Lovell Telescope

Monday, 1st August 2005 by

This is the Lovell Telescope at the Jodrell Bank Observatory, Cheshire, UK. Apparently it's the largest radio telescope in Europe and has been in operation since 1957, which was just in time for the launch of Sputnik 1, the world's first artificial satellite. Jodrell Bank was the only installation in the world able to track Sputnik's booster rocket by radar (Wikipedia page). You can also see the smaller Mach II dish just to the south east.

Jodrell Bank

Thanks: Fred Bobardo, Peter Bindon, Oscar Blanco, Scotto, Andrew Kowalski and Chris Palmer