The beautiful impression is not on account of expense. Look carefully and you will notice the entire construction is done with nearly the lowest cost and spartan materials possible. The only real difference between this and an average motel, city hall, library, or hospital is what the talent of the architect has done with them. The one exception, you might think, is the resort-looking, tropical reproduction, which although beautiful, contains nothing exotic or expensive in plants in a South American country. But, if I heard right, the video says there is no heating or cooling. ( 6:20 ) Rather than doing the heating/cooling in eco-unfriendly ways, and expensively transporting large amounts of fuel to a very remote area to operate the stuff, the inventive architect did the job with an eco-dome area, and nesting the hotel into the earth. All the tropical plants will humidify the inside area through plant transpiration. Plants regulate their temperature, and therefore the air around them. Smart design often costs more initially, but over time costs less.
I don't think this is too decadent or over-the-top. It makes a lot of sense to have decent accommodations for people that are doing very important (and probably stressful) work. A good environment can make a huge difference to someone's work.
It looks like a Mars colony! Not the first or second wave habitats, which will be much more like the 'unpleasant container dorms', but what the colonists will build in year 12-15 or so; a long-term structure that will be pleasant to live in. Very nice video, Brady.
+Etaukan I was thinking the same thing -- assuming humans can live long-term on Mars. We know we do quite OK in one earth gravity, and very badly in microgravity; we need to find out first whether we can live at 30% earth gravity. Probably the best way to find out is to first build a moon base, where the gravity is about 16% of earth, and where we can bring an astronaut home quickly in case of medical emergency.
I'm actually thinking about a degree in Planetary Science (kind of a mix of astronomy and geology). I have been looking for people to talk to about this career and am wondering if maybe you could help me out and answer some of my questions about a career in geology if you can.
If you use google earth you can paste in the coordinates "24.6272° S, 70.4042° W" to check out the VLT. Go a little south-east and you'll find the Residencia.
BlackEpyon but very big large telescope haha? giving it literally half a second of though: ET. enormous telescope. it isnt that hard to think of a name better than vlt XD
I got to visit the huge telescopes and "la residencia" hotel at Paranal also Cerro Tololo observatory with Sky and Telescope tour a few years back. It was great.
I remember I once stayed at Kitt Peak and had a little room in one of the cabins there for a little while. It was kind of different as we slept all day and observed at night. Also you had to take short showers as all the water there was either trucked in or from rainwater, so they were low on water when I was there.
4:45 --- that's where you should have started murmuring. Whispering hightens the sibilant sounds, travelling far and the human ear can pick it up through walls. Murmuring is a deep sound that gets lost within a few meters from the issuer.
Wouldn't be surprised if a few people decide to become astronomers after watching this video. :-) But seriously, thank you for sharing this. It's neat to see these behind-the-scenes bits.
At some point in the video Brady made a comment on how the landscape looked like Mars. Now I'm thinking that this is what a larger settlement on Mars would look like.
I'm still wondering if all these VLC videos are from your last year visit, or you went there on multiple occasions. The latter would be impressive (if you live in the UK as I'm assuming).
Is there a way to get an internship at ESO and actually work and live at a big observatory? In the time between school and University? I know that ESO offers undergraduates to work at a telescope for a university project and that it's a great way for young people to get a spot there.
You so should have lifted the stone in the beginning of the video, saying that it was due to the lower gravity since it's very high up. And then mention that "by the way, the rocks were left by the Bond crew".
In some moments you move or pan the camera too quickly. Is not advisable to do it this way. It gives motions sickness and makes hard to actually see the details of what you're recording.
***** i wonder if its the same kind of people who say that americans didnt land on the Moon or like today who says that there is no russian army in Ukraine... its like they all are cloned somewhere in the secret lab somewhere underground!
There's actually a place in that desert where the terrain and the horizon looks exactly like the moon, that place is called "the moon valley" (in spanish "el valle de la luna"). I live in that region of Chile :)
***** I lived for 11 years there and you simply don't realise it's "a cool place", it's just your natural environment. All the comments from the professor about how harsh the life is there, for instance, seem completely exaggerated from a perspective of a local.
I KNEW IT! I knew this place looked extremely familiar, and I thought "Damn, that desert area looks exactly like the one in the Bond movie... But that was in a different country I think, so it can´t be that, right?" I have been had. Thwarted. Rekt. It was Paranal after all.
I feel like the consistent climate is very reminiscent of what you'll find in Coober Pedy, South Australia, although to be fair the underground accom here is MUCH nicer!!
2:48 At first look I thought they made small holes in the dome cover so it looks as night sky. But when I couldn't recognize the constellations I realized they were just a holes in a seam.
Awesome facility. I would love to spend a week there and use my new Unistellar eVscope (the ultimate astronomical experience for an amateur astronomer). If I had Bill Gates' money I'd build an observatory complex like this for amateurs.
I'm trying to figure out who I can contact about finding a job in this hotel. I don't care if I'm a dishwasher, I just want to be around all the scientists and telescopes.
Studies confirm Professor Merrifields intuition that design greatly enhances productivity. Especially plants in work environments have lots of non obvious benefits, like ionizing the air and thereby decreasing dust, regulating humidity, filtering toxins and increasing blood-oxygen levels. Seeing 10% increases in productivity is not that rare.
Thank you for sharing this. Found the James Bond thing interesting - I had wondered where they had filmed this scene and figured it was completely fabricated. But it is a real live place !!! Anyways, I can remember doing desert/forest work for BLM - if it was not for being able to drive to a relatively close homey place we would have gone crazy. Even though the Residencia looks nice, it still is pretty spartan compared to home. No children or pets !!! But those with passion will sacrifice all kinds of things for exploration into the unknown. Thank you again, DSV, for sharing this. :)
The beautiful impression is not on account of expense. Look carefully and you will notice the entire construction is done with nearly the lowest cost and spartan materials possible. The only real difference between this and an average motel, city hall, library, or hospital is what the talent of the architect has done with them. The one exception, you might think, is the resort-looking, tropical reproduction, which although beautiful, contains nothing exotic or expensive in plants in a South American country. But, if I heard right, the video says there is no heating or cooling. ( 6:20 ) Rather than doing the heating/cooling in eco-unfriendly ways, and expensively transporting large amounts of fuel to a very remote area to operate the stuff, the inventive architect did the job with an eco-dome area, and nesting the hotel into the earth. All the tropical plants will humidify the inside area through plant transpiration. Plants regulate their temperature, and therefore the air around them. Smart design often costs more initially, but over time costs less.
Non of those plants are native to Chile, Chile is not a tropical country, far from one to be honest. So yeah, they are quite expensive indeed
I cannot help but say it again. You see some of the most amazing places in the world and thank you for sharing them with us!
Wow! I've watched all the VLT videos, but this one really shows off the beauty of the desert landscape. Really makes me want to visit Chile.
I don't think this is too decadent or over-the-top. It makes a lot of sense to have decent accommodations for people that are doing very important (and probably stressful) work. A good environment can make a huge difference to someone's work.
It looks like a Mars colony!
Not the first or second wave habitats, which will be much more like the 'unpleasant container dorms', but what the colonists will build in year 12-15 or so; a long-term structure that will be pleasant to live in.
Very nice video, Brady.
+Etaukan I was thinking the same thing -- assuming humans can live long-term on Mars. We know we do quite OK in one earth gravity, and very badly in microgravity; we need to find out first whether we can live at 30% earth gravity. Probably the best way to find out is to first build a moon base, where the gravity is about 16% of earth, and where we can bring an astronaut home quickly in case of medical emergency.
Geologists get tents. Astronomers get fancy desert hotels. I think I picked the wrong field. ;)
Ah, but geologists and paleontologists are far more hardass as a result ;P
Ah! Yes! I'll take it!
I'm actually thinking about a degree in Planetary Science (kind of a mix of astronomy and geology). I have been looking for people to talk to about this career and am wondering if maybe you could help me out and answer some of my questions about a career in geology if you can.
I've worked with geo's. Letting them indoors is like letting a pig in sit at a dinner table.
If you use google earth you can paste in the coordinates "24.6272° S, 70.4042° W" to check out the VLT. Go a little south-east and you'll find the Residencia.
4:52 Room not found.
That movie rock would be a perfect place to put a geocache
Michal Canecky ha ha - yes
And then anyone you can just move it somewhere else as a joke.
Thank you B, for making the journey and sharing it. bloody marvelous.
7:12 Very Large Telescope Telescopes?
I love the "stars" in the shade over the inner courtyard! Are they on purpose or are they just random holes in the shade?
Really wasn't expecting this kind of video from this channel! Awesome.
Invective we like to do all sorts of things!
I know astronomers are bad at naming things, but goddam very large telescope!? These guys have outdone themselves.
The universe is complex enough without requiring it's own lexicon :P
BlackEpyon but very big large telescope haha? giving it literally half a second of though: ET. enormous telescope. it isnt that hard to think of a name better than vlt XD
michael benzur nah, they were already thinking about bigger ones...
Google e-elt , there's more ;)
GreenLeaf wooow astronomy. i take it's bigger than vlt?
I got to visit the huge telescopes and "la residencia" hotel at Paranal also Cerro Tololo observatory with Sky and Telescope tour a few years back. It was great.
A whole joint full of geeks geeking out with no normies to interrupt them. Sounds like heaven.
I remember I once stayed at Kitt Peak and had a little room in one of the cabins there for a little while. It was kind of different as we slept all day and observed at night. Also you had to take short showers as all the water there was either trucked in or from rainwater, so they were low on water when I was there.
2:48 Are there stars in that shade? Like a planetarium :-)
I totally expected a video about Hilbert Hotel
I still thought it was going to be about Hilbert's Hotel.
What's with the big gap where a room should be at 4:53 on the left?
4:45 --- that's where you should have started murmuring. Whispering hightens the sibilant sounds, travelling far and the human ear can pick it up through walls. Murmuring is a deep sound that gets lost within a few meters from the issuer.
Yeah, I could deal with staying there for a bit hahaha. So cool to know where that was filmed in QOS, love that movie
that was super interesting, thanks for the visit !
This place looks amazing!
6:40 check out the RH - 1.3%! Dangerous for static-sensitive instruments I'd have thought.
What an awesome facility! Great James Bond tie-in. I thought that was the place!
Excellent behind the scenes
Ashley Kitto thank you
This looks like I would imagine a Mars station. The outside view certainly fits (except for the blue sky).
Wouldn't be surprised if a few people decide to become astronomers after watching this video. :-) But seriously, thank you for sharing this. It's neat to see these behind-the-scenes bits.
At some point in the video Brady made a comment on how the landscape looked like Mars. Now I'm thinking that this is what a larger settlement on Mars would look like.
I'm still wondering if all these VLC videos are from your last year visit, or you went there on multiple occasions. The latter would be impressive (if you live in the UK as I'm assuming).
Is there a way to get an internship at ESO and actually work and live at a big observatory? In the time between school and University?
I know that ESO offers undergraduates to work at a telescope for a university project and that it's a great way for young people to get a spot there.
They do, I am a summer intern and it’s awesome staying there!!
You so should have lifted the stone in the beginning of the video, saying that it was due to the lower gravity since it's very high up. And then mention that "by the way, the rocks were left by the Bond crew".
In some moments you move or pan the camera too quickly. Is not advisable to do it this way. It gives motions sickness and makes hard to actually see the details of what you're recording.
Very good video!
Could you please make a short video of the mechanism that makes a telescope move to compensate for the rotation of the Earth.
Most sincerely
JF ( UK )
hey brady, love your videos! i was thinking.. would you guys be willing to consider making a video on the whirlpool galaxy (m51)? :)
That outside scenery is really look like Mars... just use some filters and you wont be able to tell the difference, haha!
Precisely they test Lunar/Martian stuff in there (e.g., the Mars Curiosity and similars).
Philip Johansson keep telling yourself that...
***** i wonder if its the same kind of people who say that americans didnt land on the Moon or like today who says that there is no russian army in Ukraine... its like they all are cloned somewhere in the secret lab somewhere underground!
There's actually a place in that desert where the terrain and the horizon looks exactly like the moon, that place is called "the moon valley" (in spanish "el valle de la luna"). I live in that region of Chile :)
***** I lived for 11 years there and you simply don't realise it's "a cool place", it's just your natural environment. All the comments from the professor about how harsh the life is there, for instance, seem completely exaggerated from a perspective of a local.
Suddenly I feel the urge to get into astronomy!
You've been sitting on this footage for a while...12.08.2013
That looks like an awesome place. I would like to visit there at least once.
I thought the hotel was destroyed by an MI6 agent and a Quantum terrorist
Yup, that outdoor environment really looks like the pictures we get from Curiosity.
I KNEW IT! I knew this place looked extremely familiar, and I thought "Damn, that desert area looks exactly like the one in the Bond movie... But that was in a different country I think, so it can´t be that, right?"
I have been had. Thwarted. Rekt. It was Paranal after all.
Weather info - Radiation: 20.9 W/m^2
Yeah, I was wondering about that. UV-radiation perhaps? To know what level of sun-block to put on.
How many channels does this dude have?
Thanks for sharing this. Only a tiny fraction of a tiny fraction of astronomers will ever experience this place in real life.
N 6degrees with tilt up from the base going east 15degrees you will see
I would live in that hotel for the rest of my life just to see the clear night sky
I feel like the consistent climate is very reminiscent of what you'll find in Coober Pedy, South Australia, although to be fair the underground accom here is MUCH nicer!!
Jordan Gough I know Coober Pedy well - and the underground accommodation is always lovely and cool!
Now,
are they move-y rocks or movie rocks?
Nice!
the focus is great hehe
Nice!! Reason #2117 why I'd like to visit ESO for a few days, hopefully when I need it to observe a thing :P
Some rock stars in the end!
My jaw dropped when I saw the pool! That's how it's done! Yeah!
The desert looks so alien compared to anything I've ever seen on Earth; its quite fitting for an astronomic science laboratory.
mh, the most intereseting thing for me was how the rooms look like. too bad you didnt show one :(
Add Spanish captions!! :)
since 2008 i wish be in this hotel!
I wonder how's the food there.
PhantasyStarOST pretty good
They serve Mexican dessert rat, they are very sweet.
As someone who grew up in the Mojave, I think I would do well in astronomy.
what would you and your six colleagues takes with you for an astronomical embark?
A saguaro rib stepladder, one unit of raw green glass, 500 units of plump helmet wine, and a breeding pair of cats.
by that logic, because i grew up surrounded by field i should do well in farming?
Armok: God of Blood no wood nor mining equipment? In the middle of the desert? Sounds like a lot of fun.
Kram1032 I'll build a trading depot out of my wagon and take everything I need from the elves.
Yeah, movie rocks. You know... rocks you can move.
Perfect bunker for the zombie apocalypse!
I wonder where they get water from and where they put their sewage. That place literally had no rain in centuries. Flushing a toilet is a luxury there
2:48 At first look I thought they made small holes in the dome cover so it looks as night sky.
But when I couldn't recognize the constellations I realized they were just a holes in a seam.
Is Pr Merrifield okay? I'm a huge fan of his contributions to sixty symbols. I hope he's fine !
Great video, as always ! Thank you !
It was a trip he missed some years ago.
Oh, okay, thank you. I'm a french-speaker, I might have missed that. Well, I still hope he's okay now :p
Movie Rocks!!! :D
Had to read the comments to really understand the joke about the rocks. I thought he said movey rocks, as in, they can move:)
Wow, that is a really cool place :-)
0:02:56 - Lumberjacks?
No high heels in the Atacama. Sorry.
Awesome facility. I would love to spend a week there and use my new Unistellar eVscope (the ultimate astronomical experience for an amateur astronomer). If I had Bill Gates' money I'd build an observatory complex like this for amateurs.
Is it too late for me to become an astronomer? Damn! I want to live there.
Perfect place to fake a Mars landing. Looks like mars, has a place for the crew to stay and already populated with movie-rocks. :)
Solar powered?
I'm trying to figure out who I can contact about finding a job in this hotel. I don't care if I'm a dishwasher, I just want to be around all the scientists and telescopes.
"movie rocks"
as in rocks you can actually move
I liked that one
Lol Brady is one of those people who doesn't know how to whisper x)
This is closest I think I can get to the ESO hotel. Sigh.
I was wondering why the hell there is a hotel in the middle of a desert in Quantum of Solace :)
Is this the hotel at the edge of the Universe ?
Antofagasta, Chile
Found the watercourse yet?
Studies confirm Professor Merrifields intuition that design greatly enhances productivity. Especially plants in work environments have lots of non obvious benefits, like ionizing the air and thereby decreasing dust, regulating humidity, filtering toxins and increasing blood-oxygen levels. Seeing 10% increases in productivity is not that rare.
The biggest regret in my life is not trying for the IT job I saw at the ESO. ... This video doesn't help. ;)
Thank you for sharing this.
Found the James Bond thing interesting - I had wondered where they had filmed this scene and figured it was completely fabricated. But it is a real live place !!!
Anyways, I can remember doing desert/forest work for BLM - if it was not for being able to drive to a relatively close homey place we would have gone crazy.
Even though the Residencia looks nice, it still is pretty spartan compared to home. No children or pets !!! But those with passion will sacrifice all kinds of things for exploration into the unknown.
Thank you again, DSV, for sharing this. :)
If you want a real hotel for observation, try The View in NE Arizona. It is expensive and booked well in advance, however.
Modernist structure, reminds on Brasilia
Shame, I was hoping to see the inside of one of the rooms.
Hilbert's hotel.
Best hotel? No doesn't come close to Hilbert's hotel!
Like a kid in a candy shop!
what an oasis
I'm just waiting for a telescope named the BLT
Haha, very clever, works with the naming conventions, lol
No video or photos of the rooms?!! Dislike.
How many Hilberts stay here infinitely.
im like it
They should put in a gondola/tram up to the top to transport sleepy scientists and workers too and fro :-)
i know where im going for the apocalypse
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW
Jeez, even movie rocks have an apparent eating disorder. Way to light.