This massive, steerable parabolic dish, which in 1957 tracked the ascent of the rocket that launched Sputnik I into space and is sensitive enough to pick up a Âcellphone call from the Âsurface of Mars, may soon be out of the Âastronomy Âbusiness. The dark clouds in the Âpicture that hover over the Lovell Radio Telescope, located at the University of Manchester’s Jodrell Bank Observatory, in England, are Âapropos. Government Âfunding for a program that would keep the Âtelescope peering into the heavens may soon be slashed. Lovell is a protected landmark, so it won’t be torn down. Instead, the dish could be Ârepurposed as a giant movie screen, displaying stars of a different sort than those for which it was originally designed.
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