Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory

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West aerial of the One-Mile Telescope at MRAO

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.

## Contents

* 1 History
* 2 Location
* 3 Telescopes
* 4 Gallery
* 5 References
* 5.1 Notes
* 5.2 Sources

## History

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,[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.

## Location

The observatory is located a few miles south-west of Cambridge at Harlton on a former ordnance storage site, next to the disused Oxford-Cambridge Varsity railway line.

A portion of the track bed of the railway, 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. Due to this, the reconstruction of the railway line between Oxford and Cambridge will follow a new alignment at this point.

## Telescopes

Telescope | Year built | Status

|
|

Arcminute Microkelvin Imager Large Array | 2007 | Active
Arcminute Microkelvin Imager Small Array | 2004
Very Small Array (moved to Tenerife in 1999) | 1998
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 e-MERLIN array | 1990 | Active
Cambridge Low Frequency Synthesis Telescope (CLFST) | 1980 | Decommissioned
Ryle Telescope (formerly 5-Kilometre Telescope) | 1971 | Decommissioned
(repurposed for AMI LA in 2006)
Half-Mile Telescope | 1968 | Decommissioned
Interplanetary Scintillation Array discovered first pulsar | 1967
One-Mile Telescope | 1964
4C Array, first telescope at the Cambridge's new observatory, used to make the 4C catalogue | 1958

## Gallery

The following photographs (except for the last 2 items) were taken in June 2014:

* Platform and Lecture Room formerly part of Lord's Bridge Railway Station

* Arcminute Microkelvin Imager - Large Array (AMI-LA)

* Arcminute Microkelvin Imager - Small Array (AMI-SA)

* Stitched panorama of the Cosmic Anisotropy Telescope enclosure

* Part of the Cambridge Optical Aperture Synthesis Telescope

* The interior of the bunker of the Cambridge Optical Aperture Synthesis Telescope

* The receiver from the e-MERLIN array

* Surviving Yagi antennas of the Cambridge Low Frequency Synthesis Telescope

* Two Half-Mile Telescopes

* Remains of the Interplanetary Scintillation Array

* One-Mile Telescope (left), two of the Half-Mile Telescope (centre) and the remains of the 4C Array (right)

* Remains of the 4C Array, with One-Mile Telescope in the background

* Mullard EL34 Power Pentode. Mullard produced up to 40% of thermionic valves used by Britain during 1939-1945 War

* Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory plaque

## References

### Notes

1. ↑ "Subterranea Britannica - Lords Bridge". http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/stations/l/lords_bridge/index.shtml.

### Sources

* Overview | Cavendish Astrophysics
* Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory (MRAO) on Google maps
* Subterranea Britannica entry for Lords Bridge Forward Filling Depot (also Air Ammunition Park)
* Subterranea Britannica entry for Lords Bridge Station

* v
* t
* e

Radio astronomy

Concepts|

* Units (watt and jansky)
* Radio telescope (Radio window)
* Astronomical interferometer (History)
* Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI)
* Astronomical radio source

Radio telescopes
(List)|

| Individual
telescopes|

* 500 meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST, China)
* Arecibo Observatory (Puerto Rico, US)
* Caltech Submillimeter Observatory (CSO, US)
* Effelsberg Telescope (Germany)
* Galenki RT-70 (Russia)
* Green Bank Telescope (West Virginia, US)
* Large Millimeter Telescope (Mexico)
* Lovell Telescope (UK)
* Ooty Telescope (India)
* Qitai Radio Telescope (China)
* RATAN-600 Radio Telescope (Russia)
* Sardinia Radio Telescope (Italy)
* Suffa RT-70 (Uzbekistan)
* Usuda Telescope (Japan)
* UTR-2 decameter radio telescope (Ukraine)
* Yevpatoria RT-70 (Russia)

Southern Hemisphere
HartRAO (South Africa)
Parkes Observatory (Australia)
Warkworth Radio Astronomical Observatory (NZ)

|

Interferometers|

* Allen Telescope Array (ATA, California, US)
* Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA, Chile)
* Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA, Australia)
* Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP, Australia)
* Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME, Canada)
* Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy (CARMA, California, US)
* European VLBI Network (Europe)
* Event Horizon Telescope (EHT)
* Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT, India)
* Green Bank Interferometer (GBI, West Virginia, US)
* Korean VLBI Network (KVN, South Korea)
* Large Latin American Millimeter Array (LLAMA, Argentina/Brazil)
* Long Wavelength Array (LWA, New Mexico, US)
* Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR, Netherlands)
* MeerKAT (South Africa)
* Molonglo Observatory Synthesis Telescope (MOST, Australia)
* Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network (MERLIN, UK)
* Murchison Widefield Array (MWA, Australia)
* Northern Cross Radio Telescope (Italy)
* Northern Extended Millimeter Array (France)
* One-Mile Telescope (UK)
* Primeval Structure Telescope (PaST, China)
* Square Kilometre Array (SKA, Australia, South Africa)
* Submillimeter Array (SMA, US)
* Very Large Array (VLA, New Mexico, US)
* Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA, US)
* Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT, Netherlands)

Space-based|

* HALCA (Japan)
* Spektr-R (Russia)

Observatories|

* Algonquin Radio Observatory (Canada)
* Haystack Observatory (US)
* Jodrell Bank Observatory (UK)
* Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory (UK)
* National Radio Astronomy Observatory (US)
* Nançay Radio Observatory (France)
* Onsala Space Observatory (Sweden)
* Pushchino Radio Astronomy Observatory (PRAO ASC LPI, Russia)
* Special Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Science (SAORAS, Russia)
* Warkworth Radio Astronomical Observatory

Multi-use|

* DRAO (Canada)
* ESA New Norcia (Australia)
* PARL (Canada)

People|

* Elizabeth Alexander
* John G. Bolton
* Edward George Bowen
* Ronald Bracewell
* Jocelyn Bell Burnell
* Arthur Covington
* Nan Dieter-Conklin
* Frank Drake
* Antony Hewish
* Karl Guthe Jansky
* Kenneth Kellermann
* Frank J. Kerr
* John D. Kraus
* Bernard Lovell
* Jan Oort
* Joseph Lade Pawsey
* Ruby Payne-Scott
* Arno Penzias
* Grote Reber
* Martin Ryle
* Govind Swarup
* Gart Westerhout
* Paul Wild
* Robert Wilson

Related articles|

* Radio propagation
* Interferometry
* Aperture synthesis
* SETI (Wow! signal, Radio signal from HD 164595)
* Pulsar timing array
* Cosmic microwave background radiation

* Submillimetre astronomy
* Infrared astronomy
* Optical astronomy
* High-energy astronomy
* Gravitational-wave astronomy

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