Can a 70-year-old telescope still be useful?

[00:00] There’s a bit of tension in the story

[00:03] When I put out a call for interesting

[00:06] one of the team from Jodrell Bank

[00:09] Tucked away in the Cheshire countryside,

[00:11] it’s the home of the Lovell Telescope,

[00:14] the largest radio telescope

[00:16] and one of the scientific and engineering

[00:19] And the tension is this.

[00:21] They wanted to show off the new science

[00:23] all across their campus,

[00:24] and we are going to do that,

[00:28] is a 70-year-old telescope still useful?

[00:31] But also, from my side,

[00:35] was to climb the giant telescope.

[00:38] (bird twitters)

[00:40] Well, there are definitely worse views

[00:43] There is a reason for that,

[00:45] beyond my just being a massive nerd,

[00:47] when I was young,

[00:49] I went to Jodrell Bank as a visitor,

[00:50] to see what was then called

[00:53] not on a school trip.

[00:54] Young me,

[00:56] wanted to go see the big telescope.

[00:58] But of course, they don’t let visitors

[01:02] it’s a working science thing.

[01:04] And while I had a good day out,

[01:06] I think I was a bit disappointed

[01:10] up on it.

[01:11] There’s no photos of that trip,

[01:13] people didn’t carry cameras around

[01:15] Anyway, about 30 years later, I went back.

[01:18] Adult-me parked up, checked in with the team

[01:22] they took me to see

[01:25] There’s a lot of screens and displays,

[01:26] it’s far more impressive

[01:28] but I was quite glad to see there were

[01:32] Do you still have the black hole table?

[01:33] ’Cos I remember...

[01:36] You still have the black hole table!

[01:39] I spent like 15 minutes as a kid

[01:43] I was really tempted to do that again,

[01:45] but never mind.

[01:46] Also, the old acoustic dishes

[01:49] What you’re about to hear is the audio

[01:52] no trickery.

[01:53] I have such a strong memory of these

[01:58] (sotto voce)

[01:59] And it turns up on the other side.

[02:02] Core memory. Got to do that again

[02:05] It’s not bad.

[02:06] I couldn’t find the mock control room

[02:08] where kids used to be able to sit down and

[02:10] but still, happy with that.

[02:14] Now, there are two sides behind the scenes

[02:17] I did remember seeing the old university

[02:21] but in the last few years, there’s been

[02:24] next door for another project.

[02:26] The Square Kilometre Array Observatory,

[02:30] is a big intergovernmental organisation.

[02:33] The actual telescopes

[02:35] in South Africa and Australia,

[02:36] but the headquarters is at Jodrell Bank.

[02:39] I met William, who’s their director

[02:43] and the first thing we went to

[02:46] That’s a very sci-fi sign, isn’t it?

[02:48] You’ve picked

[02:50] Okay, you have a proper council chamber!

[02:54] Well, so, that’s, you know,

[02:56] That’s quite unusual.

[02:58] It’s an unusual setting.

[02:59] Big picture, what is the SKAO?

[03:02] So, maybe, you know, you should turn

[03:06] You know, all these flags.

[03:08] Oh, I can see why you’re head of outreach.

[03:12] But this really embodies who we are

[03:16] What we are doing is really to build

[03:20] the world’s largest radio telescopes.

[03:21] And one will be observing

[03:25] so that’s the one in Australia.

[03:26] That’s the one we will be using

[03:29] to what we call the cosmic dawn.

[03:31] The Cosmic Dawn, as in D-A-W-N,

[03:34] is the period just after the Big Bang.

[03:36] And by “just after”,

[03:40] because the numbers you encounter

[03:43] So, really observing, you know,

[03:46] which were emitted after the Big Bang.

[03:49] And so, that will give us some clues

[03:54] We know that Nobel Prize discoveries

[03:59] When? I don’t know, but, you know,

[04:03] I got to talk to their

[04:06] One of the cool things about the SKA

[04:08] is really that we’re building it

[04:10] to be as flexible as possible to observe

[04:14] We don’t know what our galaxy

[04:16] I mean, it’s quite bizarre to think about

[04:18] Do we not know that?

[04:20] With all of the beautiful images

[04:23] we don’t really know

[04:25] because it’s quite hard to observe.

[04:27] -Yeah, you don’t have a mirror out there!

[04:29] We don’t actually know how big stars form,

[04:31] and when you’re talking about

[04:34] throughout the universe,

[04:36] I mean, if you don’t understand how those

[04:40] then how can you really know the detail

[04:44] I mean, how planets form.

[04:46] I mean, we know that they form

[04:50] But we actually don’t know the crucial

[04:54] really, really small particles

[04:58] up to something that’s much larger,

[05:01] We just assume it happens.

[05:03] It must happen.

[05:04] -Yes.

[05:06] We know it happens, but our theory

[05:09] And the SKA is really well-suited

[05:14] A lot of things that I assumed

[05:16] are still promising theories

[05:20] The SKAO is going to produce about

[05:24] to help with a lot of astronomy.

[05:26] But while that’s all coordinated

[05:28] the actual receipt of signals

[05:31] Because one of the problems

[05:34] is there isn’t much room

[05:37] And certainly not this close to cities.

[05:39] Jodrell Bank does ask visitors

[05:41] but there are still roads and train lines

[05:46] So I still have the question...

[05:48] is the Lovell Telescope,

[05:52] Or is it now more history than science?

[05:54] To start answering that, I got taken

[05:59] he’s a professor and the associate

[06:01] Five years to build?

[06:03] Very rapid project, enormously ambitious

[06:07] not long after the war,

[06:09] to build a radio telescope

[06:12] which was so much larger

[06:16] How much?

[06:18] So, it was ten times larger than

[06:21] Oh, okay. Right, sure.

[06:23] And a leap in the dark.

[06:25] They had no idea what they would discover.

[06:28] There were big telescopes before

[06:30] what became known

[06:33] they just weren’t steerable.

[06:35] To this day, the big dish at Jodrell Bank

[06:37] is still the third largest

[06:40] It can be pointed at anywhere in the sky.

[06:43] I cannot tell you how much

[06:47] that sat at the mock control room

[06:52] is absolutely overjoyed.

[06:56] Oh, my word.

[06:58] (laughs)

[07:00] So, that is the telescope.

[07:01] That’s the 250-foot,

[07:05] Pointing straight up,

[07:06] ’cos we’re doing some painting

[07:10] I keep worrying that I’m getting

[07:12] And I’ve just realised

[07:15] There is literally a cherry picker with

[07:18] Alright, so, can I have a look?

[07:20] So, this is Mirza, our controller today.

[07:23] So, there’s somebody in here,

[07:25] there’s a controller in this room

[07:27] Right. It’s a lovely control desk, this.

[07:29] I know that’s the nerdiest thing

[07:32] It’s a really nice control desk.

[07:38] -Right.

[07:39] But all the electronics

[07:41] and controls the telescope

[07:45] I am a little worried that,

[07:47] were explaining the very basics

[07:51] I’m doing them

[07:53] So, just to be clear, everyone

[07:57] has a PhD.

[07:58] Anyway, Mirza, the telescope controller,

[08:00] also showed me a more modern-looking

[08:03] that connects the telescope

[08:06] a collection of smaller dishes

[08:08] So, you can remote control

[08:11] We can remotely control

[08:13] As you can see, we have the names

[08:17] You’ll see they’re pointing

[08:19] so they’re all on the same source.

[08:22] That’s not an icon....

[08:24] That’s literally the direction

[08:26] That’s live.

[08:29] You’ll see the Lovell is...

[08:32] It’s pointed straight up, and it’s red.

[08:33] It’s pointing up,

[08:36] Right.

[08:36] So, you’re observing something right now.

[08:40] I’m not sure what it is, but you’re

[08:43] That something was explained to me

[08:46] Again PhD.

[08:47] We are pointing

[08:51] which is one of the brightest

[08:53] And we use this source as a calibrator

[08:56] to calibrate the instrument

[08:59] So, once it stays on this target

[09:01] for some time in the sky,

[09:03] all the telescopes will move

[09:06] from the calibrator to the target

[09:09] And then once the data comes through

[09:11] from all the network of telescopes,

[09:13] it is correlated right here

[09:15] And someone’s going to earn

[09:17] or someone’s going to find

[09:21] -You never know.

[09:23] One of the advantages of radio astronomy

[09:26] from telescopes that are a long way apart,

[09:28] correlate them all together

[09:31] and end up with the equivalent resolution

[09:33] of a telescope the size

[09:36] This is the ends of those optical fibres.

[09:40] So, these optical fibres stretch out

[09:43] and then we have to focus them,

[09:45] and we do that in the machine

[09:47] Oh, there’s a...

[09:49] (laughs)

[09:51] Okay, you’ve got...

[09:54] Oh! Okay.

[09:55] Yep.

[09:56] (whirring)

[09:58] Little bit noisy.

[10:00] So, this is the supercomputer

[10:04] It’s a correlator designed to multiply

[10:08] from each pair of telescopes,

[10:09] accumulate those,

[10:11] and then Emmanuel and colleagues

[10:14] And the reason it’s in this

[10:17] is that this keeps any

[10:21] away from the big dish.

[10:22] So now we can go and see some of our young

[10:26] The young scientists in question

[10:28] all either have their PhDs

[10:31] Sorry to interrupt.

[10:32] I’ve been told you’ve all been briefed on

[10:37] I’m worried that Simon just kind of opened

[10:40] Benjamin is working on a live feed

[10:44] one of the other smaller dishes

[10:46] which is picking up the signal

[10:49] of a collapsed star, called a pulsar.

[10:52] I have an animation

[10:55] Someone has prepared a presentation here!

[10:57] Simon’s been doing hard work here.

[10:59] Thank you, folks.

[11:00] So what we’re seeing here is a beam

[11:03] a little bit like a lighthouse

[11:08] and the reason it sweeps around

[11:10] I actually have a little model here.

[11:11] You have a model!

[11:16] I knew you were coming.

[11:18] As the star rotates, that beam,

[11:20] that radio beam, like here

[11:24] is sweeping around the sky

[11:26] And if we happen to be

[11:30] and that beam sweeps across Earth,

[11:32] we will see a little pulse

[11:35] and so we call them pulsars.

[11:37] A pulsar is the size of a city,

[11:40] and the fastest one we know of

[11:47] Like I said, astronomy includes

[11:50] The idea really

[11:52] for every single rotation of these stars.

[11:55] Right.

[11:56] Because if we can do that,

[11:59] because what we have

[12:02] and if you have clocks in the sky,

[12:04] that’s a fantastic way

[12:07] to find the limits of Einstein’s theory.

[12:10] Next up is Phoebe, who was bouncing

[12:14] So, there’s a radar in Madrid

[12:18] and then all the radio telescopes

[12:20] will then be listening to the echo

[12:24] like, bouncing off the asteroid.

[12:26] And you do that a few times,

[12:29] what direction it’s going,

[12:31] -Hopefully, with just one observation.

[12:33] With the multiple telescopes

[12:36] you should get an idea of the speed

[12:38] Resolution is much better than optical.

[12:41] We can get down to about a metre,

[12:44] sort of, with the imaging

[12:47] Hopefully.

[12:48] This is, sort of, quite new,

[12:51] This is the first VLBI observation

[12:55] to get this level of detail.

[12:57] VLBI there

[13:02] which is the name for that process

[13:04] in different locations.

[13:06] I mean, do I just ask

[13:08] Like, I’m assuming Simon has prepared

[13:11] Uh, no. This is my regular office.

[13:13] Okay!

[13:15] Thank you!

[13:16] That was a little unfair to Justin,

[13:18] who I later found out specialises

[13:21] and high-energy particles,

[13:22] and was actively working there.

[13:25] But all this research is based on data

[13:28] We still haven’t talked

[13:31] My question remains...

[13:33] can a 70-year-old telescope

[13:36] Or is it just a heritage landmark now?

[13:39] Because it has a huge amount of heritage.

[13:41] Perhaps most famously,

[13:43] that were transmitted from the first

[13:47] Those pictures were in the British press

[13:48] well before the Soviets

[13:51] [announcer] The Western World had their

[13:54] from an English source.

[13:55] The Jodrell Bank Observatory

[13:58] It was now time to head out

[14:01] while the maintenance teams

[14:02] and I wasn’t disrupting science.

[14:04] I put on a climbing harness...

[14:06] (harness clips and zips)

[14:07] ...and then went out to the dish,

[14:10] plus telescope supervisor, Phil,

[14:11] who’s worked on the site for decades,

[14:13] and also, hastily-recruited

[14:17] one of Jodrell Bank’s comms team,

[14:18] who was very happy

[14:21] Lead the way! Thank you very much.

[14:23] Oh shades.

[14:25] Definitely going to need them.

[14:26] I’ve never encountered

[14:28] but when you’ve got not only the sky,

[14:30] but also the sky reflected off the bowl

[14:34] they’re a good idea.

[14:35] I thought razor burn was just

[14:38] that I had to deal with.

[14:39] But recently, I have unlearned

[14:42] and it’s got better.

[14:43] I used to instinctively

[14:46] Most folks who shave do that

[14:49] because most modern cartridge razors

[14:53] Or if you use disposables,

[14:55] the whole thing just

[14:58] Because the blade can move,

[15:00] when you're shaving and it meets

[15:02] It tugs. So you push

[15:06] to try and stabilise it

[15:07] That doesn't actually stop

[15:09] It just increases friction, and that’s

[15:13] Just bad design.

[15:15] A few weeks ago, Henson Shaving

[15:18] It’s machined out of solid

[15:21] the tolerances are as tight

[15:25] the blade is held completely rigid.

[15:27] Which means I had to learn not to

[15:30] let the weight of the razor

[15:32] And now I have less razor burn!

[15:34] There’s no subscription model

[15:37] this takes the inexpensive, international-

[15:41] If you want to use a different

[15:43] so it also works out

[15:47] If you use the link in the description

[15:50] you too can get a Henson razor,

[15:53] plus they’ll throw in

[15:56] which should last you a long time.

[15:58] It’s still impressive.

[15:59] It really is.

[16:00] 3,000 tonnes, able to move from one part

[16:06] but also able to track things

[16:08] to within a thousandth of a degree.

[16:11] And that’s a challenge now.

[16:13] It was a challenge in 1957...

[16:16] ...before computers!

[16:18] I came here as a kid,

[16:20] and remember looking up at this

[16:24] and wanting to do this.

[16:25] Where do we go from here?

[16:26] -We’ll head up towards the lift.

[16:29] We just take care stepping over the rails,

[16:34] Oh okay.

[16:34] And we don’t want greasy boots

[16:37] Oh! Yeah.

[16:39] So, are these railway tracks?

[16:41] Yep, standard railway tracks.

[16:42] Huh!

[16:44] That makes sense, because it was built,

[16:47] And you use the technology you have,

[16:50] It’s about 50-100 tonnes per wheel,

[16:54] -Yep.

[16:57] -(exhales)

[16:59] -How on earth?

[17:00] you jack the telescope up.

[17:01] Yep.

[17:02] -Really?

[17:04] So yep...

[17:05] Just a hydraulic jack.

[17:07] -Wow.

[17:10] Slide it out and put another one in.

[17:12] The telescope is named

[17:15] first director of the observatory,

[17:16] the driving force

[17:18] And the painting job

[17:21] You can see the blue cherry picker

[17:23] It’s a steel structure,

[17:28] And, you know, it’s been operating

[17:32] and we want to keep it going

[17:34] Bit cosy, but it does take four people.

[17:37] (laughter)

[17:38] And as we headed out onto the catwalks,

[17:40] I was a little bit lost for words.

[17:43] (laughs)

[17:46] Oh wow!

[17:52] -You okay?

[17:54] This is very, very cool.

[17:55] We didn’t check that you’re okay with

[17:58] (laughs)

[17:59] Megan was absolutely fine with heights.

[18:01] Also, you can see two of the other,

[18:04] those were the ones actively listening

[18:07] From there, it was up

[18:10] The telescope does look a bit different

[18:13] It’s been shored up

[18:15] and it gained a brand new surface

[18:18] Oh!

[18:19] The first stop

[18:22] and then it was up onto the dish.

[18:25] (laughing)

[18:28] Thank you!

[18:29] The telescope’s been standing

[18:33] this floor has been standing for 25 years,

[18:35] and it’s made of steel, and yet,

[18:37] somehow I’m still just

[18:41] So, the idea of the parabola is to focus

[18:46] to the focus, which is what you can see

[18:48] Yes, because there’s all sorts

[18:50] where the beam

[18:53] and it’s not, it comes into this bowl...

[18:55] -Yes.

[18:58] Yep.

[18:59] And the property of a parabola is,

[19:03] it ends up in that hole in the middle.

[19:05] And moreover, the path length

[19:09] So, if you like, all those radio waves

[19:14] -Oh!

[19:16] Right.

[19:17] Radio has a wavelength anywhere

[19:21] so thankfully, the dish surface

[19:23] We’re not going to cause any damage

[19:26] To see nothing but dish

[19:30] Okay, if you’re ready

[19:32] we can have a go at heading up

[19:35] Yeah, this is where I leave

[19:38] Let’s do it.

[19:43] And the sun’s come out!

[19:45] And it’s blinding!

[19:46] You were right about those shades.

[19:48] I’m going to put those on.

[19:49] I know, I look like a dork...

[19:51] Oh, my word!

[19:52] ...and you can’t see my eyes.

[19:54] I take the shades off again in a bit,

[19:55] but with the sun out and that light

[19:58] it was bright.

[20:00] There is a reason that you do not point

[20:03] Even well off-axis, like it was,

[20:07] But we were high enough

[20:10] I am so incredibly lucky. Right.

[20:13] Where do I go from here?

[20:14] Climbing harness hooked in,

[20:16] up the ladder to the focal point.

[20:18] That is the very top of the telescope.

[20:23] (laughs)

[20:27] Oh, it wobbles!

[20:30] Course it does.

[20:31] What an incredible view.

[20:34] Something special, isn’t it, up here?

[20:36] It really is.

[20:39] So, is it still doing science?

[20:43] I don’t know what I was expecting.

[20:44] Some mirror system,

[20:46] No, you’re literally moving

[20:49] Yep. Because there’s only one focal point

[20:54] So, to use that same focal point twice...

[20:58] ...it requires to move one out of the way

[21:04] The telescope is 70 years old.

[21:06] It’s now a Grade I listed historical site,

[21:08] which is probably going to give them

[21:10] refitting it in future.

[21:12] But the surface is only 25 years old,

[21:14] and those multiple detectors,

[21:17] that can be moved into the focal point

[21:21] The Lovell Telescope

[21:24] on its own, as part of networks,

[21:26] because it turns out

[21:28] the scientific concept of

[21:30] “massive parabolic dish

[21:34] doesn’t really go out of date.

[21:36] But there is one more thing.

[21:38] I spent a while admiring the view,

[21:40] and then headed back down,

[21:42] I got to do something

[21:45] playing at the controls in the mock

[21:49] would never have dreamed was possible.

[21:51] Alright.

[21:53] Five seconds on the siren?

[21:54] Five seconds on the siren, yes.

[21:56] (siren wails)

[22:02] (siren fades)

[22:05] That got their attention, right?

[22:08] Return.

[22:09] -Enter on here.

[22:13] With slow grace,

[22:15] the Lovell Telescope began to turn

[22:17] and pointed at its first science target

[22:22] There’s a kid, um, on the fence there,

[22:24] he’s going to be, like,

[22:27] And he’s just staring up at the machine,

[22:30] and he’s about the age

[22:35] I wonder if the same thing’s

[22:39] (chuckles)

[22:43] The ten-year-old version of me

[22:46] Your dream’s come true.

[22:50] Next time, or right now

[22:51] I visit a school

[22:54] and a bendy backbone,