Star-gazing

For my eleventh birthday on the 6^th October, 1957, I got a bamboo hoop, the latest craze. That evening I stood in the back garden of 13 Upper Skene Street, twirling my hoop and waiting with Mum, Dad, Michael and Nick, the dog, for the Russian Sputnik (as we called it) to come into view.

Sputnik 1 was launched on the 4^th October, 1957 and the whole world looked skyward. Quite near to where I've been based in Cheshire for the last couple of weeks is the Jodrell Bank space observatory. It was from here that the observatory's brand-new radio telescope was able to track the rocket that sent Sputnik 1 on its memorable journey, the only telescope in the world able to fulfil that role.

At that time the telescope, with an impressive 250 feet diameter dish, was the largest trackable telescope in the world. It still holds its own, 57 years later, as the third largest.

This elegant piece of engineering is completely adjustable being able to observe the sky from all directions as it's frame moves full circle on tracks and its dish tips from the horizontal to the vertical (also useful for emptying out the winter snow apparently).

Originally the radio telescope was prosaically named 'Mark 1'. In 1987, for its 30^th birthday, it was renamed the Lovell Telescope in honour of its creator, the brilliant physicist Sir Bernard Lovell. He was knighted in 1961 in recognising of his outstanding work in radio astronomy, vital in the detection of satellites during the Cold War period.

Sir Bernard, who died in 2012 at the age of 98, was invited to the Soviet Union in 1963 and later, after a mysterious illness, believed that an attempt was made to erase his memories of the trip by secretly exposing him to radiation when he refused an offer to defect.

Today, when we no longer fear reds under the bed, Jodrell Bank and its radio telescopes peacefully get on with observing the solar system, and the wonderful Lovell Telescope has been justifiably designated a Grade 1 listed building.