posted 09-06-2006 05:38 AM            

Now the Magazine's search for Britain's greatest unsung landmark is over. The thousands of votes have been counted and Jodrell Bank Radio Telescope in Cheshire is the winner.

Although Visitors can still attend the site, the new Visitor Centre is still undergoing construction and only a temporary exhibit is displayed.

Visitors can now walk all around the base of the 250 foot radio telescope - something they could not easily do before.

There are several other radio telescopes on site but these are closed to visitors.

There is a solar system walk in amongst some of the trees that form the Arboretum -which Visitors can also take-in. Each "planet" (a sphere on a pedestal) is located at a scale distance from the "Sun" - which is located at the entrance to the walk. It is actually quite astounding to walk out to the "giant gas planets" after you've visited the "rocky planets" - which are very close-in to the "Sun" . Almost on top of each other in this walk.

In fact, if I recall correctly, I think Neptune and recently demoted (?) Pluto are outside Jodrell's grounds in some farmer's field many hundreds of yards away ! They're probably marked by some cow pat from the dairy herd's that populate Cheshire's plains

Jodrell's formal name is Nuffield Radio Astronomy Laboratories of the University of Manchester. I'll stick with Jodrell Bank !

Phill
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