1 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:07,160 Speaker 1: Get in touch with technology with tech Stuff from how 2 00:00:07,200 --> 00:00:14,160 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 3 00:00:14,200 --> 00:00:18,080 Speaker 1: I am your host executive producer, John than Strick, London. 4 00:00:18,160 --> 00:00:21,360 Speaker 1: I love all things tech. It is time for another 5 00:00:21,480 --> 00:00:24,319 Speaker 1: classic episode of tech Stuff, and today we're going to 6 00:00:24,480 --> 00:00:28,760 Speaker 1: visit an episode that we originally published on January two 7 00:00:28,800 --> 00:00:31,680 Speaker 1: thousand twelve. Chris Pallette my co host at the time, 8 00:00:31,720 --> 00:00:35,560 Speaker 1: and I decided to look into the topic of radio telescopes. 9 00:00:35,960 --> 00:00:38,000 Speaker 1: I talked about these not too long ago when I 10 00:00:38,040 --> 00:00:41,920 Speaker 1: did a series about DARPA. Well, now we're gonna have 11 00:00:42,040 --> 00:00:44,960 Speaker 1: a full episode dedicated to the topic, and I hope 12 00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:48,640 Speaker 1: you guys enjoy. So. Um, before we get started, we're 13 00:00:48,640 --> 00:00:51,360 Speaker 1: gonna do something we haven't done a little while. Yeah, 14 00:00:51,520 --> 00:00:59,160 Speaker 1: we're gonna listen to a little listener mail. This listener 15 00:00:59,200 --> 00:01:02,160 Speaker 1: mail comes from me who says I love your podcast 16 00:01:02,160 --> 00:01:05,280 Speaker 1: and have enjoyed listening to your incifle and quirky explanations immensely. 17 00:01:05,520 --> 00:01:07,480 Speaker 1: I tried to search through the past podcast to see 18 00:01:07,480 --> 00:01:09,840 Speaker 1: if you have done one on radio telescopes, to no avail, 19 00:01:10,120 --> 00:01:12,160 Speaker 1: So I hope I didn't just miss it. It seems 20 00:01:12,160 --> 00:01:14,440 Speaker 1: to me that radio telescopes are being used frequently to 21 00:01:14,520 --> 00:01:16,800 Speaker 1: learn about this and study the far reaches of the 22 00:01:16,840 --> 00:01:19,840 Speaker 1: galaxy and beyond. And that's pretty darn cool, so it'd 23 00:01:19,840 --> 00:01:21,919 Speaker 1: be neat to learn more about how they work. Thanks 24 00:01:21,959 --> 00:01:24,760 Speaker 1: and thanks for the show, Minka. Well you're welcome, Inga. 25 00:01:25,640 --> 00:01:27,120 Speaker 1: I just wanted to say you're welcome. All right, So 26 00:01:27,120 --> 00:01:31,480 Speaker 1: now we're moving on to our topic, the Smurfs. No, no, 27 00:01:31,480 --> 00:01:35,760 Speaker 1: we're gonna talk about radio telescopes. Good, yeah, we sort of. Well, 28 00:01:36,040 --> 00:01:38,959 Speaker 1: we've talked about things that relate to radio telescopes like 29 00:01:39,160 --> 00:01:44,000 Speaker 1: radio and stead yes, and steady set, which does very 30 00:01:44,080 --> 00:01:48,760 Speaker 1: much relate to radio telescopes. Well, what do radio telescopes do? 31 00:01:48,840 --> 00:01:51,920 Speaker 1: Why are they important? Well, it's funny that you should 32 00:01:51,920 --> 00:01:56,120 Speaker 1: mention that, Yeah, because they're I my notes crashed, so 33 00:01:56,120 --> 00:01:58,040 Speaker 1: I don't know what I'm talking about. Your notes crash. No, 34 00:01:58,120 --> 00:02:00,840 Speaker 1: I'm not. I'm just kidding. They're still up. He can't 35 00:02:00,840 --> 00:02:03,080 Speaker 1: see my computer from where he sits. Yes, because he's 36 00:02:03,080 --> 00:02:05,600 Speaker 1: sitting directly across from me. Yes. See. If if you 37 00:02:05,720 --> 00:02:08,080 Speaker 1: ever wondered if that was true or not, it is. Yeah, 38 00:02:08,320 --> 00:02:12,760 Speaker 1: um no, it's it's actually using it's unlike a typical 39 00:02:12,919 --> 00:02:17,360 Speaker 1: visual telescope, which uses lenses and your eyeball, and you 40 00:02:17,360 --> 00:02:20,160 Speaker 1: look through it and you look for stuff on the 41 00:02:20,160 --> 00:02:22,600 Speaker 1: other side and base it directs light which is in 42 00:02:22,680 --> 00:02:26,280 Speaker 1: the visible spectrum of the electromagnetic frequency. Yes, to our 43 00:02:26,639 --> 00:02:31,160 Speaker 1: to our eyeballs ultimately right right, But and again another 44 00:02:31,240 --> 00:02:34,639 Speaker 1: drastic oversimplification of the parts. But a radio telescope is 45 00:02:34,639 --> 00:02:39,320 Speaker 1: actually monitoring different parts of the electromagnetic frequency. Yeah. Yeah, 46 00:02:39,360 --> 00:02:42,200 Speaker 1: it's good looking at a completely different spectrum. So this 47 00:02:42,280 --> 00:02:44,520 Speaker 1: is part of the spectrum that is not visible to 48 00:02:44,560 --> 00:02:48,400 Speaker 1: the naked eye. So we are using these telescopes to 49 00:02:48,520 --> 00:02:54,280 Speaker 1: measure um radio frequency variations that come from outer space. 50 00:02:54,480 --> 00:02:56,640 Speaker 1: And it turns out that lots of stuff out there 51 00:02:57,000 --> 00:03:04,600 Speaker 1: generates radio frequencies, right, So things like quasars, pulsars, galaxies, uh, 52 00:03:04,880 --> 00:03:09,520 Speaker 1: distant stars, these sort of things can generate electro magnetic 53 00:03:10,040 --> 00:03:14,880 Speaker 1: radiation and in the form of radio frequencies. And sometimes 54 00:03:14,919 --> 00:03:19,880 Speaker 1: these are are objects that we can't detect visually, but 55 00:03:19,960 --> 00:03:22,639 Speaker 1: we can detect them if we have a sensitive enough 56 00:03:23,919 --> 00:03:30,480 Speaker 1: tool that can can detect and measure radio frequencies. So 57 00:03:30,560 --> 00:03:33,560 Speaker 1: that's really what a radio telescope is all about. And 58 00:03:33,600 --> 00:03:36,920 Speaker 1: it's kind of tricky picking up radio frequencies from outer 59 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:42,200 Speaker 1: space because only certain the actual band of frequencies or 60 00:03:42,240 --> 00:03:45,760 Speaker 1: wavelengths I should say, the band of wavelengths that exist 61 00:03:45,840 --> 00:03:50,120 Speaker 1: within the electromatic spect magnetic spectrum that are radio frequency waves. 62 00:03:50,840 --> 00:03:55,720 Speaker 1: It's pretty broad. Yeah, about ten meters and to one millimeter. 63 00:03:56,160 --> 00:03:59,080 Speaker 1: That's a pretty good size. Yeah, you can actually get 64 00:03:59,200 --> 00:04:01,240 Speaker 1: radio waves that are even longer than that, like the 65 00:04:01,280 --> 00:04:04,520 Speaker 1: size of football fields. But here's the thing is that 66 00:04:04,960 --> 00:04:09,800 Speaker 1: the Earth has a level of the atmosphere called the ionosphere. Now, 67 00:04:09,840 --> 00:04:13,080 Speaker 1: the iono sphere is uh, it's kind of funky. So 68 00:04:13,640 --> 00:04:16,240 Speaker 1: you guys probably have heard us talk about ions before, 69 00:04:16,680 --> 00:04:20,240 Speaker 1: you know. That's when we're talking about uh, atoms that 70 00:04:20,279 --> 00:04:23,320 Speaker 1: have either gained or lost an electron. And if you 71 00:04:23,360 --> 00:04:26,119 Speaker 1: ionize something, that means you've got some free electrons roaming 72 00:04:26,160 --> 00:04:28,400 Speaker 1: around in it. So like an ionized gas or a 73 00:04:28,400 --> 00:04:32,599 Speaker 1: plasma can actually hold carry an electric charge. Right, Yes, 74 00:04:33,279 --> 00:04:37,560 Speaker 1: Why are you smiling at me just because I saw 75 00:04:37,600 --> 00:04:41,159 Speaker 1: a whole bunch of people going WHOA free electrons? Yeah? Sorr, 76 00:04:41,520 --> 00:04:44,080 Speaker 1: there're so expensive. Otherwise that's true. Have you seen my 77 00:04:44,120 --> 00:04:47,680 Speaker 1: electric bill? Anyway? So you have the ionosphere, whether these 78 00:04:47,680 --> 00:04:50,520 Speaker 1: free roaming electrons out there, and uh, and it kind 79 00:04:50,520 --> 00:04:55,720 Speaker 1: of acts as a bit of a shield or reflector 80 00:04:55,760 --> 00:04:59,440 Speaker 1: in in some ways, and so radio waves of a 81 00:04:59,480 --> 00:05:03,520 Speaker 1: certain way wave length cannot pass through the ionosphere. Essentially, 82 00:05:03,560 --> 00:05:06,800 Speaker 1: anything that's ten meters are longer, the ionosphere is opaque 83 00:05:06,880 --> 00:05:10,880 Speaker 1: to those. That's why you can actually broadcast certain long 84 00:05:10,960 --> 00:05:15,680 Speaker 1: wavelength radio waves uh and bank them off the ionosphere 85 00:05:15,920 --> 00:05:19,919 Speaker 1: because it won't pass through. Now, when you start getting 86 00:05:20,240 --> 00:05:24,119 Speaker 1: shorter than a ten meter wave length, you have radio 87 00:05:24,160 --> 00:05:27,200 Speaker 1: waves that can pass through the ionosphere. But if it's 88 00:05:27,279 --> 00:05:30,120 Speaker 1: longer than twenty centimeters, which is about one point five 89 00:05:30,160 --> 00:05:33,440 Speaker 1: gig hurts in frequency when you talk about these, If 90 00:05:33,440 --> 00:05:37,560 Speaker 1: it's longer than twenty centimeters, you start to have distortion 91 00:05:37,800 --> 00:05:41,400 Speaker 1: as it passes through the ionosphere. It's called scintillation. And 92 00:05:41,440 --> 00:05:44,120 Speaker 1: this isn't that different from the way when we look 93 00:05:44,200 --> 00:05:47,200 Speaker 1: up into the sky and we see stars twinkling. That's 94 00:05:47,200 --> 00:05:48,560 Speaker 1: sort of the same sort of thing we talked about 95 00:05:48,560 --> 00:05:51,640 Speaker 1: being scintillating, same kind of idea, except in this case, 96 00:05:51,720 --> 00:05:54,600 Speaker 1: you know, that's we're talking about the visual spectrum there, 97 00:05:55,200 --> 00:05:58,360 Speaker 1: but here, Yeah, the twenty centimeters are longer, you run 98 00:05:58,360 --> 00:06:02,200 Speaker 1: into that problem. And so that's not entirely useful for 99 00:06:02,320 --> 00:06:08,160 Speaker 1: measurement purposes. So radio telescopes tend to focus on pun 100 00:06:08,160 --> 00:06:11,960 Speaker 1: intended Uh, wavelengths that are between one centimeter and twenty 101 00:06:11,960 --> 00:06:16,440 Speaker 1: centimeters in length tend to Now there are some variations. 102 00:06:16,480 --> 00:06:19,040 Speaker 1: And also if you were to have a radio telescope, 103 00:06:19,080 --> 00:06:22,200 Speaker 1: say in orbit where it's you know, you don't have 104 00:06:22,240 --> 00:06:26,640 Speaker 1: the ionosphere as a in play. Um, that's a different story. 105 00:06:26,960 --> 00:06:29,680 Speaker 1: But ground based radio telescopes kind of had to play 106 00:06:29,760 --> 00:06:33,400 Speaker 1: within these rules because the way the ionosphere works. One 107 00:06:33,400 --> 00:06:37,479 Speaker 1: of the nice things though about the radio telescope is that, uh, 108 00:06:37,520 --> 00:06:43,000 Speaker 1: those frequencies generally come through pretty clearly. So uh, putting 109 00:06:43,360 --> 00:06:46,640 Speaker 1: one of the ground based radio telescopes in orbit really 110 00:06:46,680 --> 00:06:51,080 Speaker 1: wouldn't improve its ability to detect signals um, at least 111 00:06:51,080 --> 00:06:53,680 Speaker 1: based on my research, and not not within anything that's 112 00:06:53,720 --> 00:06:56,279 Speaker 1: within those wavelengths. Yeah. Actually it's it's a little tricky 113 00:06:56,320 --> 00:06:59,280 Speaker 1: to detect that stuff anyway, because we're talking about really 114 00:06:59,680 --> 00:07:03,280 Speaker 1: we signals. I mean, by the time they reached the Earth, 115 00:07:03,320 --> 00:07:05,640 Speaker 1: that these signals are not very strong at all. In fact, 116 00:07:06,200 --> 00:07:10,840 Speaker 1: one one reference I I looked at said that that 117 00:07:11,240 --> 00:07:13,920 Speaker 1: if you were to add up all the energy that 118 00:07:14,080 --> 00:07:17,960 Speaker 1: every radio telescope on Earth had been subjected to since 119 00:07:18,040 --> 00:07:21,200 Speaker 1: they were built, it still would not equal the energy 120 00:07:21,240 --> 00:07:24,920 Speaker 1: would find in the snowflake. Yeah, that's pretty impressive. Act 121 00:07:25,240 --> 00:07:28,720 Speaker 1: grant that snowflake is the size of Detroit. No, I'm kidding, 122 00:07:28,720 --> 00:07:32,240 Speaker 1: I'm kidding. Typical snowflake. No. Uh. And it is also 123 00:07:32,360 --> 00:07:35,760 Speaker 1: worthwhile to note, especially before anyone writes in um, that 124 00:07:35,880 --> 00:07:39,800 Speaker 1: radio telescopes do have to be placed away from population 125 00:07:39,840 --> 00:07:44,120 Speaker 1: centers in general, uh, to some degree to because there 126 00:07:44,240 --> 00:07:47,720 Speaker 1: is earthly interference. Yeah, there's terrestrial radio interference that you 127 00:07:47,800 --> 00:07:50,720 Speaker 1: have to try and minimize as much as possible. Otherwise 128 00:07:51,040 --> 00:07:52,840 Speaker 1: it's just so much noise that you're not going to 129 00:07:52,920 --> 00:07:56,920 Speaker 1: even find any signal out there, right right, So, um, Yeah, 130 00:07:57,040 --> 00:07:58,920 Speaker 1: it has its it has its good points and in 131 00:07:59,000 --> 00:08:03,880 Speaker 1: its ad points because of the frequencies, it's able to monitor. 132 00:08:04,200 --> 00:08:06,080 Speaker 1: And it's a good point too that you uh, you 133 00:08:06,120 --> 00:08:10,560 Speaker 1: mentioned the from the very first because these these devices, 134 00:08:10,600 --> 00:08:12,880 Speaker 1: I mean, I'm I imagine people you know, have a 135 00:08:12,880 --> 00:08:16,000 Speaker 1: good idea what radio telescopes look like. I mean, we've 136 00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:19,840 Speaker 1: all seen satellite dishes, and to some degree that's more 137 00:08:19,960 --> 00:08:21,680 Speaker 1: or less what they look like. In fact, you may 138 00:08:21,720 --> 00:08:24,960 Speaker 1: have seen pictures of them, but um that I think 139 00:08:25,520 --> 00:08:29,400 Speaker 1: gives it the the sort of feeling that it's a 140 00:08:29,400 --> 00:08:33,000 Speaker 1: fairly recent thing. And in fact, um it was somebody 141 00:08:33,120 --> 00:08:38,040 Speaker 1: in uh nine thirty three who who figured out that, um, 142 00:08:38,200 --> 00:08:43,559 Speaker 1: there was, uh, there were radio frequencies coming from extraterrestrial bodies. 143 00:08:44,240 --> 00:08:50,360 Speaker 1: Someone at of course Bell telephone laboratories, laboratories. You always 144 00:08:50,360 --> 00:08:53,000 Speaker 1: do that. I can't fight it, that I can't fight 145 00:08:53,040 --> 00:08:57,079 Speaker 1: this feeling anymore. I can't. But yes, so you're talking 146 00:08:57,080 --> 00:09:01,079 Speaker 1: about Carl Carl Jansky. Carl Jansky, Yes, Uh, he he 147 00:09:01,800 --> 00:09:04,959 Speaker 1: built the first antenna that could be used as a 148 00:09:05,040 --> 00:09:07,360 Speaker 1: radio telescope back in ninety one, but it would take 149 00:09:07,360 --> 00:09:09,560 Speaker 1: a couple of years to really figure out, uh, the 150 00:09:09,559 --> 00:09:12,959 Speaker 1: fact that you could use this to to explore the 151 00:09:13,600 --> 00:09:17,720 Speaker 1: heavens above. Because when he built his radio frequency detector, 152 00:09:18,080 --> 00:09:21,520 Speaker 1: it was not to act as a radio telescope. It 153 00:09:21,600 --> 00:09:24,840 Speaker 1: was meant to detect static that could potentially interfere with 154 00:09:24,960 --> 00:09:28,400 Speaker 1: radio telephone services. Right, So he was he was working 155 00:09:28,480 --> 00:09:32,400 Speaker 1: literally on a project for Bell. Yeah, and what happened 156 00:09:32,440 --> 00:09:35,360 Speaker 1: was he discovered that there was this interesting hissing noise 157 00:09:35,360 --> 00:09:37,600 Speaker 1: he was picking up, and that was hitting a cycle. 158 00:09:38,360 --> 00:09:42,360 Speaker 1: The hissing noise would would occur at a certain time 159 00:09:42,840 --> 00:09:45,560 Speaker 1: every day, and the cycle hit, well, not every day, 160 00:09:45,600 --> 00:09:47,960 Speaker 1: the cycle hit every twenty three hours and fifty six minutes, 161 00:09:48,360 --> 00:09:50,520 Speaker 1: And once he removed the snake from the line, he 162 00:09:50,600 --> 00:09:52,520 Speaker 1: realized there was something else hit. He figured out that 163 00:09:52,559 --> 00:09:54,720 Speaker 1: the twenty three hours of fifty six minutes was essentially 164 00:09:54,800 --> 00:09:57,400 Speaker 1: the period that it takes for if you've if you've 165 00:09:57,400 --> 00:09:59,839 Speaker 1: got a fixed point on the sky for the you 166 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:02,520 Speaker 1: to come background so that you're pointing at that same 167 00:10:02,720 --> 00:10:06,760 Speaker 1: object and come up again later. Eventually he determined that 168 00:10:06,840 --> 00:10:12,599 Speaker 1: this was the the origin of this radio frequency was otherworldly, 169 00:10:12,960 --> 00:10:15,000 Speaker 1: so it was coming from outside the Earth, and that 170 00:10:15,080 --> 00:10:17,880 Speaker 1: it was in fact coming from somewhere in the Sagittarius 171 00:10:17,960 --> 00:10:23,440 Speaker 1: constellation far out. Yeah, so guys, I'm picking up a 172 00:10:23,480 --> 00:10:26,720 Speaker 1: signal from outer space. No, I'm sorry, it's not from 173 00:10:26,760 --> 00:10:29,760 Speaker 1: outer space. It's just from just outside the room. It's Tari, 174 00:10:29,880 --> 00:10:31,640 Speaker 1: She's telling me that we need to take a break 175 00:10:31,679 --> 00:10:41,520 Speaker 1: to thank our sponsor. So it would take a few 176 00:10:41,520 --> 00:10:45,440 Speaker 1: more years before you saw anyone build a parabolic antenna, 177 00:10:45,480 --> 00:10:47,760 Speaker 1: which is what Chris was talking about earlier, the dish 178 00:10:48,120 --> 00:10:51,439 Speaker 1: style antenna. Those are not the only kind of antennas 179 00:10:51,440 --> 00:10:54,840 Speaker 1: that are used in radio telescopes. It's probably, i would argue, 180 00:10:54,920 --> 00:10:57,959 Speaker 1: probably the most iconic and the most common that we 181 00:10:57,960 --> 00:11:00,160 Speaker 1: we see. But there are other types of antenna as, 182 00:11:00,200 --> 00:11:03,880 Speaker 1: including dipole antenna's, cylindrical parabolics, which are they kind of 183 00:11:03,880 --> 00:11:08,160 Speaker 1: look like a trough. Uh there are the yaggy antenna's, 184 00:11:08,200 --> 00:11:11,199 Speaker 1: which are um not little guys who teach you how 185 00:11:11,240 --> 00:11:15,840 Speaker 1: to use kung fu kara, I should say, their horn 186 00:11:15,920 --> 00:11:18,680 Speaker 1: antennas their mills crosses that kind of STU mills crosses 187 00:11:18,720 --> 00:11:23,560 Speaker 1: telescope um. Various ways of doing this, but the principle 188 00:11:23,679 --> 00:11:26,640 Speaker 1: is essentially the same. It's to try and gather to 189 00:11:26,760 --> 00:11:31,640 Speaker 1: detect together as much as radio frequency UM radiation as possible. 190 00:11:31,640 --> 00:11:37,440 Speaker 1: And usually there are several reflectors involved that reflect radio 191 00:11:37,480 --> 00:11:42,160 Speaker 1: frequencies to a focal point that can then send the 192 00:11:42,240 --> 00:11:46,640 Speaker 1: signal to receiver and then from there it gets amplified. 193 00:11:46,679 --> 00:11:49,320 Speaker 1: And we'll go through that process in a little bit. 194 00:11:49,360 --> 00:11:53,960 Speaker 1: But uh so in and the parabolic style of of antenna, 195 00:11:54,160 --> 00:11:56,520 Speaker 1: this is why you have that big dish. The dish 196 00:11:56,600 --> 00:12:02,720 Speaker 1: part is actually reflecting frequencies so that they all are 197 00:12:02,800 --> 00:12:06,600 Speaker 1: directed to a single focal point and that's usually called 198 00:12:06,600 --> 00:12:09,400 Speaker 1: the feed. That's usually a small antenna called the feed 199 00:12:09,440 --> 00:12:13,040 Speaker 1: that uh as often called the feed horn, that will 200 00:12:13,080 --> 00:12:17,520 Speaker 1: collect the signal and send it to the receiver. Yes, 201 00:12:18,080 --> 00:12:22,160 Speaker 1: so these these radio frequencies are, like we said, generated 202 00:12:22,160 --> 00:12:25,120 Speaker 1: by lots of different stuff out there in the in 203 00:12:25,280 --> 00:12:30,400 Speaker 1: the in space. Um so. But the problem is that 204 00:12:30,360 --> 00:12:35,400 Speaker 1: the they're so so delicate. There's so such tiny little 205 00:12:35,520 --> 00:12:39,040 Speaker 1: frequencies that you have to really control for the noise element, 206 00:12:39,080 --> 00:12:41,880 Speaker 1: not just by trying to isolate the antenna of it, 207 00:12:42,080 --> 00:12:46,360 Speaker 1: but also by making sure the material you've used in 208 00:12:46,480 --> 00:12:50,160 Speaker 1: your antenna array is the right kind of stuff, because 209 00:12:51,000 --> 00:12:55,080 Speaker 1: they're pretty sense of things, and also the amount of 210 00:12:55,200 --> 00:12:59,560 Speaker 1: information you can get is very much connected to the 211 00:12:59,640 --> 00:13:03,720 Speaker 1: side of your antenna. Bigger antennas are able to provide 212 00:13:03,720 --> 00:13:07,840 Speaker 1: a higher resolution image. It's kind of a weird word 213 00:13:07,840 --> 00:13:10,280 Speaker 1: to say, because we're not talking about visible light necessarily, 214 00:13:10,320 --> 00:13:13,760 Speaker 1: but an image of what it is you're looking at. Right. So, 215 00:13:13,760 --> 00:13:16,680 Speaker 1: so the larger the better in general. But if you 216 00:13:16,679 --> 00:13:20,280 Speaker 1: start building so large that the material itself is heavy 217 00:13:20,400 --> 00:13:24,000 Speaker 1: enough to warp because it's it's it's so heavy that 218 00:13:24,480 --> 00:13:28,240 Speaker 1: the structure itself can't maintain a specific shape, well, then 219 00:13:28,240 --> 00:13:31,400 Speaker 1: you're not reflecting the radio frequencies to that focal point anymore, 220 00:13:31,400 --> 00:13:32,880 Speaker 1: you've warped it out of shape. So you have to 221 00:13:32,880 --> 00:13:35,360 Speaker 1: build it out of special materials and you have to 222 00:13:35,480 --> 00:13:39,160 Speaker 1: plan for Okay, well, we know that by designing an 223 00:13:39,160 --> 00:13:42,840 Speaker 1: antenna of this size, this particular warping is going to occur, 224 00:13:42,880 --> 00:13:45,480 Speaker 1: so we have to factor that into the design so 225 00:13:45,520 --> 00:13:48,199 Speaker 1: that the warping actually ends up helping rather than hurting. 226 00:13:48,200 --> 00:13:51,440 Speaker 1: And usually you do that by adding a second reflector 227 00:13:51,520 --> 00:13:54,079 Speaker 1: that is that's movable, so you can have a second 228 00:13:54,120 --> 00:13:57,360 Speaker 1: reflector actually um position in such a way where the 229 00:13:57,720 --> 00:14:01,080 Speaker 1: distortion from the main reflector hit the second reflector, which 230 00:14:01,120 --> 00:14:03,520 Speaker 1: then reflects it back to the focal point. So it 231 00:14:03,520 --> 00:14:05,280 Speaker 1: gets a little complicated. In fact, there are two main 232 00:14:05,520 --> 00:14:10,440 Speaker 1: types of secondary reflectors. There's the Cassegrain focus, which is 233 00:14:11,000 --> 00:14:14,120 Speaker 1: a reflector that's in front of the main antenna or 234 00:14:14,160 --> 00:14:17,160 Speaker 1: the main reflector, i should say. And then there's another 235 00:14:17,160 --> 00:14:19,040 Speaker 1: one if you have it in the back. It's called 236 00:14:19,080 --> 00:14:23,400 Speaker 1: Grigoryan focus, and it chants a lot. At a feeling 237 00:14:23,400 --> 00:14:25,120 Speaker 1: you were going to say that, yeah, there was a 238 00:14:25,120 --> 00:14:30,880 Speaker 1: pretty good chance. Uh yeah, it's possible. Um Now, given 239 00:14:31,400 --> 00:14:34,600 Speaker 1: what Johnathan was just talking about, giving the materials and 240 00:14:34,600 --> 00:14:36,840 Speaker 1: and the uh, there are a lot of things that 241 00:14:36,840 --> 00:14:42,880 Speaker 1: that can affect uh, the efficiency of a radio telescope, 242 00:14:42,960 --> 00:14:49,840 Speaker 1: including heat, because the materials will expand or contract, wind, 243 00:14:50,080 --> 00:14:53,080 Speaker 1: the surface of the material itself, the surface of the 244 00:14:53,120 --> 00:14:56,680 Speaker 1: material itself. Um. But other than that, I mean, once 245 00:14:56,720 --> 00:14:59,760 Speaker 1: you take all these things into account, it is theoretically 246 00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:03,600 Speaker 1: possible to build as larger radio telescope as you possibly can. 247 00:15:03,640 --> 00:15:06,320 Speaker 1: There's really no limit to the size other than the 248 00:15:06,320 --> 00:15:08,200 Speaker 1: fact that you're going to have to take things like 249 00:15:08,600 --> 00:15:12,720 Speaker 1: gravity and temperature and things like that into a tensile strength. 250 00:15:12,920 --> 00:15:17,080 Speaker 1: But conceivably, if you could build one that's three times 251 00:15:17,120 --> 00:15:19,840 Speaker 1: the size of Earth, it would work. Yeah. But that 252 00:15:20,040 --> 00:15:23,080 Speaker 1: and that's fascinating because it's it's not it doesn't have 253 00:15:23,160 --> 00:15:26,920 Speaker 1: to be a particularly large or particularly small device. It 254 00:15:27,080 --> 00:15:29,480 Speaker 1: just you know, you can pick up more with it. 255 00:15:29,600 --> 00:15:32,120 Speaker 1: And a lot of a lot of radio telescopes are 256 00:15:32,160 --> 00:15:35,480 Speaker 1: actually telescope like antenna arrays, So it's not just one 257 00:15:35,520 --> 00:15:38,920 Speaker 1: antenna's several antennas working together in order if you to 258 00:15:38,960 --> 00:15:42,640 Speaker 1: gather this information work, that's what I say. And and 259 00:15:42,760 --> 00:15:46,440 Speaker 1: that that helps you create a larger radio telescope just 260 00:15:46,520 --> 00:15:49,120 Speaker 1: but you know, you're adding extra elements, and it means 261 00:15:49,160 --> 00:15:51,840 Speaker 1: that you sort of get around part of the problem, 262 00:15:51,880 --> 00:15:54,840 Speaker 1: which is, you know, building just an enormous single antenna. 263 00:15:54,920 --> 00:15:57,240 Speaker 1: You can do an array of antennas. There are different 264 00:15:57,240 --> 00:16:01,200 Speaker 1: limitations on this as well. Um. So, the signal that 265 00:16:01,240 --> 00:16:04,880 Speaker 1: you're picking up with this radio telescope is really really weak, 266 00:16:05,800 --> 00:16:08,360 Speaker 1: So in order for you to have it, uh and 267 00:16:08,440 --> 00:16:11,560 Speaker 1: to to transmit first you have to you have to 268 00:16:11,600 --> 00:16:16,640 Speaker 1: transfer the radio frequency information by by changing it into electricity. 269 00:16:16,640 --> 00:16:20,440 Speaker 1: But because the frequency signal is so weak, the electric 270 00:16:20,480 --> 00:16:23,120 Speaker 1: current would be pretty pathetic. You would not be able 271 00:16:23,160 --> 00:16:26,880 Speaker 1: to measure it just by converting it right from radio 272 00:16:26,920 --> 00:16:31,080 Speaker 1: frequency to electricity without amplifying it in some way. So 273 00:16:31,160 --> 00:16:34,600 Speaker 1: typically a radio telescope will then have a pre amplifier. 274 00:16:35,000 --> 00:16:38,800 Speaker 1: So you musicians out there and and and radio folks, 275 00:16:39,080 --> 00:16:41,080 Speaker 1: you know, you're probably pretty familiar with the idea of 276 00:16:41,080 --> 00:16:44,720 Speaker 1: a pre amplifier. Microphones usually have a pre amplifier that 277 00:16:44,800 --> 00:16:47,800 Speaker 1: kind of thing. Um So, a pre amplifier is really 278 00:16:47,880 --> 00:16:50,440 Speaker 1: just a a way of boosting a signal a certain 279 00:16:50,480 --> 00:16:54,680 Speaker 1: amount before it gets truly amplified, uh for the final 280 00:16:54,800 --> 00:16:56,800 Speaker 1: use of whatever that signal is gonna be, whether it's 281 00:16:56,840 --> 00:17:00,920 Speaker 1: in the audio industry, or in this case, the measuring 282 00:17:00,960 --> 00:17:03,920 Speaker 1: the celestial bodies. Yeah, I was gonna say that they 283 00:17:03,920 --> 00:17:08,680 Speaker 1: don't necessarily usually have them anyway. Um, well, that's that's fair, 284 00:17:08,760 --> 00:17:12,160 Speaker 1: but it does. It does assist, uh, and in picking 285 00:17:12,200 --> 00:17:14,040 Speaker 1: up these weak signals, that's for sure. Yeah. And so 286 00:17:14,080 --> 00:17:16,680 Speaker 1: the kind that tends to be used in radio telescopes 287 00:17:16,720 --> 00:17:21,960 Speaker 1: are called low noise amplifiers because we're talking about such small, 288 00:17:22,440 --> 00:17:26,919 Speaker 1: very very quiet signals. And so, boy, I'm glad didn't 289 00:17:26,960 --> 00:17:30,479 Speaker 1: do the old listener mail beginning because then with all 290 00:17:30,520 --> 00:17:32,879 Speaker 1: this it would have proably blown everybody's ears out. So 291 00:17:32,960 --> 00:17:37,240 Speaker 1: the the these l n A pre amplifiers take these 292 00:17:37,359 --> 00:17:40,240 Speaker 1: um signals and then they boost them. Now here's the thing. 293 00:17:41,200 --> 00:17:45,480 Speaker 1: Any sort of interference at this point could really compromise 294 00:17:45,560 --> 00:17:51,000 Speaker 1: the measurements you're making. So that includes molecular movement of 295 00:17:51,080 --> 00:17:55,120 Speaker 1: the pre amp. So the fact that you know, everything 296 00:17:56,200 --> 00:17:58,960 Speaker 1: in matter is made up of molecules, and these molecules 297 00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:03,600 Speaker 1: move even in solid objects, right, yes, so they in 298 00:18:03,720 --> 00:18:08,080 Speaker 1: a in big radio telescope facilities, things like the professional 299 00:18:08,080 --> 00:18:11,040 Speaker 1: ones that you would find in say NASA, they tend 300 00:18:11,040 --> 00:18:14,919 Speaker 1: to have to cool down the pre amplifier to reduce 301 00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:17,800 Speaker 1: molecular movement as much as possible, and usually to around 302 00:18:17,840 --> 00:18:21,960 Speaker 1: ten kelvin. It's pretty cold. Pretty cold, yeah, zero kelvin 303 00:18:22,040 --> 00:18:25,240 Speaker 1: means no molecular movement. That's what like the deepest reaches 304 00:18:25,280 --> 00:18:28,040 Speaker 1: of space would be is zero kelvin. So ten kelvin's 305 00:18:28,080 --> 00:18:31,800 Speaker 1: pretty cold. They tend to use liquid helium to cool 306 00:18:31,880 --> 00:18:35,600 Speaker 1: down the this this device low enough so that it 307 00:18:35,720 --> 00:18:38,960 Speaker 1: reduces the chance for it to contribute noise to this signal. 308 00:18:39,480 --> 00:18:43,879 Speaker 1: All right. From there, the signal moves into a mixer, yes, 309 00:18:44,040 --> 00:18:49,560 Speaker 1: where it has a party and networks with people and not. Oh, 310 00:18:49,800 --> 00:18:53,120 Speaker 1: should have taken different notes. Okay, well I'll just work 311 00:18:53,119 --> 00:18:56,280 Speaker 1: from memory here then, um no, a mixer. The mixer's 312 00:18:56,280 --> 00:18:59,800 Speaker 1: purpose is to change the frequency of the signal. Now, 313 00:18:59,840 --> 00:19:02,919 Speaker 1: the signals are very high frequency and uh, and it 314 00:19:02,960 --> 00:19:07,280 Speaker 1: turns out that it's easier to amplify lower frequencies. It's 315 00:19:07,320 --> 00:19:11,680 Speaker 1: possible to amplify higher frequencies, but in general, it takes 316 00:19:11,920 --> 00:19:17,199 Speaker 1: less uh effort to amplify the lower frequency signals. And 317 00:19:17,720 --> 00:19:19,800 Speaker 1: if it's kept it it's high frequency and you're just 318 00:19:20,040 --> 00:19:22,840 Speaker 1: you're you're working with the frequency at that and it's 319 00:19:23,040 --> 00:19:26,800 Speaker 1: native frequency. There's the chance they'll travel back up the 320 00:19:26,880 --> 00:19:31,200 Speaker 1: antenna and create feedback. It's not dissimilar to what would 321 00:19:31,200 --> 00:19:34,640 Speaker 1: happen with a microphone too close to a speaker, where 322 00:19:34,640 --> 00:19:39,160 Speaker 1: you get that wonderful sound. That's wonderful. Now you're you're 323 00:19:39,160 --> 00:19:41,479 Speaker 1: probably more familiar with it than I am with your 324 00:19:41,560 --> 00:19:46,879 Speaker 1: rock and roll lifestyle and all. So then what happens 325 00:19:46,920 --> 00:19:49,960 Speaker 1: is the mixer mixes this frequency, not just it doesn't 326 00:19:50,000 --> 00:19:52,159 Speaker 1: just lower. The way it lowers this frequency is it 327 00:19:52,200 --> 00:19:56,480 Speaker 1: mixes the frequency with a frequency generated by an oscillator. Okay, 328 00:19:56,520 --> 00:19:59,880 Speaker 1: so the oscillator creates two frequencies that are both sent 329 00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:04,040 Speaker 1: into the mixer, and uh one is there the polar 330 00:20:04,080 --> 00:20:08,159 Speaker 1: opposites of each other. And so the the mixer adds 331 00:20:08,160 --> 00:20:13,520 Speaker 1: in the lower frequency together with the frequency that came 332 00:20:13,560 --> 00:20:18,399 Speaker 1: in through the receiver, and that is what it sends 333 00:20:18,400 --> 00:20:25,879 Speaker 1: out to the intermediate frequency amplifier. So we've gone PREAMPTI mixer. 334 00:20:26,000 --> 00:20:29,440 Speaker 1: Mixer pulls in a second frequency from the oscillator, the 335 00:20:29,480 --> 00:20:33,040 Speaker 1: oscillator frequency, the lower one gets combined with the incoming 336 00:20:33,040 --> 00:20:36,400 Speaker 1: frequency that is then sent to the intermediate frequency amplifier 337 00:20:36,440 --> 00:20:40,640 Speaker 1: or i F amplifier. And that just process that says 338 00:20:40,720 --> 00:20:42,800 Speaker 1: is that signal and amplifies it. And we've talked about 339 00:20:42,800 --> 00:20:44,800 Speaker 1: amplifiers before in this podcast, so I'm not going to 340 00:20:44,880 --> 00:20:48,840 Speaker 1: get into that. Uh. And then this, this stronger signal 341 00:20:49,200 --> 00:20:52,960 Speaker 1: from the i F amplifier gets sent to Well, now 342 00:20:53,000 --> 00:20:54,960 Speaker 1: we've got to go to the square law detectors and 343 00:20:55,000 --> 00:21:00,040 Speaker 1: the d C processors because we have to create a 344 00:21:00,160 --> 00:21:03,439 Speaker 1: d see a direct current in order for that to 345 00:21:03,520 --> 00:21:08,560 Speaker 1: go to a recording device. So this converts the frequency 346 00:21:08,600 --> 00:21:11,880 Speaker 1: from the amplifier to direct current signals, and it smooths 347 00:21:11,880 --> 00:21:14,560 Speaker 1: out the signals to make them easier to measure because 348 00:21:14,560 --> 00:21:17,520 Speaker 1: they fluctuate quite a bit. Even as direct current, they 349 00:21:17,520 --> 00:21:19,119 Speaker 1: tend to fluctuate. So the way they do this is 350 00:21:19,160 --> 00:21:22,720 Speaker 1: they use capacitors. And if you recall we've talked about 351 00:21:22,760 --> 00:21:28,280 Speaker 1: capacitors before too, capacitors store up electricity and then release 352 00:21:28,320 --> 00:21:30,919 Speaker 1: it all at once, right. They're they're kind of like 353 00:21:30,960 --> 00:21:33,760 Speaker 1: a battery that it can store electricity, but unlike a battery, 354 00:21:34,080 --> 00:21:37,160 Speaker 1: it is and it releases all the electricity. It doesn't 355 00:21:37,200 --> 00:21:40,280 Speaker 1: do a constant flow. This, by the way, is the 356 00:21:40,320 --> 00:21:44,320 Speaker 1: reason why it's a bad idea to fiddle around with electronics. 357 00:21:44,359 --> 00:21:46,840 Speaker 1: You don't know a lot about, including things like televisions 358 00:21:46,840 --> 00:21:51,200 Speaker 1: and computers because they have capacitors in them that can 359 00:21:51,320 --> 00:21:55,880 Speaker 1: store high amounts of electricity that are potentially deadly. So 360 00:21:56,040 --> 00:21:58,960 Speaker 1: especially things like computers and televisions, you don't want to, 361 00:21:59,200 --> 00:22:02,439 Speaker 1: you know, just knock a hole in one or you know. 362 00:22:02,600 --> 00:22:04,560 Speaker 1: I have seen like videos. If you've ever seen a 363 00:22:04,640 --> 00:22:06,879 Speaker 1: video of someone who who excellently breaks the television, you 364 00:22:06,880 --> 00:22:09,960 Speaker 1: see a spark go off. That's a capacitor that's that's discharging, 365 00:22:10,280 --> 00:22:12,840 Speaker 1: and those can be very dangerous. Chris and I have 366 00:22:12,880 --> 00:22:15,080 Speaker 1: a little bit more to say about radio telescopes, but 367 00:22:15,160 --> 00:22:17,960 Speaker 1: before we do, let's take another quick break to thank 368 00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:28,760 Speaker 1: our sponsor. I have read an interesting analogy which said, 369 00:22:29,480 --> 00:22:33,280 Speaker 1: imagine that you have a water hose and water is 370 00:22:33,320 --> 00:22:36,000 Speaker 1: moving through the hose, but the pressure keeps changing, so 371 00:22:36,040 --> 00:22:38,479 Speaker 1: the water sometimes it's flowing out very quickly and sometimes 372 00:22:38,480 --> 00:22:42,840 Speaker 1: it's sputtering out. Okay uh. In the case of this 373 00:22:43,280 --> 00:22:47,280 Speaker 1: detecting radio frequencies, you want to a steady um flow 374 00:22:47,480 --> 00:22:50,240 Speaker 1: so that you can measure it properly. So what if 375 00:22:50,240 --> 00:22:52,760 Speaker 1: you were to instead of just measure the measuring the 376 00:22:52,800 --> 00:22:56,119 Speaker 1: water that comes out of the hose, you you direct 377 00:22:56,119 --> 00:22:58,720 Speaker 1: the hose towards a bucket, okay, and at the base 378 00:22:58,720 --> 00:23:01,280 Speaker 1: of the bucket there's this big it that you can 379 00:23:01,320 --> 00:23:03,520 Speaker 1: open up. Well, if you open up the spin on 380 00:23:03,560 --> 00:23:05,240 Speaker 1: the bucket, water is going to flow out at a 381 00:23:05,320 --> 00:23:08,280 Speaker 1: much more steady rate than it's flowing out of the hose. 382 00:23:09,000 --> 00:23:11,040 Speaker 1: That's the kind of idea here with the capacitor, and 383 00:23:11,080 --> 00:23:13,359 Speaker 1: that it's to try and smooth out that signal and 384 00:23:13,400 --> 00:23:15,440 Speaker 1: make it easier to record, and then finally you've got 385 00:23:15,440 --> 00:23:18,760 Speaker 1: the actual recording device. Now, in the old days, the 386 00:23:18,800 --> 00:23:22,879 Speaker 1: recording device was a an old man who said what 387 00:23:23,160 --> 00:23:26,159 Speaker 1: is that? No, it was actually a pen attached to 388 00:23:26,520 --> 00:23:30,200 Speaker 1: a a movable arm and some paper that was pulled 389 00:23:30,240 --> 00:23:33,600 Speaker 1: across and then the movable arm would would move depending 390 00:23:33,680 --> 00:23:36,600 Speaker 1: upon changes in voltage. And so it's very similar to 391 00:23:37,240 --> 00:23:42,199 Speaker 1: uh earthquake detecting equipment. We talked about seismological equipment in 392 00:23:42,200 --> 00:23:44,960 Speaker 1: the past where you see that or even if you 393 00:23:45,000 --> 00:23:49,320 Speaker 1: think also a similar things light detectors, that's what I 394 00:23:49,320 --> 00:23:51,720 Speaker 1: was saying, polygraphs where they have the little the little 395 00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:54,240 Speaker 1: pen that scratches back and forth across the papers, the 396 00:23:54,240 --> 00:23:57,680 Speaker 1: papers going by, similar kind of thing. Um Now in 397 00:23:57,800 --> 00:24:03,840 Speaker 1: October fourteen, yeah, so we when did you go super nova. Um. No, 398 00:24:04,080 --> 00:24:06,640 Speaker 1: so this in this case instead, what's doing is it's 399 00:24:06,640 --> 00:24:10,120 Speaker 1: actually uh, modern ones don't tend to use this anymore. 400 00:24:10,119 --> 00:24:12,240 Speaker 1: They tend to actually send the data directly to a 401 00:24:12,240 --> 00:24:14,919 Speaker 1: computer where it gets recorded and you read out the 402 00:24:14,960 --> 00:24:17,480 Speaker 1: information on a computer screen, as opposed to looking at 403 00:24:17,560 --> 00:24:22,560 Speaker 1: a physical representation scratched out in pen um. That's generally 404 00:24:22,560 --> 00:24:26,240 Speaker 1: how the radio telescope works from start to finish. So 405 00:24:27,080 --> 00:24:35,240 Speaker 1: it's pretty interesting stuff. It's a little complex, I would say, yeah, yeah, Um. 406 00:24:35,320 --> 00:24:38,200 Speaker 1: One of the things that uh, we were talking about 407 00:24:38,240 --> 00:24:43,119 Speaker 1: two Jonathan mentioned, um the Jansky's experiments where he was 408 00:24:43,440 --> 00:24:45,639 Speaker 1: he would note that the interference would come around at 409 00:24:45,640 --> 00:24:48,760 Speaker 1: a certain period of time. UM. One of the prime 410 00:24:48,800 --> 00:24:52,360 Speaker 1: places to put a radio telescope is near the equator 411 00:24:53,359 --> 00:24:57,920 Speaker 1: because it is really good. Um. It's a really good 412 00:24:57,920 --> 00:25:03,280 Speaker 1: place to get an accurate depiction as the Earth rotates, um, 413 00:25:03,440 --> 00:25:08,600 Speaker 1: and it can it can identify sources of radio information 414 00:25:08,640 --> 00:25:13,280 Speaker 1: coming from space very clearly. UM. Unfortunately, it's a rather 415 00:25:13,359 --> 00:25:17,240 Speaker 1: expensive place to try to build a radio telescopes, and 416 00:25:17,280 --> 00:25:19,119 Speaker 1: that's one of the reasons why they can be found 417 00:25:19,119 --> 00:25:21,919 Speaker 1: in many different places around the world. But yea closer 418 00:25:21,960 --> 00:25:24,280 Speaker 1: to the equator tends to be better just for the 419 00:25:24,480 --> 00:25:27,000 Speaker 1: you know, the quality of information you can get from this. 420 00:25:27,480 --> 00:25:31,880 Speaker 1: UM and and uh, we've actually started using radio telescopes 421 00:25:31,920 --> 00:25:35,080 Speaker 1: to kind of map out the celestial bodies around us, 422 00:25:35,080 --> 00:25:37,720 Speaker 1: even ones that are not visible to the naked eye. 423 00:25:38,160 --> 00:25:41,439 Speaker 1: And it's been very useful for astronomers. And there's still 424 00:25:41,600 --> 00:25:44,960 Speaker 1: there's still even you know, uh, amateur astronomers who use 425 00:25:45,040 --> 00:25:48,680 Speaker 1: radio telescopes. This this it's not just the realm of 426 00:25:49,359 --> 00:25:53,840 Speaker 1: massive scientific organizations like NASA, although I mean those are 427 00:25:53,840 --> 00:25:55,439 Speaker 1: the ones that you know, if you look up the 428 00:25:55,480 --> 00:25:58,560 Speaker 1: pictures online, you tend to see the really larger arrays 429 00:25:58,680 --> 00:26:04,360 Speaker 1: or really large antennas that belonged to these major organizations. Now, 430 00:26:04,680 --> 00:26:09,560 Speaker 1: a radio telescope is able to detect things celestial bodies 431 00:26:09,720 --> 00:26:14,600 Speaker 1: and sky by their angular resolution. UM. Basically it it 432 00:26:15,080 --> 00:26:18,359 Speaker 1: really is contingent on the wavelengths that it is able 433 00:26:18,359 --> 00:26:21,800 Speaker 1: to detect. So that's one of the reasons why UM, 434 00:26:21,840 --> 00:26:25,600 Speaker 1: a radio telescope does need to be large. UM. Yeah, 435 00:26:25,600 --> 00:26:27,399 Speaker 1: if you you could build a small one, but it 436 00:26:27,400 --> 00:26:31,560 Speaker 1: wouldn't be nearly as functional as a larger one. Basically, 437 00:26:31,600 --> 00:26:37,520 Speaker 1: the larger radio telescope is the greater it's angular resolution. Um. 438 00:26:37,560 --> 00:26:41,359 Speaker 1: But um that that's basically uh, that's basically what it is. 439 00:26:41,840 --> 00:26:44,200 Speaker 1: What what it's using. In terms of how you would 440 00:26:44,200 --> 00:26:48,520 Speaker 1: measure the effectiveness of a radio telescope. Yeah, if you 441 00:26:48,520 --> 00:26:52,080 Speaker 1: you know, if you had like a backyard telescope visual telescope, 442 00:26:52,640 --> 00:26:55,040 Speaker 1: the resolution you would get on that is equivalent to 443 00:26:55,080 --> 00:26:59,760 Speaker 1: what you would get with a huge radio telescope. The 444 00:27:00,000 --> 00:27:03,160 Speaker 1: solution on a radio telescope is proportional to its size. 445 00:27:03,640 --> 00:27:06,280 Speaker 1: So um, yeah, you've gotta have a big one if 446 00:27:06,280 --> 00:27:10,240 Speaker 1: you're going to have any any real precise resolution. And 447 00:27:10,320 --> 00:27:12,720 Speaker 1: again we're not, you know, it's it's a little weird 448 00:27:12,760 --> 00:27:14,959 Speaker 1: because it's hard to think of resolution in terms of 449 00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:17,399 Speaker 1: something other than visible light because that's what we're mostly 450 00:27:17,400 --> 00:27:20,800 Speaker 1: familiar with. But but yes, it's it still applies in 451 00:27:20,840 --> 00:27:26,560 Speaker 1: this case. Yep, yep, um and radio basically, radio astronomers 452 00:27:26,560 --> 00:27:30,800 Speaker 1: have been able to detect all kinds of different molecules 453 00:27:30,800 --> 00:27:35,520 Speaker 1: in space too. Um, you can. You might be surprised 454 00:27:35,520 --> 00:27:37,600 Speaker 1: to learn. I was a little surprised to learn that 455 00:27:37,720 --> 00:27:43,240 Speaker 1: radio radio astronomers were able to identify carbon dioxide, water, formaldehyde, 456 00:27:44,119 --> 00:27:49,120 Speaker 1: ethyl alcohol, methanol, ammonia, UM and all kinds of other 457 00:27:49,680 --> 00:27:53,440 Speaker 1: different kinds of just that kinds twice of compounds out 458 00:27:53,440 --> 00:27:58,680 Speaker 1: in space UM and and to use the radio telescope 459 00:27:58,680 --> 00:28:00,280 Speaker 1: in that way, I mean it's you can get a 460 00:28:00,359 --> 00:28:03,160 Speaker 1: lot of information. And that's actually uh sort of ties 461 00:28:03,200 --> 00:28:07,359 Speaker 1: back into the SETI project because the if if you 462 00:28:07,720 --> 00:28:10,680 Speaker 1: haven't listened to that particular podcast or are unfamiliar with 463 00:28:11,240 --> 00:28:16,520 Speaker 1: the project, Basically, UM astronomers were collecting large amounts of 464 00:28:16,640 --> 00:28:20,520 Speaker 1: data from the radio telescope. They were using UM for 465 00:28:20,640 --> 00:28:24,680 Speaker 1: their project, and the thing is their computers couldn't analyze 466 00:28:24,680 --> 00:28:27,520 Speaker 1: it all at one time. They were collecting so much 467 00:28:27,560 --> 00:28:30,720 Speaker 1: that it was just stacking up essentially, not literally but 468 00:28:31,040 --> 00:28:34,480 Speaker 1: to figurative. To create an analogy, We've talked about in 469 00:28:34,520 --> 00:28:37,920 Speaker 1: the past, how on YouTube, users are uploading forty eight 470 00:28:37,960 --> 00:28:41,880 Speaker 1: hours of content every every minute. So it'd be like 471 00:28:41,960 --> 00:28:45,200 Speaker 1: telling one person to watch everything that's on YouTube. You've 472 00:28:45,240 --> 00:28:47,960 Speaker 1: got you've got a growing amount of content that you're 473 00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:50,440 Speaker 1: never going to catch up to and only so much 474 00:28:50,520 --> 00:28:53,200 Speaker 1: ability to consume it. So same sort of thing. In 475 00:28:53,200 --> 00:28:57,160 Speaker 1: this case, we're talking about generating uh, incredible amounts of 476 00:28:57,240 --> 00:29:01,080 Speaker 1: data and having a limited ability to actually analyze the information. 477 00:29:02,440 --> 00:29:04,760 Speaker 1: So what they would do was to break it down 478 00:29:04,840 --> 00:29:08,840 Speaker 1: and use it in a distributed computing project, which they 479 00:29:08,880 --> 00:29:11,880 Speaker 1: were calling SETI at Home, and the idea being that 480 00:29:11,960 --> 00:29:16,320 Speaker 1: people take a slice of information, allow their computers to 481 00:29:17,080 --> 00:29:21,160 Speaker 1: work it out using a specially designed program, and send 482 00:29:21,200 --> 00:29:23,720 Speaker 1: it back to the astronomers so that they could evaluate 483 00:29:23,760 --> 00:29:26,960 Speaker 1: it and added to the project. And uh, you know, 484 00:29:27,000 --> 00:29:29,040 Speaker 1: it's just sort of a kind of a neat way 485 00:29:29,080 --> 00:29:33,480 Speaker 1: to to get into helping out with the project like that. 486 00:29:33,840 --> 00:29:37,840 Speaker 1: But that's that's one of the problems, a good problem 487 00:29:37,880 --> 00:29:41,080 Speaker 1: to have with with radio astronomy is that these uh 488 00:29:41,480 --> 00:29:46,240 Speaker 1: large radio telescopes can couldn't collect an awful lot of data. Yeah, 489 00:29:46,280 --> 00:29:48,800 Speaker 1: and so we might use them to discover things like 490 00:29:49,520 --> 00:29:52,240 Speaker 1: quay stars re pulsars that we had never seen before, 491 00:29:52,280 --> 00:29:54,600 Speaker 1: or even detect the presence of a galaxy that before 492 00:29:54,720 --> 00:29:58,200 Speaker 1: this point we just didn't know existed. Now. CETI, of course, 493 00:29:58,280 --> 00:30:00,880 Speaker 1: was really looking for any sort of signals that might 494 00:30:01,360 --> 00:30:07,959 Speaker 1: indicate a pattern or uh a possible um well possible 495 00:30:08,000 --> 00:30:11,240 Speaker 1: hint that there's some sort of other intelligent life out 496 00:30:11,240 --> 00:30:15,520 Speaker 1: there that's generating these signals, not not just some natural phenomenon. 497 00:30:16,000 --> 00:30:21,200 Speaker 1: Do do do do well? Um and radio. Radio telescopes 498 00:30:21,240 --> 00:30:26,720 Speaker 1: can also detect information about near celestial bodies as well. 499 00:30:27,360 --> 00:30:29,320 Speaker 1: The surface. For the Moon, we knew it was sort 500 00:30:29,320 --> 00:30:33,880 Speaker 1: of sandy before people actually landed there because astronomers had 501 00:30:33,960 --> 00:30:37,280 Speaker 1: used radio telescopes to, uh to get signals from the 502 00:30:37,280 --> 00:30:39,840 Speaker 1: Moon and learn, you know, what it was like. They're 503 00:30:39,880 --> 00:30:45,600 Speaker 1: also Venus, you know, is shrouded by clouds, but astronomers 504 00:30:45,600 --> 00:30:48,000 Speaker 1: are able to learn more about the surface by using 505 00:30:48,440 --> 00:30:51,840 Speaker 1: radio telescopes and radar to get an idea of what 506 00:30:51,920 --> 00:30:54,600 Speaker 1: these the actual planet surfaces. Well, they've also used it 507 00:30:54,680 --> 00:30:59,560 Speaker 1: to observe the storms on Jupiter, so that's kind of 508 00:30:59,560 --> 00:31:02,120 Speaker 1: interesting too, Like they just looked at the weather report 509 00:31:02,120 --> 00:31:04,640 Speaker 1: for you right today today it's gonna be a big gas. 510 00:31:06,400 --> 00:31:09,560 Speaker 1: It sounds like my never mind never yes, let's it's 511 00:31:09,640 --> 00:31:13,640 Speaker 1: most like that, Okay, but yeah, I think, uh, it's 512 00:31:13,720 --> 00:31:16,440 Speaker 1: it's an interesting topic. It's really and it's one honestly 513 00:31:16,480 --> 00:31:19,160 Speaker 1: I did not know very much about before we started 514 00:31:19,240 --> 00:31:21,560 Speaker 1: researching this podcast. I agree with you. I mean I 515 00:31:21,840 --> 00:31:24,520 Speaker 1: knew of it, I knew it existed, but I didn't 516 00:31:24,560 --> 00:31:27,680 Speaker 1: really understand what it was doing or how it did it. 517 00:31:27,920 --> 00:31:30,240 Speaker 1: And it is pretty cool. I mean, it just shows 518 00:31:30,240 --> 00:31:33,920 Speaker 1: me that radio is way cooler than I ever imagined 519 00:31:34,000 --> 00:31:36,320 Speaker 1: when I you know, so there you turn a radio on. 520 00:31:36,480 --> 00:31:39,320 Speaker 1: That's that's the extent of your Maybe you play with 521 00:31:39,360 --> 00:31:41,400 Speaker 1: a walkie talkie, but that's about it as far as 522 00:31:41,480 --> 00:31:43,360 Speaker 1: radio goes. And then the more you look into it, 523 00:31:43,400 --> 00:31:45,880 Speaker 1: the more you're like, wow, this is really phenomenal stuff. 524 00:31:46,160 --> 00:31:48,440 Speaker 1: Tesla was onto something. It's gonna say you probably had 525 00:31:48,440 --> 00:31:50,280 Speaker 1: a patent for that. Yeah, I probably did. And then 526 00:31:50,640 --> 00:31:55,520 Speaker 1: never mind, I'm not gonna go into another Tesla rent. Okay. 527 00:31:55,520 --> 00:31:58,280 Speaker 1: Then all right, Well that wraps up this discussion. Minka, 528 00:31:58,360 --> 00:32:00,520 Speaker 1: thank you so much for writing in and jesting that 529 00:32:00,520 --> 00:32:02,240 Speaker 1: that was a really cool topic for us to tackle. 530 00:32:03,040 --> 00:32:05,680 Speaker 1: And that wraps up another classic episode of tech Stuff. 531 00:32:05,960 --> 00:32:08,880 Speaker 1: I hope you guys enjoyed it. It's always a joy 532 00:32:08,960 --> 00:32:13,800 Speaker 1: to look into tech with Chris. I hope he's doing well. 533 00:32:14,120 --> 00:32:18,920 Speaker 1: I cannot get him back on the show because he's 534 00:32:18,920 --> 00:32:21,160 Speaker 1: got better things to do than to sit across the 535 00:32:21,160 --> 00:32:24,760 Speaker 1: table and talk into a microphone with me. He's doing 536 00:32:24,800 --> 00:32:29,600 Speaker 1: important work like making people way way smarter. So, Chris, 537 00:32:29,640 --> 00:32:32,560 Speaker 1: if you're listening, thanks so much. There's a joy to 538 00:32:32,640 --> 00:32:34,600 Speaker 1: work with you, and it's always fun to listen back 539 00:32:34,640 --> 00:32:36,720 Speaker 1: to these old episodes. If you want to reach out 540 00:32:36,800 --> 00:32:39,800 Speaker 1: and suggest new topics for me to cover in future 541 00:32:39,840 --> 00:32:42,800 Speaker 1: episodes of tech Stuff, go visit our website, it is 542 00:32:42,880 --> 00:32:46,280 Speaker 1: tech stuff podcast dot com. There you're gonna find all 543 00:32:46,320 --> 00:32:48,640 Speaker 1: the different ways to reach out to me and to 544 00:32:48,720 --> 00:32:51,560 Speaker 1: let me know about your suggestions for the show. I 545 00:32:51,600 --> 00:32:54,840 Speaker 1: greatly appreciate it. Don't forget. You can visit our merchandise 546 00:32:54,840 --> 00:32:57,840 Speaker 1: store over at t public dot com slash tech stuff. 547 00:32:58,160 --> 00:33:00,320 Speaker 1: Go check that out. Any purchase you make goes to 548 00:33:00,320 --> 00:33:03,120 Speaker 1: help the show. We greatly appreciate it, and I'll talk 549 00:33:03,160 --> 00:33:11,560 Speaker 1: to you again really soon for more on this and 550 00:33:11,640 --> 00:33:14,200 Speaker 1: thousands of other topics. Is that how stuff Works dot 551 00:33:14,240 --> 00:33:24,320 Speaker 1: com