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 kzclip.org/user/lateralcast !
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.
David head on down to the visitor centre and ask about tours. They do have semi regular tours you can book. If not you can still get a good view from the centre grounds. Hope this helps!
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!
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!
@HauptuhrDotNet blog Interesting, I've legitimately never heard that word. (American) I don't think we really have an equivalent word here, since words like "ruffian" or "criminal" have more of a negative connotation.
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.
There's something about spending time among people with planet-sized brains which simultaneously makes you feel smarter but also makes you feel very basic. :)
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!
I was writing the same. He loves his job and knows so much. I've seen only a few people that love their job and the things they're working with, like the John does. Everyone dreams of having a job that you love like he loves his telescope.
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!
A few months ago my brother did an internship here, and when he came back the number 1 thing he talked about was how great John was and how cool it was to go out onto the dish. Honestly, I’m kinda jealous of him, what an amazing experience.
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.
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.
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
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
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@HaydenHattrick the dude who told tom that is a highly trained professional, as he is the one chosen to show tom around the place. I doubt that he would tell tom misinformation...
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!
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!
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!
It blows my mind that they could ever possibly filter out all of the radio noise from earth and satellites and the sun and the planets in our system and somehow manage to see distant celestial bodies through all the haze
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
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.
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👌🏻
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
I LOVE this telescope so much! For my 40th birthday in 1999, my 2 daughters asked "Dad, what's THE most important place you want to visit?" - So... here we went! ...Also, "The Dish" (by director Rob Sitch) is perhaps THE most gentle, kind, quirky, fun, and lovely little movie ever made♥♥♥
I always appreciate that Tom doesn't tell us what his interviewee said, he just shows us. So many youtubers only show small clips and then explain themselves what they learned from the interview. I see enough of the youtuber already! Show me the awesome people! Thanks Tom!
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 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 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.
@Rob Fraser yup :) The way they did it was great though, as one of them looks up as they realise that & says something to the others "hey guys........ I think I know where it is" or something & points & they all look up & then the camera cuts to the moon in the sky. Probably doesn't come across in reading, but the comic timing in the film makes it really work :)
@Me Here Not seen the film yet but if I was looking to locate something heading between Earth and the Moon and I was on Earth I would point my telescope at the moon.
I need to rewatch it, I thought it was golf they played, but cricket probably makes more sense. The scene where they've lost the link with the rocket that's travelling to the moon & freak out becasue how are they going to get it back, cause the sky's WAY too big to scan to find the signal within the next few days, only to realise they can maybe narrow down roughly where to point the telescope to find the rocket is my favourite
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.
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 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.
As a deep sky astrophotographer, this is one of the videos I’ve understood the best! Really cool to see. I used to visit Goonhilly a lot as a child and the dishes there were so amazing to see, almost ominous figures. Equatorial (and Alt-az) mounts are really fascinating the way they work and are essential to what most astronomers now do. I timelapse my telescope setup pointing at the night sky a lot, but I think most people don’t quite realise they move at an incredibly slow speed making a timelapse necessary to even see the movement.
Hi Tom, I love this video! I'm an insect migration scientist and every year we travel to the Pass of Bujaruelo in the Pyrenees to study the Autumnal insect migration. On some days we have upwards of a million hoverflies moving through the 30m wide pass, all using the sun as a compass and the wind to power their movements. It is a truly remarkable site and could be a fun idea for a video!
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!
typical Aussie thinking :) We invent a lot of stuff cause of this sort of style of thinking. Why work hard if there's an easier way to acheive the same result :)
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!
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)
The mic drop moment (or feather, in this case!) at 2:30 is an incredible bit of information and such a powerful demonstration of just how much effort goes into radio-astronomy. And tom's look when he hears it is a testament to that! Brilliant video, and brilliant guide work from John.
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
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.
This Aussie guy explaining how everything works is incredible. He explains everything very simply while also being very informative. Fair play to you Jack. Great work. Thanks Tom
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!
✝️ LORD JESUS DIED & ROSE AGAIN TO PAY THE DEBT OF UR SIN! ✅By Faith in the sacrifice God has made are we saved from the penalty of sin! 🔵Turn from your sin that leads to death & accept His Gift that leads to eternal Life! 💜We are all sinners that need God. No one can say they are perfect to be able to pay their debt of sin. This is why only God could pay the penalty for us, that is merciful Love!
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 😊
Tom Scott you are the coolest!!! Thank you so much for the hard work you and your team put into making these videos possible. This, is what KZclip is all about ✨
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.
I love the movie The Dish, thanks for this awesome look at the real Parkes. I always assumed the control room scenes were just a sound stage, but it looks like a lot of scenes were filmed inside the real Parkes!
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.
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
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?
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!
I love the shot at 5:04 showing the *massive* counterweight that keeps the telescope balanced as it tilts over; it seems so impossible otherwise that it could tilt over all the way to the ground and not fall over, especially given (as he says at 6:38) it's not actually attached to the building!
Back in college I used to partake in Seti@home, where volunteers used their computers to analyze data from telescope like these. Never found anything but it felt good to be a small part of progress
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
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!
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.
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!
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.
This is stupendously amazing! I enjoyed every second of it. @TomScottGo could you please share the uncut long version of it? The raw footage if you can. Like many others I might watch it with enthusiasm.
“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.
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 🙂🙃🙂
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.
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!
✝️ LORD JESUS DIED & ROSE AGAIN TO PAY THE DEBT OF UR SIN! ✅By Faith in the sacrifice God has made are we saved from the penalty of sin! 🔵Turn from your sin that leads to death & accept His Gift that leads to eternal Life! 💜We are all sinners that need God. No one can say they are perfect to be able to pay their debt of sin. This is why only God could pay the penalty for us, that is merciful Love!
the fact that a cell phone on the moon wouldn't just be detectable, but would be the *strongest radio signal in the sky,* is absolutely mind-blowing to me
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 kzclip.org/user/lateralcast !
A pair of pasty white arms in a red T-shirt clambering into some kind of adventure means only one thing, Tom Scott has another vid!
Great video! Any chance you could upload the full video of you riding the dish? Would be kinda fun to just see the whole thing.
So a Dish of this kind is commonly referred to as a Telescope is it? Since When? & Why?
Nice
Very nice
How the dish at that angle doesn't rip off from the building is quite interesting
@Josephine Bennington Agreed
bro its the guy making a video on games
@Sebastian Amadeus van Brahms that’s right. It’s supported by its own foundation and inner structure
Best believe what you see above ground isn’t all their is I’m sure the foundation goes down in the ground a good bit
the center point of the weight is always in the middle
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.
@Frank Musgrove So.. If only he blew you a kiss too huh 😂
He looks so young for 70 years old!
David head on down to the visitor centre and ask about tours. They do have semi regular tours you can book.
If not you can still get a good view from the centre grounds.
Hope this helps!
yes
@Frank Musgrove always be careful with your satellite dishes after dinner
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!
He’s Australian, so that’s a given
you are absolutely correct
He’s not just a guide, he is (or was as of three years ago) officially an Operations scientist. Wild.
He needs his own... radio show.
Yup, the fact that he's using comparisons to give his audience a sense of how large things are tells me he's been doing this for a long while
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!
@Cheyenne Rose I do the same thing. A year 2000 car, oh that's brand new! Wait, no, no it's really not............
@HauptuhrDotNet blog Interesting, I've legitimately never heard that word. (American)
I don't think we really have an equivalent word here, since words like "ruffian" or "criminal" have more of a negative connotation.
@Ben McCann The family from The Darling Buds of May?
@Vigilant Cosmic Penguin it’s a widely known and understood noun here in Australia.
"so imagine there's a basketball with two valves"
0:55 I love that even a high-tech facility has a staircase that wouldn't look out of place in a local Aussie footy/cricket clubroom
I mght have seen that staircase in germany too.
this is just true
I clicked the time stamp and burst out laughing, you're so right
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.
There's something about spending time among people with planet-sized brains which simultaneously makes you feel smarter but also makes you feel very basic. :)
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!
I was writing the same.
He loves his job and knows so much. I've seen only a few people that love their job and the things they're working with, like the John does.
Everyone dreams of having a job that you love like he loves his telescope.
Hi
Absolutely agree. He was amazing here.
Even after 10 years you still look the same scott you never will age will you?
Hes just Australian Mate
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!
When he hopped onto the ground I legit let out a “that was freaking awesome.” I had no clue it would go that far.
A few months ago my brother did an internship here, and when he came back the number 1 thing he talked about was how great John was and how cool it was to go out onto the dish. Honestly, I’m kinda jealous of him, what an amazing experience.
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.
Haha I did the same thing was a great experience
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.
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
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
@HaydenHattrick the dude who told tom that is a highly trained professional, as he is the one chosen to show tom around the place. I doubt that he would tell tom misinformation...
@Rex_Power~Colt07 yes, Canberra in Australia. The Tidbinbilla NASA complex is about a 45 minute drive from the city centre.
@Mashy
Canberra Australia?
Or somewhere else
It like technically yes but no
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!
I was so excited to hear them mention the PDP-11 that it distracted me from the rest of the video for a while. DEC made great computers.
I'm amazed it's still using a pdp11 as well! It was, is, a great machine, but WHEN it finally breaks, where in the world will they get parts?
John is so knowledgable you can really see how passionate he is about his work. Incredible interview!
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!
I presume you've seen his video from the town of Asbestos?
I know it’s a small thing, but as a retrocomputing enthusiast seeing a mighty PDP-11 from DEC still “on duty” made my heart pump a tiny bit faster ❤
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!
The part about the energy in the feather hitting the floor being larger than that collected by all radio telescopes ever was _genuinely_ mind blowing.
It blows my mind that they could ever possibly filter out all of the radio noise from earth and satellites and the sun and the planets in our system and somehow manage to see distant celestial bodies through all the haze
@Jett Nash you are mixing data with power
ok
frr
ok
Being an RF engineer that worked at a step site like this but with a 72 antenna; this was my favorite video so far. Absolutely perfect.
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 will not be rebuilt. The owner said so.
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.
I don't think you can buy that one!
Loving the Australia videos! It’s always fascinating learning new things about your own country.
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👌🏻
John is the perfect guide. His enthusiasm and the way he brings science to life in such an accessible way is amazing. Fantastic
He probably appreciated having a genuinely receptive audience, too, rather than a bunch of hyped up school kids.
John be like : "If it ain't broken, we ain't fixin' it!"
We all know the only reason why Tom was in Parkes was for the Elvis Festival hahaha
You might say that he was *stellar*
His explanation of how a phone on the moon would be the brightest signal really puts into perspective how much data SIGINT planes can capture
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
I LOVE this telescope so much! For my 40th birthday in 1999, my 2 daughters asked "Dad, what's THE most important place you want to visit?" - So... here we went! ...Also, "The Dish" (by director Rob Sitch) is perhaps THE most gentle, kind, quirky, fun, and lovely little movie ever made♥♥♥
I always appreciate that Tom doesn't tell us what his interviewee said, he just shows us. So many youtubers only show small clips and then explain themselves what they learned from the interview. I see enough of the youtuber already! Show me the awesome people! Thanks Tom!
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!
This is unreal, the scale of technology never fails to amaze me! Thank you for showcasing this!
@Prince The sand will do that for you eventually.
@Adam Plentl You're correct, the pyramids were tombs, you dont burry somebody in a tomb.
🤓
We had 250m long flying hotels 100 years ago. This is nothing.
@PrinceCuddles um...they were big graves and uh....I guess they had religious importance?
I like how Tom is afraid of heights but keeps going to high places to stand on metal mesh
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 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.
@Rob Fraser yup :) The way they did it was great though, as one of them looks up as they realise that & says something to the others "hey guys........ I think I know where it is" or something & points & they all look up & then the camera cuts to the moon in the sky. Probably doesn't come across in reading, but the comic timing in the film makes it really work :)
@Me Here Not seen the film yet but if I was looking to locate something heading between Earth and the Moon and I was on Earth I would point my telescope at the moon.
I need to rewatch it, I thought it was golf they played, but cricket probably makes more sense.
The scene where they've lost the link with the rocket that's travelling to the moon & freak out becasue how are they going to get it back, cause the sky's WAY too big to scan to find the signal within the next few days, only to realise they can maybe narrow down roughly where to point the telescope to find the rocket is my favourite
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.
I just want to let Tom know that each of these journeys into these amazing places is a treasure. Thank you very much.
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!
Guys, he just wanted to mindlessly compliment someone. It's just how some humans are.
If there's no horizon, how do you know he kept the shot level?
And if you can answer that question, then you know how the camera operator did it. 🙂
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
This guy is still living in the 60's xD
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.
I was there a few months ago. I was blown away by the size of the telescope and amazing astronomical contributions it has made.
As a deep sky astrophotographer, this is one of the videos I’ve understood the best! Really cool to see. I used to visit Goonhilly a lot as a child and the dishes there were so amazing to see, almost ominous figures.
Equatorial (and Alt-az) mounts are really fascinating the way they work and are essential to what most astronomers now do. I timelapse my telescope setup pointing at the night sky a lot, but I think most people don’t quite realise they move at an incredibly slow speed making a timelapse necessary to even see the movement.
Hi Tom,
I love this video!
I'm an insect migration scientist and every year we travel to the Pass of Bujaruelo in the Pyrenees to study the Autumnal insect migration. On some days we have upwards of a million hoverflies moving through the 30m wide pass, all using the sun as a compass and the wind to power their movements. It is a truly remarkable site and could be a fun idea for a video!
@Will Hawkes Do you get to see them in action? I would love to see that shown in a future Tom Scott video!
Thank you!
I believe they have a submissions email address, you should send it in.
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!
The idea that they can use the telescope itself as a giant crane is ingenious.
typical Aussie thinking :) We invent a lot of stuff cause of this sort of style of thinking. Why work hard if there's an easier way to acheive the same result :)
Makes perfect sense, too! You already have an extremely robust and heavyweight piece of machinery to lift things high up, why not use it?
like treebeard picking up a hobbit
@Dan Geary Mobile crane? I think self-assembling cranes are such a cool design principle
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!
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)
Been blessed to do an observation run over there a few years back. Amazing instrument. Awesome to see you stand on top.
The mic drop moment (or feather, in this case!) at 2:30 is an incredible bit of information and such a powerful demonstration of just how much effort goes into radio-astronomy. And tom's look when he hears it is a testament to that! Brilliant video, and brilliant guide work from John.
Tom Scott is a legend, I never know what his videos will be about but they are always great no matter how interested I think I will be from the title
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
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. :)
@Mike's Tropical Tech: Don't Panic. Kindly help them find their towels.
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?).
@David Lowery epic
@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.
This Aussie guy explaining how everything works is incredible. He explains everything very simply while also being very informative. Fair play to you Jack. Great work. Thanks Tom
The effect of switching back and fourth between the guide and the dish slowly lowering Tom down was brilliantly done.
What a great episode! I love that you showed the inner workings of the telescope!
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!
Tom being amused by simple/understated observations is always very entertaining.
I love when Tom visits something like this and gets to get a tour from someone who is clearly very passionate about what they do.
✝️ LORD JESUS DIED & ROSE AGAIN TO PAY THE DEBT OF UR SIN!
✅By Faith in the sacrifice God has made are we saved from the penalty of sin!
🔵Turn from your sin that leads to death & accept His Gift that leads to eternal Life!
💜We are all sinners that need God. No one can say they are perfect to be able to pay their debt of sin. This is why only God could pay the penalty for us, that is merciful Love!
Also good sense of humour too
Tom, you visit the most amazing places. Thanks so much for bringing us along!
The editing of this video was understatedly perfect. I loved seeing the sudden cuts to Tom just walking down the disc.
Tom, your work over the years shows what a genuine KZclip you are.
I love John’s enthusiasm. Was a joy to listen to him talk about the telescope and its systems!
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 swear, Tom, the best thing you and your team does is find passionate experts on fascinating topics and simply let them shine.
Totally, such a well crafted way of telling stories.
Yes, this guy, while rather matter of fact, was also BRILLIANT with his explanations.
Tom Scott you are the coolest!!! Thank you so much for the hard work you and your team put into making these videos possible.
This, is what KZclip is all about ✨
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.
I love the movie The Dish, thanks for this awesome look at the real Parkes. I always assumed the control room scenes were just a sound stage, but it looks like a lot of scenes were filmed inside the real Parkes!
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.
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
You can tell that John is passionate about his work. The way he is so excited to talk about all of this is great.
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?
With that job who wouldn't be.
Incredible . You really knocked this one out of the park Tom. Should have been an hour long !
I love all of Tom's videos, but this is something special. I'm so jealous, I would absolutely love to ride the telescope!
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!
I love the shot at 5:04 showing the *massive* counterweight that keeps the telescope balanced as it tilts over; it seems so impossible otherwise that it could tilt over all the way to the ground and not fall over, especially given (as he says at 6:38) it's not actually attached to the building!
Back in college I used to partake in Seti@home, where volunteers used their computers to analyze data from telescope like these. Never found anything but it felt good to be a small part of progress
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.
Yes they were both just in their element :))
@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
And also that Tom can easily understand all the technical bits
It reminds me of the people on "smartereveryday"
After all, who wouldn't?
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!
A map would be cool, for places I don't know. FYI - The "Dish" is roughly 300km (180 miles) NW of Sydney (if you know where Sydney is).
This is such a marvel of engineering and a testament to how amazing people can be that it makes me feel so happy and so sad that I just can’t explain
He just steps off the telescope like a giant ferris wheel. Amazing!
'The Dish' is one of the greatest movies I have ever seen and I am honestly so jealous of Scott for being on site. Genuinely fascinating vid! Bravo!
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.
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!
Someone should draw tom scott as a badger!
Did he see his own shadow though? Or are we cursed with another decade of anti science rhetoric? ;-)
Went here on a trip a few years ago and it was fantastic. Always a nice surprise seeing one of my favourite KZcliprs visit a place I've been.
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.
This is an incredible piece of engineering, mind-blowing. Thank you!
This is Amazing! The eternal science nerd in me thanks John, you and crew 😂
This is stupendously amazing! I enjoyed every second of it. @TomScottGo could you please share the uncut long version of it? The raw footage if you can. Like many others I might watch it with enthusiasm.
“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.
It was such a simple yet superbly powerful demonstration.
Imagine theres an alien radio wave that hit directly at Tom at the time
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 🙂🙃🙂
What a brilliant tour guide! Clearly they are very passionate about the telescope.
Awesome video! 👍
Thanks for these nice people who share their facilities with us!
Great video Tom, this feels surreal because I live only a hour away form the telescope and visited it multiple times.
you can tell that the astronomer is very passionate about his job, I love it.
This has to be one of the top 10 Tom Scott openings, the cold cut to Tom popping out of a manhole is too good
@CyberWomble Then they switch the telescope on and detect Clanger whistles
Should've been accompanied with a Clanger's whistle.
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.
"Hey, Tom Scott here! Do radio waves actually exists?"
Totally agree! 👍
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!
Knowing you've been filming in Australia, as soon as I saw this I knew what it was. I love that this is like a super slow motion carnival ride 😂
omg this is so amazing! so much cleverness built into this! the whole building is blowing my mind! thanks Tom for sharing :)
Welcome to Parkes and good to see our friend John. The most down to earth person you will ever meet in your life.
Just LOVE this! A heady mix of enthusiasm, nerdery, and joy ❤
I'm so stoked that other people get to see how dope our country is; The Dish is a genuine Aussie icon
@Westerly Winds I can see where your coming from there, he does sound a bit South African.
Oh I thought it was in South Africa. The guy with the helmet on sounded South African to me.
✝️ LORD JESUS DIED & ROSE AGAIN TO PAY THE DEBT OF UR SIN!
✅By Faith in the sacrifice God has made are we saved from the penalty of sin!
🔵Turn from your sin that leads to death & accept His Gift that leads to eternal Life!
💜We are all sinners that need God. No one can say they are perfect to be able to pay their debt of sin. This is why only God could pay the penalty for us, that is merciful Love!
Hey i know you! You make hermitcraft remixes
@Eric VandenAvond Here's to! The more people the merrier over here. Much love from Australia
Thank you for coming to Australia! And also what a fabulous tour guide you had. Well done John
the fact that a cell phone on the moon wouldn't just be detectable, but would be the *strongest radio signal in the sky,* is absolutely mind-blowing to me