Australia Telescope Compact Array and surrounds

[naticio]

no mames, es de lo mejor que he visto en you tube, casi se me cae la baba de lo hipnotizado

[Sedik66861]

This is one of the most sublime video I saw on youtube.

[rockwithv]

2:34 I love this moment

[loveux29]

wonderful!

[astronomer88]

So great video, epaell2!! Thank you soo much for this awesome video :)

[paulgear]

Loved all the bird shots. You forgot to mention the welcome swallows on the fence! The juvenile apostlebird playing with the grass was my favourite.

[epaell2]

@paulgear Ah yes, indeed I did neglect to mention them ... that has now been rectified :-)

[AaronFRoss]

Very engaging piece, until the end when it suddenly cuts off

[nigelhey]

Thank you - technology + australian landscape + fabulous photography...inspiring!

[MrLarsbj]

Loved the part at 01:04 ! The sky at night never gets old ;-)

[PhantomAct]

Shouldn't u be looking for aliens... try (Pi * Hydrogen) frequency in the Vega system...

[DamonSchultz]

Really enjoyed it! Loved the sulphur-crested on the dish, reminds me that humanity is but a speck on the lens of the history of the earth.

[lingfish1]

Brilliant stuff :)

More questions for you: what timer interval did you use, and did you fix your exposures or full auto?

[epaell2]

@lingfish1 These were some of my first attempts at doing this sort of thing so I really tried all sorts of things. For the night shots the answer is easy: everything was fixed (30s, f/2.8, fixed white balance, ISO 2500 and focus set to infinity and camera set to take shots continuously). For some of the daytime shots (around 0:55, 2:00 and 2:33) I used the video mode - I believe I had aperture priority (ISO 100, white balance fixed) ... and then just sped it up in iMovie.

[epaell2]

@lingfish1 For daytime shots around 0:15 and 1:40 I shot every second and fixed all settings. I'm afraid I deleted the original images to make space and can't recall the details but I recall the shutter speed was too fast. In future I would prefer to avoid high shutter speeds (>1/100s) as this seemed to introduce flickering depending on ambient conditions. For the sunrise around 2:15 I used aperture priority (f/2.8, ISO 100) and again took pictures every second but let the shutter-speed vary.

[Malfunction3637]

Thank you. Wonderful, beautiful, fabulous. Loved the mix of near and far.

[TsaSzymborska1]

Beautiful video. You have a good eye! And I loved the pictures you took with the fish-eye lens.

[underwatercookie]

How much radio is going through those dishes? Why are the birds just sitting around on them? D:

[TsaSzymborska1]

@underwatercookie

Those dishes don't send but receive. No danger for the birds.

[epaell2]

@underwatercookie There's a great quote that is often used when talking about upcoming radio telescopes that are being planned: "There is more energy released in a feather hitting the floor, than in all of the radio waves collected by every radio telescope in the world ever!". These telescopes don't transmit power, they just receive and so the birds are quite safe ... much to the annoyance of the local farmers :-)

[aloks77]

That frog looks like Gollum from the first Lord of the Rings movie!

[epaell2]

@aloks77 I was actually thinking more like Jabba the Hut from the Star Wars movies :-)

[Winwebley]

Great video, thank you.

[ydnab]

Beautiful

[insensitiveclod]

bah; double-post

[insensitiveclod]

Wonderful work! AM curious as to know what sort of lense you used for the wide-angle shots.! I take it you shot this with an SLR ?

[epaell2]

@insensitiveclod Thanks :-) I've updated the video description of include all of the details (since I've been asked this a lot) ... but to summarise I used a Canon 5D Mk II and a Canon 15 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens for the wide-angle shots.

[virtiSane]

Beautiful music too!



[waysworth]

wow

[Nhurm]

crackin' stuff...

[tothatl]

I imagine all those cockatoos on the telescope leave tons of guano, which should be a hassle to clean.

Regardless of the inconvenience, it looks like a very relaxed and beautiful work environment.

[HiAdrian]

I like it, nature and technology together. Interesting birds those grey ones.

[Murmur95]

As much as this is a nice video it tells me how boring the job must be -.-

[epaell2]

@Murmur95 It can get pretty exciting when the alarms start going off in the middle of the night and you have absolutely no idea what's failed. The observing process can be fairly routine but I quite enjoy it and you get to meet lots of new people from all over the world (although more and more observing is done remotely via the Internet now) ... and there is always the excitement of discovering something really cool in the data that is collected :-)

[Ageotas]

@epaell2 Do you get much wind at ATCA? At the 26m dish in Tas the alarms are almost always wind warnings, and they almost always go off just as you drift off to sleep.

Grats on an amazing video, and on your /.

[epaell2]

@Ageotas We get the odd windy day and yes, it's usually just as you're about to drift off to sleep. I found thunderstorms to be more of a problem (at least when I've been observing) so we usually have to take additional care to avoid damage to the equipment. Thanks for the feedback :-)

[EoN604]

@Murmur95 errr, as opposed to what job? working in an office? finance? administration? wtf are you talking about?

[apianolady2003]

Congratulations on your phenomenal video! Loved it!!!

[Schneelocke]

Wonderful. It's almost like Koyaanisqatsi in reverse: instead of seeing life out of balance and technology as a stark contrast to nature, the two intertwine and integrate in harmony here.

I particularly loved the bit starting at 0:47, with the telescopes turning towards the sun like giant flowers. That was a brilliant, touching thing to behold.

Thank you.

[epaell2]

@Schneelocke LOL, that's a great comparison :-) I enjoy astronomy and just as equally the wildlife around and in the facility ... and they do intertwine quite harmoniously ... well, ahem, apart from the odd snake in the toilet, or the mice/cockatoos biting into cables ;-) I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed it!

[dennislbrown]

Thanks to Slashdot for the link!

[avnertishby]

especially loved the ending :)

[Lemercer1]

Simply superb!!!

Leonard.

[epaell2]

@cejay1967 Hey, thanks for the feedback and the pointer to the "Free Music Archive" I'll definitely have to consider this for my next video!

[cejay1967]

Came to here via Mactalk. Simply amazing. BTW, there are various free music sources available, I used Free Music Archive that has literally thousands of titles available, with attribution.

[mhsbcs]

Wonderful job. Loved the way you captured the night sky!

[staunched]

Excellent, even viewed it on my iPad as you said you selected something. Love how the night shots you get the illusion of the Earth spinning and the Sky dead still. Good Job AKA sirstaunch ;)

[jdiezastronomy]

Great video!! Nice idea to mix technology with the local fauna.And beautifully shot mixing the wide angle with telephoto.

What a beautiful night sky you guys have in the South! Awesome!

Regarding the music, don't care much as I saw it with audio off (prefer it this way).

Congratulations!

[TerryBohlsen]

Very nice video.

[mikesalway1975]

Beautiful video, well done!

[ChrissyoSpace]

By the way, do the birds on the telescopes cause any problems for the astronomers? I noticed the same thing at Parkes earlier in the year, lots of birds (crows, I think?) would sit around the edge of the dish. Presumably they cause a bit of a mess at least. :P

[epaell2]

@ChrissyoSpace The biggest issue with the cockatoos is that they have a fondness for biting into cables ... and that can be problematic (mice have recently also been a problem for similar reasons).

[ChrissyoSpace]

Awesome! Such a beautiful place!

[fsoto1969]

Gorgeous! Makes you feel like becomng a radioastronomer... or a roo, anyhow!

[epaell2]

@fsoto1969 The roos definitely have it pretty easy on the ATCA site - Shelter, food and protection from irate farmers ;-)

[seheonoh]

It's just more than awesome!!

[MadamZebra]

Fantastic!!! LOVE the mix of sky imagery and wildlife and in parts the unison of telescope movements appear beautifully orchestrated. Sensational choice of music. Loving your work :D

[epaell2]

@MadamZebra Thanks :-) Actually, for the music I already had something else prepared beforehand but YouTube disabled the video for copyright reasons and kindly pointed me to a link on iTunes where I could purchase the music. Ironic given that is where I purchased it in the first place. Fortunately, they gave me the option to swap the audio with an unrestricted piece from their collection. This took forever because I had to listen to the pieces one by one to decide which one to use.

[epaell2]

@epaell2 BTW, this also explains why the music suddenly cuts off at the end. I had originally designed the video against a specific piece that faded out exactly at the end of the video. Unfortunately the YouTube substitution of the audio track did not allow any control over the fade-in or fade-out of the track so the result is a rather abrupt stop to the music at the end of the video. I have now purchased this piece so I have an edit that does fade out nicely (on my computer at least) :-)