Ego is a million-pound telescope.

They've got these antenna that look like giant Christmas trees.

How is anyone going to cope with that amount of information?

Hello and welcome to the Supermassive podcast from the Royal Astronomical Society with me,

science journalist Izzy Clark,

and astrophysicist Dr. Becky Smithurst.

Now you know, we love a bit of stargazing on the Supermassive podcast, so we thought it was

about time.

We did an episode on the future of ground-based observatories.

So from the brilliantly named named extremely large telescope to the square

kilometre array observatory. Gosh, I really love these names. But I personally think the super

massive telescope also has a very much of it. Oh, it fully is. It fully. And the King of

Stargazing, Dr. Robert Massey, Deputy Director of the Royal Astronomical Society.

The King of Stargazing. Have we coronated in that?

It's a new one.

Yeah, he's not.

The King of Stargaging.

My Royal Society.

So, Robert, what I really want to know is have you ever used one of these international

observatories?

Yeah, I have. I mean, back when I was doing my doctorate in the 1990s, I mean, I've visited some afterwards since then as well. And they are an unforgettable experience. I mean, you were obviously to remember us going to Hurstman, so, which was like the sort of the UK version of these things. but from the 1960s when jet travel became more affordable, astronomers realised, you know, the UK version of these things. But from the 1960s, when jet travel became more affordable,

astronomers realized, you know, the UK, for example, was not the best place to build a telescope.

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