Unseen images capture the birth of Manchester's space age

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

It helps star-gazers look across the galaxy, has tracked Russian satellites during the Cold War and is also a family attraction most people in Manchester will have enjoyed a day out at.

Jodrell Bank is one of the world’s earliest sites for radio-telescopes and is seen as playing a pivotal role in the development of the science of radio astronomy.

Although the attraction is in Cheshire, it is owned by the University of Manchester and was pioneered by one of its alumni. In 1945, it became used for space observation under physicist Bernard Lovell, but only when equipment intended for Manchester had to be moved because electricity from trams on Oxford Road interfered with it.

This remote location was ideal and Lovell's results were good, but it wasn’t cosmic rays he had found, but meteors. READ MORE: Raided on the first day - the lost cannabis café which brought Amsterdam to Stockport The accidental discovery was the start of radio astronomy at Jodrell Bank.