Matt Controlled The World's Largest Steerable Radio Telescope!

Once again, we're joined by Dan and chat about our trip to the Green Bank Radio Telescope in West Virginia. DAN: / iamdanw | MATT: / unnamedculprit | TOM: / tomscottgo
Matt's photos from the Green Bank Radio Telescope:
flic.kr/s/aHskKN3rPw
The video we filmed there:
The Town Where Wi-Fi Is Banned: The Green Bank Telescope and the Quiet Zone:
• The Town Where Wi-Fi I...
FAQs
What kit do you use?
Short answer: Røde NTG2, Roland R44, Sony RX100ii, GoPro 4
The Kit List: • The Kit List: What We ...
What do you use to edit?
Short answer: Adobe Creative Suite.
Editing: Why Game On & Citation Needed Take So Long: • Editing: Why Game On &...

[@JanBabiuchHall]

Can of root beer: $1 Airfare to West Virginia: $1500 Tom's dejected look of resignation as he snaps his fingers: priceless

[@OrigamiMarie]

We're really doing this? Yeah okay we're doing this.

[@fanaticalpotato]

The sheer joy that melts over Matt's face as he hears he gets to push a button to make the telescope go was lovely to see.

[@OrigamiMarie]

Watching that I thought "Aw, Tom's a good friend for thinking of that in the moment and setting it up for Matt".

[@frankharr9466]

"Hi! We would like to science please!" Matt and Tom as Penguins.

[@OrigamiMarie]

I agree about the stable versus wobbly heights. Seattle Space Needle lookout deck? No problem, that's sturdy and stable. Wobbly step stool or ladder three feet off the ground? Nope nope nope.

[@Nosirrbro]

Yup.

[@KingKuuppa]

The funny thing is that very tall buildings do sway and wobble. Some more, some (like the Space Needle AFAIK) less. You just don't feel it.

[@JoshSweetvale]

That's called 'safety-conciousness.'

[@requiembeeblebroxx]

Agreed. Walking along the top of a very high cliff? Fine. Climbing up a slightly shaky wooden ladder nailed to the side of said cliff? Nope nope nope nope noooooope

[@k0pstl939]

Glass floors

[@Werdna12345]

True friends know who should press the buttons! ;-)

[@TheGreatSteve]

"Waiting for the time to lapse."

[@robmckennie4203]

Matt explained it pretty okay, but for anyone who wants to know more, the way the equatorial mount works is that one of the axes is parallel to the axis about which the earth turns. Not only does this simplify tracking a point, but it also removes certain distortion you can get with a simple xy mount. If you just track a point by just following that point with x and y, the point will be in the center of your image, but the rest of the image will rotate about that point because the earth is turning.

[@cyclone19692000]

the look on Toms face when it got to the Addams Family lol you can tell they have had a few days together

[@TheTwick]

Just one thing - how do you get the park bench onto the plane?

[@Lordofthe44]

lots of emails

[@Lordofthe44]

or possibly a toolkit

[@cassandra2860]

It's like Air Force One. Whatever bench they're sat on is the Park Bench.

[@techgamer6875]

I think the An-225 might be just big enough

[@collinscody57]

Obviously you disassemble it and pack it like ikea furniture

[@jameslaidler4259]

Parkes Australia. The dish is still in the middle of a sheep paddock, and still used. We're very proud of that dish and our part in the moon landing. Which is why an Aussie will likely punch in the chops people who claim it was faked.

[@officiallyoverlord]

This is the one that they are talking about but they got it confused with the joint project between NASA and CSIRO, aka the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex.

[@jameslaidler4259]

Shame the other is gone. And yes, unlike the film, they were never the primary location for signal relaying. Though they did brave high winds which had the potential to destroy it, to bring the actual images of men walking on the moon into the homes of millions. Still love the film though.

[@TheLoopyTiger]

They should visit the Parkes telescope, then they could do a Parkes Park Bench.

[@marenkuether-ulberg3311]

@@jameslaidler4259 Such a charming film (The Dish) -- we always include watching it on Moon Landing Day.

[@dshack4689]

@@TheLoopyTiger this is GOLD! =)

[@mariusa5754]

Where were the rainbow comic sans? :)

[@mattandtom]

I might have forgotten the Rainbow Comic Sans. -- Tom

[@Lasesus]

does that mean double rainbow comic sans next video?

[@TheGreatSteve]

Good.

[@svenslootweg4755]

"Forgotten"

[@sionide]

Statue of Liberty is 93m from ground to torch, so it could lay down inside the dish.

[@MicroBlogganism]

I suddenly have a much greater appreciation for joy of pushing buttons to make things go, thanks Matt!

[@marenkuether-ulberg3311]

I felt the same kind of (albeit nervous) satisfaction at being able to push some certain button in the control room of a nuclear reactor. Don't remember what it was for, some normal operation that the control room staff & my spouse gave me the go ahead. I love interacting/touring... science labs/engineering sites/museums, etc...so Tom Scott et. all is really fun.

[@requiembeeblebroxx]

One of my favorite things about these videos from Pennsylvania is the background noise: the train whistle, the beeping of the reversing truck, the traffic noise. It makes the videos feel more filmed-in-the-wild. It's always baffled me how quiet their filming locations in England tend to be, especially since England has such an outrageously high population density compared to where I live in the American midwest.

[@nathanash101]

That lock system is usually referred to as lock out tag out, very old concept, but yeah very cool way to ensure 100% safety when you are working on dangerous electronics or equipment that could move / crush people who are working inside. Everyone has their own lock and puts it on when they start working.

[@RealLuckless]

Lockout-Tagout ENCOURAGES 100% safety, but it sadly does not ensure it. A minor but critically important distinction between the two. And sadly many safety programs still fail to hammer home this point, and fools do their best to ruin things. I've unfortunately been on accident review boards for multiple instances where idiots have apparently worked hard to get around things that they really should have known far better than to have done. One was an issue of someone saying "Oh, he forgot to claim his tag (again), I saw him leave hours ago..." - Time for bolt cutters and writing him up for disciplinary action in the morning. Victim did not show up for work in the morning. Another was everyone on the repair crew had finished up and removed their locks, but someone then realized they had left a tool behind, and 'popped back in for just a moment' without putting their lock on again. Repair crew waiting for the victim was then distracted by a manager as the operating crew arrived... Safety devices can only possibly work when actually used. This Health and Safety reminder message brought to you by a very tired health and safety consultant.

[@nathanash101]

RealLuckless this is very true, I guess I should have said that if followed correctly it will ensure safety. But there are always people who will do the things you mentioned, even though that isn't procedure. I too have worked on job sites where we have caught people working inside heavy machinery (rock crushers and the like) without their locks on.. I don't know how people can become so complacent with their lives.

[@pickles3361]

Sometimes just common sense is all that is needed

[@hughzey1]

two men and a wizard sit on a park bench

[@RMoribayashi]

That odd looking dish that follows the stars is on an *_equatorial mount_* that naturally follows the celestial equator. Before computer controlled mounts it was the simplest way to track a fixed point in the sky. Now they use simpler azimuth / elevation (up/down left/right) mounts and let computers calculate where to point the telescope.

[@gonzo_the_great1675]

At Joderall Bank, they have microwave ovens in Faraday cages too. I did hear a story about a contractor on site bringing a wireless mouse onto site, against the rules. It was causing interference and the rfi guy finally tracked it down whilst the contractor was at lunch. When he came back to his desk, he found the mouse, with the batteries removed, upside down and nailed to a piece of wood, with a 6" nail. With a polite postit note request, to not do it again.

[@HomerGumther]

Hahaha That big ass grin when he tells him to go press the button to make it go... I love you guys, never stop doing great stuff!

[@milksheihk]

The Australian dish is in Parkes, New South Wales around 300km north/west From Canberra, to confuse matters there is a suburb of Canberra called Parkes,

[@ThisIsARubbishName]

milksheihk it's really cool - parkes dish at least. haven't been to the Canberra deep space network one.

[@CrushersCharisma]

I love these two guys. I'm so much like Tom it isn't even funny. Best friends working together on cool science stuff is so amazing!

[@katoyukimaru]

The signing at the end was adorable XD

[@vonbongen9363]

If you lot turned up on my doorstep demanding SHOW US YOUR CAVE OF FOAM... I would be very glad that I keep a table leg with a nail through it by the door.

[@varana]

7:54 That low beep you might be hearing is the truck in the background reversing. (Happened at some earlier time, as well, and in the last video, too, iirc.) That took me a while to realise it's not something in my house. :D

[@KirkyKirsten]

"near Canberra"!? as an Australian and someone born in a town 30 minutes away from The Dish I am insulted. It's a 4 hour drive from Canberra to The Dish, and I'm pretty sure if any of you UK folk drove for 4 hours you'd be in a different country. But great video as always, so glad I've discovered this channel :)

[@craigstoner2632]

If you take population density into account, then it probably is comparable to near Canberra, in a similar way to brighton being near london

[@PhintiasDarkwood]

Lasy Tom didn't put up rainbow comic sans of the dish size!

[@mindmaster_osu]

RIOT NO COMIC SANS!!!!!

[@finnaginfrost6297]

Helping matt explain the polar telescope: The telescope has an axis of rotation parallel to the rotational axis of the earth, so to counter-rotate against the earth (to stay pointed at one thing), it only has to move one motor.

[@ThadySenior]

Where's the time lapse footage of the 360?

[@benjaminlewis3903]

I think Matt saying he likes pushing buttons is the most audio engineer thing ever

[@HalfElfHalfling]

What this video has taught me is that tom is a great friend, going out his way to let Matt push a button just because he knew that Matt would be so happy, tom could have asked to push the button himself, but no, he wanted Matt to because it would make him happy

[@JimCullen]

I don't know if I'd call the Parkes Observatory near Canberra. Parkes is over 260 km away - roughly the same as the distance from London to Leeds, for the Brits.

[@ragnkja]

"Near" is a _very_ relative term.

[@prezo4161]

Parkes is also a similar distance from canberra as canberra is from sydney by road, about 3 hours drive at 110km/h in both cases

[@UserNotReady]

Being a Canberran, I was just happy they mentioned Canberra as being the reference point instead of Sydney.

[@prezo4161]

true that, I'm in Canberra, but I'm from Parkes so double whammy on that front.

[@RayLiehm]

The one in the movie is the one at Parkes. In the video they got it confused with a *different* radio telescope which *is* located very close to Canberra, at Tidbinbilla. DSS-43 at the Deep Space Communications Complex is a tiny bit larger than the Parkes dish (70m diameter against 64m diameter), but it's largely used by NASA to communicate with probes in deep space rather than for observational astronomy.

[@9DarthHideous1]

"Matt Gray, French arse"

[@todayonthebench]

Tome, you should do a "things you might not know" about scale models of the solar system. You can start at the Ericsson Globe in Stockholm. It is a 110 meter spherical arena representing the sun, all plants and distances are to scale in accordance to it. The earth is also conveniently in Stockholm, though the end of the solar system is placed all the way in Kiruna in Northern Sweden. This is the world's largest scale model of the solar system, and also includes a lot of non planets too...

[@Ybalrid]

Apparently the control computers (at least the one where Matt clicked on stuff) is running Linux, with a KDE desktop environement. sweet

[@OrigamiMarie]

Linux: for when you don't want your computer to spontaneously update itself during a dish rotation sequence.

[@BaldInIhremKino]

i knew i'd find comments about KDE :) (at least i hoped i would)

[@dard1515]

I couldn't tell Matt was even doing an accent.

[@olivergs9840]

As a Canberra resident, the dish took everything done at Honeysuckle creek, and set it at Parkes. Honeysuckle was the important one where all the Apollo 11 transmissions came through

[@malusignatius]

The telescope in The Dish is Parkes Radio Telescope, near the town of Parkes, New South Wales Australia. Well worth visiting if you get the chance.

[@DragonMaster1804]

I love the park bench videos as much as the net person, but I'm really disappointed at the amount of content we didn't get ot see in this one that was mentioned. The 'epic selfies', the timelapse of the dish moving. None of that. Sure there was some but the majority was missing.

[@mattandtom]

+DragonMaster1804 the timelapse is in the video we filmed there, linked in the description. My photos are on Flickr, and linked in the description. We pretty much always link what we're talking about in the description. --Matt

[@DragonMaster1804]

Ahhh, just rewatched to make sure I'm not a complete idiot and saw it. It's because it's at the end I must have missed it. Thanks for the reply, and those are some pretty decent shots, I particularly like the one of the two telescopes in the distance with hills behind.

[@AnimeSunglasses]

"Same kind of direction-ish" is a VERY quintessentially Matt Gray turn of phrase.

[@DarthTella]

Who else snapped their fingers at the very end?

[@bluewales73]

This is interesting: A professor at school was telling be about how he developing a system to control the individual panels on the disk in such a way that they could compensate for fluctuations in the atmosphere and get clearer images. The idea is that the atmosphere distorts things in the same way as water does when you're looking up from the bottom of a swimming pool. They thought they had a way to exactly cancel out the distortion by dynamically reshaping the disk with those panels.

[@computersguy13]

Matt, I find your description of the faraday cage door a bit funny. Mainly because I have to go through three of those everyday just to get to my desk.

[@Bigfoot42]

For everyone's knowledge, that "odd" navigation system is called an HA/Dec (Hour Angle/Declination) system and is the oldest system still used for tracking objects in the sky. Matt's comment about how it tracks using a single axis is it's greatest benefit, even in satellite telecom.

[@ThisIsARubbishName]

The Dish is on Netflix I think ( or Stan if you're Aussie.) it's by the same people who did The Castle.

[@qwertyTRiG]

Father Ted reference at 2:00. Awesomeness!

[@cameronmorgan7886]

The dish shown in The Dish is the Parkes radio telescope, not the one near Canberra :)

[@hairychris444]

That radio telescope has an equatorial mount, then. They're very common on optical telescopes.

[@JoshuaHillerup]

Wait, English people are afraid of fog. Should I be worried too?

[@Huntracony]

+gatesofcerdes Speek for yourself. Where I live, if there is fog, the highway becomes a deathtrap.

[@Chirimorin]

I think it was more a case of their navigation instructions being "go towards the huge telescope", which they couldn't see due to the fog.

[@aajjeee]

just turn the fogs, there are lights for this

[@Huntracony]

***** That's one philosophy (one I happen to agree with), but then there are the people who think that if everyone just drives at the speed limit nothing bad will happen and that the people driving slowly are the danger. It's this difference in speed that makes highways really dangerous. Because I could be driving slowly and carefully, and then someone driving 130 km/h (the speed limit over here) will come up behind me and nearly crash into me.

[@Unassuming_Gay]

+Huntracony and that's why you folks are the dangerous ones ! =D Drive according the rules. There is an specific set of rules determined for the road, follow them, and stop being hazardous pricks.

[@alexia3552]

15:05 that's a good friend

[@andrewkazakevich8611]

I love these nerds!

[@picobyte]

The largest mechanical radio telescope that is. For now LOFAR steers A lot better but it doesn't move. It must be terrible going up that dish when afraid of heights. LOFAR is just A bunch of small antennae standing low around the field here :)

[@scienceandmusicmix]

I grew up going to Ohiopyle! I hope you saw falling water which is not even 10 minutes up the road.

[@jimbobbrowning35]

If you're still in the area, you HAVE to go see natural bridge, and foam henge.

[@rusty5707]

Did you happen to go to Tailpipes when you were in Morgantown?

[@LycorisSound]

If Victoria ever wants to retire, I think Tom should present Only Connect.

[@HarryLeeser]

11:18 Were you at the third failed invasion of Fishguard?

[@milamber319]

The Dish is a great film. I highly recommend.

[@marenkuether-ulberg3311]

Lovely film! I agree. We watch it almost every year on Moon Landing Day (July 20th, 1969. I was five and watched it on the tv my grandpar's bought just for this. I was completely fascinated and told my grandma that I wanted to be an astronaut . Bless her for saying I could.)

[@ViraMotorko]

The structure of the telescope is 148 m (485 feet) tall, and you haven't put rainbow comic sans with that :(

[@benjaminsmith3625]

Just rewatched this, and I'm not sure I noticed the Gateway 2000 mouse pad at the control desk. And for some reason these control systems always look like Motif or CDE...

[@notthere83]

Hahaha nice Father Ted reference by Dan.

[@markredburn]

That would be an equatorial mount in smaller optical telescopes.

[@MetaBloxer]

The dish rotates so it can catch the best root beer.

[@itak1996]

And of course the sun light moved the opposite way that Tom predicted

[@SJohnTrombley]

It's kind of crazy that Tom had never heard of an equatorial mount for a telescope before.

[@olivergs9840]

The wheel spins and lands on France

[@FlippingSloth]

the best ... root beer? haha made me laugh

[@KellyHawkins]

EVERY single time you say "I'm Mat and I'm Tom" I hear it to the "I'm Chip and I'm Dale" from the Disney squirrels.

[@filblo503]

Tom you should go to the worlds largest scale model of the solar system. You just have to travel through the entirety of sweden. The sun is the globe in stockholm

[@kairon156]

I've always enjoyed the Adams Family theme song.

[@SamuelJSAdamsI]

do you have any idea how many times I have heard that theme tune?

[@peardude8979]

327?

[@DavidAndrewsPEC]

What was Matt reading at York?!

[@umgubularslashkilter9272]

the snapping at the end made my dogs bark worriedly

[@wojtekpolska1013]

0:23 he lied, Tom was highlighted next :)

[@benpennington1866]

The proper term is "lock out tag out clamp".

[@607]

That's very cool!

[@samclay950]

Please do behind the scenes of Royal Navy sinking ship simulator.

[@mattandtom]

There's sort of a behind the scenes of that on my channel --Matt

[@TheCurle]

Interference, in your neighborhood? Who ya gonna call? Chuck the radio-buster!

[@SuperChargedDogs]

Seems like people from out of york always go to university here, but everyone i know who lives here doesn't want to :P

[@WangleLine]

The light went in tom's direction, not matt's :D

[@Seegalgalguntijak]

So where is the actual footage of the dish moving??

[@JessicaKStark]

Wait, is the name of the movie "The dish"?

[@minihjalte]

I like Dan's Watch.

[@0dWHOHWb0]

Where's the closeup timelapse of the near-360?

[@kathrynblodgett1969]

You boys are just to cute. Will you be doing a meet and greet in the US? Are you coming to the West Coast? Vegas baby. You can check out our London Eye equivalent, The High Roller.

[@LuxFerre4242]

Adam's Family theme with clicking for audio/video syncing?

[@OrigamiMarie]

Oh! That might be. That does require a quick loud sound that's easily associated with the picture.

[@soupy4099]

2:33 University of York, largest plastic bottom lake in Europe.

[@maxximumb]

I understand the button thing.

[@Fanofjambi]

Ayyyy they mentioned Australia

[@zapfanzapfan]

Ok, I'm a bit jealous now 🙂

[@rowansmith422]

Hello Earth scientist (sound engineer?)! I need to borrow your corporeal hands for a minute!

[@edskev7696]

Time lapse of the telescope swinging about?

[@Jarymut]

Interference hunter. I want to have that job title.

[@extreamemineing]

so is all internet banned or just wireless

[@electricpengu1n59]

This dan guy is a dish

[@XavierXonora]

Anyone have a link to the time lapse of the dish moving?

[@Jsarbour]

Can we see the timelapse of the telescope moving?

[@borisdemelo]

The link to the video they're talking about is in the description. The time lapse is at the end of that video.

[@nawfal3928]

Heh Matt has an adventure time shirt.

[@IAmBrownThunderOfficial]

Wow this is early.

[@matthiassmedlarsen3676]

Do you mean early compared to the upload time of his other videos, or early in terms of what time of day it is? Because it's 5 PM where I am, and roughly the same in England.

[@IAmBrownThunderOfficial]

Aloha.

[@starrfoxkid64]

I work graveyards so "early" looses all meaning to me (I'm in California btw)

[@Vibinator]

God dammit Matt! :p im so jealous (im a matt too)

[@jamiesmith8220]

I want a country roads parody