The Curio

I happen to live about 40 minutes drive away from Jodrell Bank and I just noticed this posting over on Bad Astronomy (see my blogroll).

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Jodrell Bank, it’s an observatory that is also home to the 3rd largest steerable radio telescope in the world, the visually arresting Lovell telescope (which was actually the largest of it’s type when it was built in the 1950’s) The structure is 250ft in diameter.

The news marks the golden jubilee of the Lovell telescope, and represents the plans to celebrate 50 years of the space age, and presumably Jodrell Bank’s part therein.

Here’s a picture I took during a visit I made in 2005. Check out the ladder in the centre of the dish. The ladder is big enough for a man to climb, which should give you an idea of scale.

Click the image for the full size version.

So, if you can imagine that dish being used as a projector screen - it should be a pretty unique experience.