Topic summary
Transit Telescope
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Jodrell Bank Observatory.
Transit Telescope
The Transit Telescope was a 218 ft (66 m) parabolic reflectorzenith telescope built in 1947. At the time, it was the world's largest radio telescope. It consisted of a wire mesh suspended from a ring of 24 ft (7.3 m) scaffold poles, which focussed radio signals on a focal point 126 ft (38 m) above the ground. The telescope mainly looked directly upwards, but the direction of the beam could be changed by small amounts by tilting the mast to change the position of the focal point. The focal mast was changed from timber to steel before construction was complete.