Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory

The Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory (MRAO) is located near Cambridge, UK and is home to a number of the largest and most advanced aperture synthesis radio telescopes in the world, including the One-Mile Telescope, 5-km Ryle Telescope, and the Arcminute Microkelvin Imager. It was founded by the University of Cambridge and is part of the Cambridge University, Cavendish Laboratories, Astrophysics Department.

History

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

Construction of the Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory commenced at Lords Bridge Air Ammunition Park, 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 observatory is located a few miles south-west of Cambridge at Harlton on a former ordnance storage site, next to the disused Oxford-Cambridge Varsity railway line.

A portion of the track bed of the railway, 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. Due to this, the reconstruction of the railway line between Oxford and Cambridge will follow a new alignment at this point.

Telescopes

Gallery

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

cmglee Cambridge MRAO station house.jpg, Platform and Lecture Room formerly part of Lord's Bridge Railway Station
cmglee Cambridge MRAO AMI Large Array.jpg, Arcminute Microkelvin Imager - Large Array (AMI-LA)
cmglee Cambridge MRAO AMI Small Array.jpg, Arcminute Microkelvin Imager - Small Array (AMI-SA)
cmglee Cambridge MRAO CAT.jpg, Stitched panorama of the Cosmic Anisotropy Telescope enclosure
cmglee Cambridge MRAO COAST.jpg, Part of the Cambridge Optical Aperture Synthesis Telescope
cmglee Cambridge MRAO COAST bunker.jpg, The interior of the bunker of the Cambridge Optical Aperture Synthesis Telescope
cmglee Cambridge MRAO MERLIN.jpg, The receiver from the e-MERLIN array
cmglee Cambridge MRAO CLFST.jpg, Surviving Yagi antennas of the Cambridge Low Frequency Synthesis Telescope
cmglee Cambridge MRAO Half Mile Telescope.jpg, Two Half-Mile Telescopes
cmglee Cambridge MRAO IPS Array.jpg, Remains of the Interplanetary Scintillation Array
cmglee Cambridge MRAO One Mile Half Mile 4C.jpg, One-Mile Telescope (left), two of the Half-Mile Telescope (centre) and the remains of the 4C Array (right)
cmglee Cambridge MRAO 4C Array.jpg, Remains of the 4C Array, with One-Mile Telescope in the background
Mullard el34.jpg, Mullard EL34 Power Pentode. Mullard produced up to 40% of thermionic valves used by Britain during 1939-1945 War
MRAO Plaque.JPG, Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory plaque

References

Notes

Sources

The Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory webpageImage from Google maps
showing the One-Mile, Half Mile, 4C Array, MERLIN, COAST, CAT and Ryle telescopes.
Subterranea Britannica entry for Lords Bridge Forward Filling Depot (also Air Ammunition Park)Subterranea Britannica entry for Lords Bridge Station

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Radio telescopes
Astronomical observatories in England
Buildings and structures in Cambridgeshire
Cavendish Laboratory