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Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory (MRAO) is home to a number of large aperture synthesis radio telescopes, including the One-Mile Telescope, 5km Ryle Telescope, and the Arcminute Microkelvin Imager. 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, construction of the Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory commenced at Lord's Bridge, 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. This group is now known as the Cavendish Astrophysics Group.
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 at the observatory
| Telescope | Year built | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Arcminute Microkelvin Imager Small Array | 2004 | 24 hour operation |
| Very Small Array (moved to Tenerife in 1999) | 1998 | 24 hour operation |
| Cosmic Anisotropy Telescope made first high-resolution maps of Cosmic Microwave Background fluctuations | 1995 | Decomissioned |
| Cambridge Optical Aperture Synthesis Telescope (COAST) first aperture synthesis at optical wavelengths | 1993 | Operated on clear nights |
| One receiver from the MERLIN array | 1990 | 24 hour operation |
| Cambridge Low Frequency Synthesis Telescope (CLFST) | 1980 | 24 hour operation |
| Ryle Telescope (formerly 5 Kilometre Telescope, also known as the Arcminute Microkelvin Imager Large Array) | 1971 | Decommissioned |
| Half-Mile Telescope | 1968 | Decomissioned |
| Interplanetary Scintillation Array discovered first pulsar | 1967 | Essentially retired |
| One-Mile Telescope | 1964 | Decomissioned except for one dish used by undergraduates and amateur astronomers |
| 4C Array, first telescope at the Cambridge's new observatory, made the 4C catalogue | 1958 | Decomissioned |
External links
- The Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory webpage
- Image from Google maps showing the One-Mile, Half Mile, 4C Array, MERLIN, COAST, CAT and Ryle telescopes.
Radio telescopes | Astronomical observatories in England | Buildings and structures in Cambridgeshire | Cavendish Laboratory
"Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory"