Sunday, July 20, 2008

jodrell bank

one of the more exotic experiences of my childhood came in the form of driving by a piece of machinery named jodrell bank. jodrell bank included and still includes, one of the largest steerable radio telescopes in the world. imagine if you will, driving by this incredible structure set in the most pastoral of english countryside. here it is from a distance . . .
closer . . .
this was my experience as we made our way from my hometown of altrincham through to my grandparent’s hometown of crewe. it was always an amazing experience as we cruised through the cheshire countryside in my dad’s lovely armstrong-siddeley, passing through lovely towns such as knutsford and little villages with names like upper and lower peover. the countryside is fairly flat, very very rural and very gentrified, beautiful and old.

in the middle of all of this then stands jodrell bank. jodrell bank has played an important role in the research of meteors, quasars, pulsars, masers and gravitational lenses, and has been heavily involved with the tracking of space probes.

here it is on the way home . . .
a much more detailed and beautifully photographed journey through the innards of jodrell bank can be seen here.

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