A place I have been meaning to go to for years but never got round to it until now. Solo explore.
After driving round for ages trying to find a suitable parking place I parked up on a grass verge, popped under a gate and started a long walk up a driveway following my map. I wrongly assumed this was a trespass and spent the first part of my visit sneaking around, cutting through bushes before wondering why I’d not been spotted on the CCTV so I looked at some reviews and realised it was fine to be there. Cut my legs and got stung by nettles for no reason then 😂 I then spent a while worrying that things were live and I might get shocked if I touched them. Idiot. Kicking myself i didn’t think to take a pano shot of the big dish i couldn’t fit on wide angle. I’ll be going back soon with Ella though.
What a great place. I spent almost 3 hours here and thoroughly enjoyed myself other than having to walk through a corn field on the way back as I went wrong somewhere (corn fields scare me).
History -
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.
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.
Huge amount of info found here History | Cavendish Astrophysics.
After driving round for ages trying to find a suitable parking place I parked up on a grass verge, popped under a gate and started a long walk up a driveway following my map. I wrongly assumed this was a trespass and spent the first part of my visit sneaking around, cutting through bushes before wondering why I’d not been spotted on the CCTV so I looked at some reviews and realised it was fine to be there. Cut my legs and got stung by nettles for no reason then 😂 I then spent a while worrying that things were live and I might get shocked if I touched them. Idiot. Kicking myself i didn’t think to take a pano shot of the big dish i couldn’t fit on wide angle. I’ll be going back soon with Ella though.
What a great place. I spent almost 3 hours here and thoroughly enjoyed myself other than having to walk through a corn field on the way back as I went wrong somewhere (corn fields scare me).
History -
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.
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.
Huge amount of info found here History | Cavendish Astrophysics.
