Tiger telescope terrific but looking at
things which are just a wee bit far away
as long as there's nothing in the way
this is the bigger the telescope the
further it can see but the universe is a
very big place
excuse me it's very dark out here and if
we rely just on what we could see out
there we'd be getting only part of the
picture so to speak are say that's where
radio telescopes coming like this one at
parks it's not looking
it's sort of listening you see the whole
universe is pulsing with radio energy
that sort of radio radio energy given
off by stars and a whole lot of other
objects in space radio energy which
needs special receivers because it's
incredibly weak at parks these weak
signals from far away are collected and
amplified so they can be measured and
analyzed
oh and by the way one of the other big
advantages of radio telescopes is that
you can use the night and die but who on
earth would be interested in radio
energy from space you might ask on earth
would be interested in radio energy from
space
astronomers actually it can tell them
beeps about what's out there like the
shape of a galaxy how fast it's rotating
the size of quasars molecular clouds in
space
what about UFOs it's got nothing to do
with UFOs and little green men our the
telescope's so good at its job
it's working around the clock and
there's a waiting list to use it
come on come on can have a car now
australian astronomers share the
telescope with visiting science the
dying to work here when you go to a show
you pick the best seat you can afford it
gives the best view overseas astronomers
come to parks because it's one of the
best places on earth you're looking at
the Milky Way where a lot of the actions
taxes worked with lots of interesting
people on lots of interesting jobs along
the way the surface of the dish has been
upgraded to make it even more versatile
and the receiving equipment has been
replaced with the latest
state-of-the-art technology
after all if you're gonna play the game
you've got to keep up with the times lot
of things have changed since nineteen
sixty-one you know this is the control
room with the amplified radio signals
are sent for analysis
there aren't any guided to is here they
just isn't room all what does this
button do eight
besides you might have something you
shouldn't it only takes a few taps and
the astronomer director thousand tons of
dish to the next part of the sky he
wants to observe
and all with an accuracy of a minut
fraction of a degree just like driving
the family cat not exactly it actually
has a super sophisticated guidance
system to steer the dish are sort of
power steering
well yes I suppose it could
photo is being similar to power steering
if you're impressed by teen driving like
this you'll be amazed at what a team of
telescopes can do with heaps of
ingenuity and some sneaky tricks the
parks dish can be co-ordinated with
seven other dishes across the
countryside to all focus at the same
point in the sky together they act like
a giant 300 kilometres wide telescope
even more sensitive to radio waves from
far far away this team effort is
collectively called the Australia
telescope and it was put together at a
big Bicentennial present for Australia
in 1988
happy birthday to you happy birthday to
you happy birthday Bryson generals
dragon is there anything the Parkes
radio telescope can do not much
the ball it's really moving park a lon
it doesn't actually move that fast like
we speed it up a little bit just for the
purpose of the demonstration
do anything interesting at work today
dear are nothing much we did find
requires are over twenty thousand
million light-years away
well that was just before lunch and have
to lunch darling when you think how week
you'd be if you just travel that far you
can see why the telescope needs to catch
as much of the signal as possible and
then amplified a million million times
once its measured and recorded all the
astronomer has to do is work out what it
means
history but the only person on it
doesn't have TV coverage of the baby and
it man you got the black up now and you
can feel better in the morning getting a
TV picture mail yes we are getting a TV
picture
that's one all
happy