Star gazers extend their horizons
Cambridge & Great Eastern Regional Group: Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory visit
Enthusiastic astronomers of SCI’s Cambridge & Great Eastern Regional Group and their families gathered on a sunny evening on 21 July 2005 to visit the Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory in Lord’s Bridge, Cambridgeshire. Two guides who were postgraduates at the Cavendish Laboratory of Cambridge University greeted the group.
The visit started with a video presentation explaining the theory behind radio astronomy and the history of the site. It also explained how the telescopes work. The rest of the visit consisted of a tour around the 460-acre site by car to get closer to the telescopes themselves.
 The very first telescopes built by the Nobel prize winners Martin Ryle and Anthony Hewish in 1957 were seen, as was the Coast telescope which is capable of producing images equivalent to that of a 70m diameter telescope. Coast has been used to produce images with resolution on nearby stars that are 20 times smaller than those visible with the Hubble Space Telescope. In addition the group saw a giant telescope 32m in diameter, which is remotely controlled by University of Manchester, and tiny telescopes designed to explore the evolution of the Universe when it was very young.
Further information about the observatory can be found on its web site: www.mrao.cam.ac.uk.
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