Photos:
0819 Setting off today on a week-long 50@fifty trip in the hope of making serious inroads into my target and already I’ve been forced to break one of my rules not to use the car. I don’t really have an option since a replacement bus service between Basingstoke and Andover (they won’t carry bikes) leaves me with no choice but to drive to Basingstoke and leave the car at my Basingstoke office for a week, which happily is only a ten minute ride from the station so the trip is ON! First stop is the Lovell Radio Telescope at Jodrell Bank. As a boy, I remember owning a postage stamp with the Jodrell Bank telescope on it. Finally I’m going to see it in the flesh.
Looking at my itinerary for the rest of the week, the destinations have a sort of 'heavenwards' looking theme whether spiritual or scientific since I‘ll also be taking in cathedrals, space centres and hymn writers. This is not deliberate, it's just the way it's fallen.
0839 The train pulls into Reading past the orange brick office building of Phoenix House...there was a time that a lot of my company’s staff were based there. No longer, sadly. Looking back - those were the years of plenty.
0853. Carriage is quite crowded, filled with Guardian readers and a plethora of tablet computers playing videos. I pause to briefly ponder to whom the lurid lilac case in the overhead rack belongs and settle down to read Wilkie Collins, one of my favourite writers.
1002 Due into Birmingham New Street and travelling slowly through the suburbs. The tone of the engine changes. Do trains have gears?
1046 Changing to the Crewe train at Birmingham I encounter a group of young friends celebrating someone's birthday with an early day glass of champers or two – could be a lively journey.
1150 A final change at Crewe and fifteen minutes later I am standing on the small platform at Goostrey, the nearest station to Jodrell Bank. If this sounds rural I can assure you it is and deliberately so. I suppose one of the things that hampers radio astronomy is interference from other radio sources - confirmed by a sign at the entrance exhorting me to turn off my mobile phone.
1245 The Jodrell Bank visitor centre is a black cuboid embossed with contours which I take to be a radio signal strength map of the night’s sky - clever. There are no bike racks or cloakroom so I lock my bike to a fence and am reduced yet again to leaving my stuff behind the reception counter, the staff don’t seem to mind.
Obviously the site is dominated by the Lovell telescope and my first impression is that it is bigger than I expected. I walk up to the wire mesh fence and take it in. Suddenly, with a deep hum rising to a whine the dish rotates and dips to a new position, the motor slowly winding down as it locks on. This happens about half a dozen times while I’m on the visit.
Inside there is a medium-sized exhibition with various interactive displays. I especially like one where they have interviews with the staff and you can ask preset questions – it gives you quite a good understanding of the site and underlines that the UK is still a main player in astronomy despite the best efforts of successive governments to cut research funding. I fear this government might actually succeed before it's finished.
Looking at my itinerary for the rest of the week, the destinations have a sort of 'heavenwards' looking theme whether spiritual or scientific since I‘ll also be taking in cathedrals, space centres and hymn writers. This is not deliberate, it's just the way it's fallen.
0839 The train pulls into Reading past the orange brick office building of Phoenix House...there was a time that a lot of my company’s staff were based there. No longer, sadly. Looking back - those were the years of plenty.
0853. Carriage is quite crowded, filled with Guardian readers and a plethora of tablet computers playing videos. I pause to briefly ponder to whom the lurid lilac case in the overhead rack belongs and settle down to read Wilkie Collins, one of my favourite writers.
1002 Due into Birmingham New Street and travelling slowly through the suburbs. The tone of the engine changes. Do trains have gears?
1046 Changing to the Crewe train at Birmingham I encounter a group of young friends celebrating someone's birthday with an early day glass of champers or two – could be a lively journey.
1150 A final change at Crewe and fifteen minutes later I am standing on the small platform at Goostrey, the nearest station to Jodrell Bank. If this sounds rural I can assure you it is and deliberately so. I suppose one of the things that hampers radio astronomy is interference from other radio sources - confirmed by a sign at the entrance exhorting me to turn off my mobile phone.
1245 The Jodrell Bank visitor centre is a black cuboid embossed with contours which I take to be a radio signal strength map of the night’s sky - clever. There are no bike racks or cloakroom so I lock my bike to a fence and am reduced yet again to leaving my stuff behind the reception counter, the staff don’t seem to mind.
Obviously the site is dominated by the Lovell telescope and my first impression is that it is bigger than I expected. I walk up to the wire mesh fence and take it in. Suddenly, with a deep hum rising to a whine the dish rotates and dips to a new position, the motor slowly winding down as it locks on. This happens about half a dozen times while I’m on the visit.
Inside there is a medium-sized exhibition with various interactive displays. I especially like one where they have interviews with the staff and you can ask preset questions – it gives you quite a good understanding of the site and underlines that the UK is still a main player in astronomy despite the best efforts of successive governments to cut research funding. I fear this government might actually succeed before it's finished.
A large button invites you to press it to get a print out of whatever the telescope is looking at. Unfortunately there is a bug because all I get is a message saying ‘waiting for data from telescope’. Shame.
Space trivia:
Space trivia:
1. Jodrell Bank is the only Grade 1 listed construction to do 24/7 science.
2. The dish drains rain water but when it snows the operator has to tip up the dish to decant the snow as in an avalanche and hope that no one is standing underneath!
3. The radio receiver is supercooled by liquid helium. Apparently we will run out of helium before oil. No more squeaky voices at birthday parties.
4. The most worrying thing to the West about the Sputnik launch at the time was not that Russia was first but that the rocket that launched it was not spotted by radar – could the Reds launch nuclear missiles without us noticing? the politicians were asking at the time.
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