised to find out that we've got mind-boggling radio telescope stuff like this in remote areas.
“The Dish” movie still holds up. Always surprised it didn’t find a bigger audience in the US. And the DVD hold an amazing collection of NASA archive footage I’ve not seen elsewhere. “The Dish” is also a great place to visit. I now live about an hour away in Dubbo and been there about a dozen times. I can highly recommend the milkshakes and scones from the cafe too.
Can we take a moment to appreciate the camera operator here, who not only kept tom perfectly in frame whilst descending a moving dish, but also kept the shot level whilst doing that, without a horizon!
There are a good few videos like that, and I'm assuming a good portion has to do with a natural sense of balance and footing taking a more subconscious place in the mind since more focus is on placement/aiming of the shot itself. So when things go wonky and Tom is allowed the resources to get fumbly and worried, the camera operator's greater focus is on keeping Tom framed and likely holding back laughs haha
I remember when I was in kindergarten and my parents replaced the refrigerator, my brother and I loved sitting in the box while Dad tilted it upright. This seems like that, except slower, more open, and _way_ bigger. I can only _imagine_ what that might be like.
I highly suggest people watch the film 'The Dish'. It's a comedic take about the telescope's role in the Apollo Moon Landing. The scene where they play cricket in the dish itself is one of the most iconic scenes in all of cinema.
I grew up watching 'The Dish' and even got to visit Parks as a kid (too young to remember much about it though unfortunately). I've always wanted to ride on it. Tom, you're living my dream!
The way you had the feeling that you couldn't tell whether you were moving, or the dish was moving, or the sky was moving... I experienced something similar a few months ago when I took an engineering tour of the very honorable Mt. Wilson Observatory, located high above Pasadena, CA. Though built well over 100 years ago with parts that had to be lugged up the mountain by mules and very primitive Mack trucks, when you're in the 100" observatory dome and they turn the dome you think the telescope is turning, not you, the observer, on what you think is a unmoving platform. It's only when they open the outside door and you see that trees are moving by do you realize what's really happening.
0:00 - I was totally seeing that opening shot at a very different scale, and thought those little upright rods in the middle distance were the height of a person. Then the manhole opened and blew my mind! 😂
I visited the parkes telescope a few years back and I can say it was such an amazing experience. Getting to learn the history behind it and the sheer scale of it was just fascinating to me
I'm always fascinated by Tom's videos but this one was on a whole new level of interesting for me from a visual and mechanical design perspective. Thank you to Tom and his tour guide!
I loved that. I remember years ago, seeing a programme where a guy was going up to change the aircraft warning light at the top of the spire of Salisbury Cathedral, and he went up inside, on increasingly narrow and rickety spiral stairs, and the opened a door, and it cut to the view from below, and it was a tiny little hatch right at the top of the spire.
Having recently had a similar experience when visiting the VLA (albeit with a static dish), I can thoroughly recommend it, if you happen to visit New Mexico at some point! Maybe you could do a climbing tour of landmark radio telescopes? 🤩 And I can tell you, observing with these beauties is even more of a thrill. Best job in the world!
There was previous video that had a similarly enthusiastic and informative expert guide Tom was interviewing although I cannot remember the exact details. I think it was maybe a waterworks or bridge-works?
Awesome video, Tom! I've been there, but only on the ground / in the visitors' center. The telescope is spectacular enough from there, but the view inside the dish is amazing 🙂🙃🙂
That was actually a fantastic explanation! I had no idea so little energy was collected, we know so much from little information. Also: the Alarm it sounded reminds me of regional footy games. Noice
“The amount of energy the feather expended when it struck the floor is more energy than has ever been collected by every radio telescope ever” what a mind boggling comparison!
I'm not sure about every radio telescope, but there are some you can't even use cars with spark plugs around because the spark to start the combustion will get picked up. The Green Bank Observatory over in West Virginia has to keep a little fleet of diesel cars to navigate the grounds.
no wonder a smartphone, which emits radiation in the order of milliwatts, shines as bright as a bonfire to a telescope like this, even when placed on the moon.
I'm one of the lucky few to have walked the surface, though admittedly, the dish remained static. Even used the teeny tiny lift to the focus cabin, and then had to climb down by one of the ladders, as one of the staff had called the lift back down, for his trip up. Fantastic view from up there!!
Now, do yourselves a favour and watch THE best Aussie made movie I've ever come across: The Dish (2000). Classic Australian humour at it's best, wrapped around the real life dramatic event of the moon landing. Still one of my all time favourite movies.
As a radio astronomer, I was so happy to see this video! There really is nothing like going up into a dish - I've been on the Efflesberg radio telescope. I've never observed with Parkes, but I have with another Australian telescope, ATCA (they're both operated by the same institute). It's an amazing feeling when you're observing remotely from the UK, and knowing that you're responsible for such huge things turning and looking at astronomical objects for you. You might be sick of radio astronomy now, but you have got an invite to Jodrell Bank Observatory in your suggestions submission form! Come say hello next time you're up this way. :)
I was in Effelsberg about thirty years ago as a really interested kid (not an astronomer, still became a physicist). I'm still impressed and jealous by you gals and guys getting the bigger toys.. (though Effelsberg is, I believe, no longer operational, isn't it?).
@Jett Nash in short yes. In longer form kinda. The satellites operate on different frequencies mostly to what is being observed and in some places starlink is turned off around the telescopes. If you take a look at their coverage map you'll see a big missing circle in western Australia. That's over the square kilometre array that's being built there. It's much more of an issue for optical astronomy. SpaceX are at least working on it now and all of their future satellites are to be at magnitude -7 so they should be invisible to the naked eye. It'll probably help by not totally flooding the optical sensors but it'll still get in the way probably.
@zyeborm Dad was involved in making part of the mount for the Anglo-Australian Telescope at Siding Springs. He always said he built toys for scientists.
One small step for Tom, at the end! I'm not just taking a phrase from space lore in a silly way, I genuinely thought from the beginning that Tom not wearing a harness and relying utterly on correctly repositioning himself to avoid tumbling to disaster was crazy risky. Then it was revealed how the curve lines up with the ground at full deflection wasn't so bad.
Tom, thanks so much for this! That gentleman's analogies w the feather and cell phone on the moon were extremely relatable. One thing that would help the video a bit, tho, would be to show a world map or map of Australia and show where this is located. I know where Australia is, but am fairly clueless about locations within Australia... Thanks!
Immediately intrigued by Tom Scott emerging from his burrow like a science-obsessed badger, and then John held my attention for ten minutes. This is a top-tier Blue Peter segment!
My college project was the construction of a radiotelescope. During my research, I read alot about this particular radio telescope. I was successful in my project, the signalsI picked up wasnt very clear due to lots of interference but I was glad I did the project P.S I studied Industrial Physics
The dish itself would make a really cool performance stage for opera. Tilt the dish forward to reveal the inside of the dish to the audience, fill it with light, use the movement of the dish as a "stage curtain" to reveal a modest orchestra and an opera singer inside the dish.
This is amazing - thank you for going places I never would go to and speaking to people I never would (be able to) talk to. I owe you much regarding my horizon! Thank you!
People like Jack are so important for their science communicating abilities. The feather demo, the explanation about a cell phone on the moon, these are things that seem so simple and obvious, but is really a lost art in many scientific communities.
This is fascinating, and I am amazed that no safety equipment is used, but I can see how it could cause damage... and if worst comes to worst, well, you're on a giant slide.
If you haven't seen the movie "The Dish" then I thoroughly recommend finding a copy somewhere and watching it. It's a reasonably historically accurate portrayal of the Moon landing through the eyes of a suddenly temporarily important country town in 1960's Australia.
I'm not entirely sure where I expected it to end, but I spent this whole time wondering why there was no harnesses or anything, because what if you just fell off the edge. I was entirely unprepared for the dish being so big that, fully tilted, it just... touches the ground.
As an asbestos expert from the NY City area, I approve of the Australian asbestos warning sign! Love to see how asbestos is regulated around the world. If you had a video on asbestos in your travels, I’d definitely be interested!
