I once played a very brief game of cricket in the Lovell Telescope (after a resurface but before it got properly tuned) because we wanted to recreate a scene from The Dish.

Reply to I once played a very brief game of cricket in the Lovell Telescope (after a resurface but before it got properly tuned) because we wanted to recreate a scene from The Dish. on Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:15:13 GMT

slowe@mastodon.me.uk — Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:15:13 GMT

@_thegeoff As I remember it, you want a surface smooth to 1/8th wavelength or better. So, to observe at 6GHz (5cm) the average (root mean square) deviation should be roughly half a centimetre or better. You get deviation within panels on the surface, between panels, and due to the overall shape changing at different elevations. This page from 2008 talks about surface setting https://www.jb.man.ac.uk/tech/lovellupgrade/adjust.html The image shows deviations from a parabola across the dish before they tuned the surface.

Reply to I once played a very brief game of cricket in the Lovell Telescope (after a resurface but before it got properly tuned) because we wanted to recreate a scene from The Dish. on Wed, 29 Jul 2026 23:54:55 GMT

_thegeoff@mastodon.social — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 23:54:55 GMT

@slowe What's the equivalent of "optically perfect" in terms of damage on that surface? A centimetre or so?

Reply to I once played a very brief game of cricket in the Lovell Telescope (after a resurface but before it got properly tuned) because we wanted to recreate a scene from The Dish. on Wed, 29 Jul 2026 20:29:49 GMT

valdebaran@photog.social — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 20:29:49 GMT

@slowe

This is the kind of content I subscribed to twitter for - in these old times...

Reply to I once played a very brief game of cricket in the Lovell Telescope (after a resurface but before it got properly tuned) because we wanted to recreate a scene from The Dish. on Wed, 29 Jul 2026 17:28:17 GMT

loppygnome@mastodonapp.uk — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 17:28:17 GMT

@slowe

Thanks for sharing your photos and experiences.

Here’s a quick timelapse I took of it swinging into place to be used as the projection screen during the bluedot festival.

Reply to I once played a very brief game of cricket in the Lovell Telescope (after a resurface but before it got properly tuned) because we wanted to recreate a scene from The Dish. on Wed, 29 Jul 2026 12:39:14 GMT

krutonium@social.treehouse.systems — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 12:39:14 GMT

@LDJ @slowe His whole recent series where he's doing something in every county in England is fantastic, if you want more!

Reply to I once played a very brief game of cricket in the Lovell Telescope (after a resurface but before it got properly tuned) because we wanted to recreate a scene from The Dish. on Wed, 29 Jul 2026 12:35:50 GMT

cornellbox@a2mi.social — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 12:35:50 GMT

@slowe

This is the kind of wonderful weirdness that good social media provides, and this absolutely made my morning brighter.

Reply to I once played a very brief game of cricket in the Lovell Telescope (after a resurface but before it got properly tuned) because we wanted to recreate a scene from The Dish. on Wed, 29 Jul 2026 12:22:46 GMT

ldj@mastodon.green — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 12:22:46 GMT

@krutonium @slowe I really enjoyed that episode

Reply to I once played a very brief game of cricket in the Lovell Telescope (after a resurface but before it got properly tuned) because we wanted to recreate a scene from The Dish. on Wed, 29 Jul 2026 12:02:52 GMT

slowe@mastodon.me.uk — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 12:02:52 GMT

@gmh @khleedril Sir Bernard was still coming in occasionally in the 2000s. You'd sometimes see him in the Tea Room. Here's a picture I took when The Sky At Night came to visit in 2007.

The two of them filmed a bit to camera outside by the telescope and it started to rain. So Chris Lintott and I held umbrellas over them just out of shot.

Reply to I once played a very brief game of cricket in the Lovell Telescope (after a resurface but before it got properly tuned) because we wanted to recreate a scene from The Dish. on Wed, 29 Jul 2026 11:48:57 GMT

slowe@mastodon.me.uk — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 11:48:57 GMT

@outinthehills Yep. My research was building and using receivers at the relatively short wavelength (for Jodrell) of 1cm. Not on the Lovell but on a 32m telescope in Poland. The surface had to be set to mm accuracy. I had waveguides that I described as radio plumbing (my dad had been a plumber). It was very human sized even if the dishes weren't!

Reply to I once played a very brief game of cricket in the Lovell Telescope (after a resurface but before it got properly tuned) because we wanted to recreate a scene from The Dish. on Wed, 29 Jul 2026 11:38:16 GMT

slowe@mastodon.me.uk — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 11:38:16 GMT

@krutonium Good to see that Mirza is still a controller.

Reply to I once played a very brief game of cricket in the Lovell Telescope (after a resurface but before it got properly tuned) because we wanted to recreate a scene from The Dish. on Wed, 29 Jul 2026 11:37:36 GMT

nixfreak@masto.hackers.town — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 11:37:36 GMT

@slowe that is amazing , hell of a memory.

Reply to I once played a very brief game of cricket in the Lovell Telescope (after a resurface but before it got properly tuned) because we wanted to recreate a scene from The Dish. on Wed, 29 Jul 2026 11:10:14 GMT

krutonium@social.treehouse.systems — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 11:10:14 GMT

@slowe This is the same place Tom Scott recently made a video about! He went up onto the surface and everything!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrZyJuaBfKA

Reply to I once played a very brief game of cricket in the Lovell Telescope (after a resurface but before it got properly tuned) because we wanted to recreate a scene from The Dish. on Wed, 29 Jul 2026 11:07:26 GMT

steveclough@metalhead.club — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 11:07:26 GMT

@slowe Thank you - these are amazing.

The telescope is a wonder of the UK, and the possibility that it would have to close makes me both sad and angry. We were at BlueDot a few years ago, and the use for a display background was awesome. I was so sad that bluedot closed - because it brought people to the awesomeness of science.

Reply to I once played a very brief game of cricket in the Lovell Telescope (after a resurface but before it got properly tuned) because we wanted to recreate a scene from The Dish. on Wed, 29 Jul 2026 10:36:44 GMT

outinthehills@mastodon.scot — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 10:36:44 GMT

@slowe haha when you're used to dealing with optical telescopes, then you realise that at radio frequencies tenth of a wave optics won't be affected by footprints on the mirror

Reply to I once played a very brief game of cricket in the Lovell Telescope (after a resurface but before it got properly tuned) because we wanted to recreate a scene from The Dish. on Wed, 29 Jul 2026 10:27:03 GMT

liquorvicar@mastodon.social — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 10:27:03 GMT

@slowe Stacked leg-side field, I'm guessing you were bowling Bodyline.

Reply to I once played a very brief game of cricket in the Lovell Telescope (after a resurface but before it got properly tuned) because we wanted to recreate a scene from The Dish. on Wed, 29 Jul 2026 09:59:05 GMT

gmh@mastodon.social — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 09:59:05 GMT

@mcrmonkey @slowe Hah!

Back in the Old Days, the observer would go up there for the observing shift and spend eight hours in a rather precarious metal garden shed hanging below the original surface of the Mk. 1.

(I can only assume there was some sort of porta-potty in a corner.)

Reply to I once played a very brief game of cricket in the Lovell Telescope (after a resurface but before it got properly tuned) because we wanted to recreate a scene from The Dish. on Wed, 29 Jul 2026 09:54:21 GMT

mcrmonkey@mastodon.social — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 09:54:21 GMT

@gmh @slowe
What sort of experiments went on in the swinging lab?

Reply to I once played a very brief game of cricket in the Lovell Telescope (after a resurface but before it got properly tuned) because we wanted to recreate a scene from The Dish. on Wed, 29 Jul 2026 09:24:36 GMT

johandiederik@toot.community — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 09:24:36 GMT

@slowe HOW’S THAT!!!?🧐
I happen to remember that cry in cricket when I was young.
Very nice photo’s of an amazing experience!

Reply to I once played a very brief game of cricket in the Lovell Telescope (after a resurface but before it got properly tuned) because we wanted to recreate a scene from The Dish. on Wed, 29 Jul 2026 08:54:59 GMT

xeno@hexokina.se — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 08:54:59 GMT

@slowe@mastodon.me.uk maybe I’m just a nostalgic Gen Z but that’s insanely cool and the old digital camera look makes it ten times better

Reply to I once played a very brief game of cricket in the Lovell Telescope (after a resurface but before it got properly tuned) because we wanted to recreate a scene from The Dish. on Wed, 29 Jul 2026 08:25:13 GMT

ldj@mastodon.green — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 08:25:13 GMT

@slowe Loved all these photos! I love Jodrell Bank and encourage anyone to go visit. In 2019 I was at Bluedot Festival there, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing. It was replayed in real time on the dish! It was incredibly cool to be stood in the middle of the night looking up at that iconic structure. They also did history and science talks about it which were fantastic.

Reply to I once played a very brief game of cricket in the Lovell Telescope (after a resurface but before it got properly tuned) because we wanted to recreate a scene from The Dish. on Wed, 29 Jul 2026 08:19:00 GMT

slowe@mastodon.me.uk — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 08:19:00 GMT

@khleedril Unfortunately not. Another student had brought one along so we could do this.

Reply to I once played a very brief game of cricket in the Lovell Telescope (after a resurface but before it got properly tuned) because we wanted to recreate a scene from The Dish. on Wed, 29 Jul 2026 07:36:15 GMT

cat@fed.cat.scot — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 07:36:15 GMT

@slowe it’s got a contact lens?!

Reply to I once played a very brief game of cricket in the Lovell Telescope (after a resurface but before it got properly tuned) because we wanted to recreate a scene from The Dish. on Wed, 29 Jul 2026 06:26:01 GMT

gmh@mastodon.social — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 06:26:01 GMT

@khleedril @slowe Lovell was the nicest genius I’ve ever met. When I was (briefly) at Jodrell in ‘94, he’d retired a few years prior, his wife had died the year before, and so he’d come into Jodrell most days and sit in the common room, chat with his former students (now running the lab), drink tea, and listen to Test Match Special.

I still have a newspaper article he cut out and kept for me because he thought I’d like it.

Reply to I once played a very brief game of cricket in the Lovell Telescope (after a resurface but before it got properly tuned) because we wanted to recreate a scene from The Dish. on Wed, 29 Jul 2026 06:15:31 GMT

gmh@mastodon.social — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 06:15:31 GMT

@mcrmonkey @slowe Really? That’s a shame - I think it got used as an initiation ritual for first-timers on inspections!

Back in July ‘94…

‘$first_timer, go and check the inside!’

Me: *steps on the metal platform of the lab*

*entire platform swivels ten degrees* - it’s on a gimbal and the brake wasn’t on.

Me: *swears, holds onto safety fence, looks at the concrete many metres below*

Light dawns.

I turn and look at the old hands, who are watching the new boy and grinning.