Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory
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Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory
The radio astronomy observatory of the University of Cambridge, founded in 1957 at Lord's Bridge near Cambridge, England. The technique of aperture synthesis was developed at MRAO. Many radio sources are referred to by their designations in the third, fourth, fifth, etc. Cambridge sky surveys (3C, 4C, 5C, etc.). The Observatory's main instrument is the Ryle Telescope, an aperture-synthesis array. The One-Mile Telescope, opened in 1964, was an earlier aperture-synthesis instrument, consisting of three 18-m dishes in an east–west line, but it is no longer used. Other instruments include the Cambridge Low Frequency Synthesis Telescope (CLFST), a survey instrument consisting of 60 Yagi antennas arranged along the line of the Ryle Telescope. An array of 4096 dipole antennas covering 3.6 hectares is used to study scintillation of radio sources; an earlier version of this instrument, half the size, detected the first pulsars in 1967. The Arcminute MicroKelvin Imager (AMI), an array of ten 3.7-m antennae to study features in the cosmic microwave background, was due to come into operation in 2004. MRAO also hosts a 32-m dish of the Multi-Element Radio-Linked Interferometer Network (MERLIN), and the Cambridge Optical Aperture Synthesis Telescope (COAST). http://www.mrao.cam.ac.uk/telescopes/
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Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory
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Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory
Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory (MRAO) is home to a number of large aperture synthesis radio telescopes, including the One-Mile Telescope, 5-km 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,[1] 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.
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.
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Telescopes
| Telescope | Year built | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Arcminute Microkelvin Imager Large Array | 2007 | In commissioning phase |
| Arcminute Microkelvin Imager Small Array | 2004 | Active |
| Very Small Array (moved to Tenerife in 1999) | 1998 | Active |
| Cosmic Anisotropy Telescope made first high-resolution maps of Cosmic Microwave Background fluctuations | 1995 | Decommissioned |
| Cambridge Optical Aperture Synthesis Telescope (COAST) first aperture synthesis at optical wavelengths | 1993 | Operated on clear nights |
| One receiver from the MERLIN array | 1990 | Active |
| Cambridge Low Frequency Synthesis Telescope (CLFST) | 1980 | Decommissioned |
| Ryle Telescope (formerly 5-Kilometre Telescope) | 1971 | Decommissioned (2006) |
| Half-Mile Telescope | 1968 | Decommissioned |
| Interplanetary Scintillation Array discovered first pulsar | 1967 | Decommissioned |
| One-Mile Telescope | 1964 | Decommissioned |
| 4C Array, first telescope at the Cambridge's new observatory, used to make the 4C catalogue | 1958 | Decommissioned |
References
Notes
Sources
- The Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory webpage
- Image from Google maps showing the One-Mile, Half Mile, 4C Array, MERLIN, COAST, CAT and Ryle telescopes.
- Subterranea Britannica entry for Lord's Bridge Forward Filling Depot (also Air Ammunition Park)
- Subterranea Britannica entry for Lord's Bridge Station
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Oxford Dictionary of Astronomy
A Dictionary of Astronomy. © 1997
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