The Telescopes at the Jodrell Plank Observatory

Telescopes or time machines? The further you look out into space the further back in time you peer.  The Jodrell Plank telescopes, although small, can look back long before homo sapiens had evolved to walk or pollute this benign and beautiful planet.

The Jodrell Plank Observatory has three optical telescopes and one radio telescope.

1.       The Meade 127mm. F7.5 Apo-chromatic Triplet Refractor.

2.       The Meade ETX 90mm F 13.8 Maksutov Cassegrain.

3.       The Altair Astro  Lightwave 66mm F6  ED Doublet Refractor

The LVST radio telescope with 3 element YAGI aerial and Funcube Dongle is usually operating at 143.050 MHz for the detection of radar reflections from meteors. The signals from the radar transmitter at Dijon, some 390 miles away in France, are monitored during selected meteor showers. Spectrum Lab freeware is used to analyse radar signals from the LVST.

The largest optical refractor is mounted on a Synta NEQ6Pro equatorial mount.  The 90mm. and 66mm. scopes can also be mounted on a Star Adventurer Equatorial mount providing opportunities for remote observations and imaging.

Cameras available for imaging with or without the telescopes include:

·         Canon 400D DSLR

·         Canon 600D DSLR

·         QHY5v planetary and guide video camera (primarily used for guiding)

·         QHY5-11 colour planetary video and still camera

A homemade slit-less spectrometer is available for use with any of the above optical telescope and camera combinations.

“The astro – kit at ‘’Jodrell Plank and the subjects of the pseudo-scientific explorations undertaken with its range of equipment, reflect my cosmic wonder and total refusal to focus in a world of increasing scientific specialisation”. Kurt Thrust - Observatory Director