Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory

Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory

Location	United Kingdom
Coordinates	52°10′03″N 0°01′57″E / 52.1674°N 0.0326°E / 52.1674; 0.0326Coordinates: 52°10′03″N 0°01′57″E / 52.1674°N 0.0326°E / 52.1674; 0.0326
Telescopes	4C Array Arcminute Microkelvin Imager Cambridge Low Frequency Synthesis Telescope Cambridge Optical Aperture Synthesis Telescope Half-Mile Telescope Interplanetary Scintillation Array One-Mile Telescope Ryle Telescope
Location of Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory
Related media on Wikimedia Commons
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One antenna of the One-Mile Telescope at the observatory

Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory (MRAO), near Cambridge, is home to a number of large aperture synthesis radio telescopes, including the One-Mile Telescope, 5-km Ryle Telescope, and the Arcminute Microkelvin Imager.

History

Radio interferometry started in the mid-1940s on the outskirts of Cambridge, but with funding from the Science Research Council and a donation of £100,000 from Mullard Limited, a leading commercial manufacturer of thermionic valves.

Construction of the Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory commenced at Lord's Bridge,^[1] a few kilometres to the west of Cambridge.

The observatory was founded under Martin Ryle of the Radio-Astronomy Group of the Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge and was opened by Sir Edward Victor Appleton on 25 July 1957. This group is now known as the Cavendish Astrophysics Group.

Location

The site is located at Lord's Bridge, Cambridgeshire on a former ordnance storage facility, next to the now-abandoned Cambridge-Bedford railway line.

A portion of the track bed of the old line, running nearly East-West for several miles, was used to form the main part of the "5km" radio-telescope and the Cambridge Low Frequency Synthesis Telescope.

Telescopes

Gallery

The following photographs (except for the last 2 items) were taken in June 2014:

• 
  Lecture hall and exhibition centre in the station house of Lord's Bridge Railway Station
• 
  Several antennas of the Arcminute Microkelvin Imager Large Array
• 
  The Arcminute Microkelvin Imager Small Array
• 
  Stitched panorama of the Cosmic Anisotropy Telescope enclosure
• 
  Part of the Cambridge Optical Aperture Synthesis Telescope
• 
  The interior of the bunker of the Cambridge Optical Aperture Synthesis Telescope
• 
  The receiver from the e-MERLIN array
• 
  Surviving Yagi antennas of the Cambridge Low Frequency Synthesis Telescope
• 
  Two antennas of the Half-Mile Telescope
• 
  Remains of the Interplanetary Scintillation Array
• 
  One antenna of the One-Mile Telescope (left), two of the Half-Mile Telescope (centre) and the remains of the 4C Array (right)
• 
  Detail of the remains of the 4C Array, with antennas of the One-Mile Telescope in the background
• 
  Mullard EL34 Power Pentode. Mullard produced up to 40% of thermionic valves used by Britain during 1939-1945 War
• 
  The Mullard Foundation plaque

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory.