What Is the Lichfield Radio Observatory?
Here’s a peek at the Lichfield Radio Observatory (LRO) setup—featuring some of its unique equipment and data visualizations.
What Is the Lichfield Radio Observatory?
The Lichfield Radio Observatory (LRO) is an astronomical observatory based in Lichfield, Staffordshire, UK (approximately 16 mi north of Birmingham) (astronomy.me.uk).
Established in 2005, LRO hosts a variety of telescopes and instruments encompassing both radio and visual astronomy. Its research and observational projects include:
- Mapping the Milky Way’s spiral arms using the hydrogen-line frequency (1420 MHz)
- Estimating the Milky Way’s mass and providing evidence of dark matter
- Meteor radio detection
- Muon detection
- Observing solar flares
- Monitoring Earth’s magnetic field
- Visual astronomy and deep-sky imaging (astronomy.me.uk)
Notably, one key instrument is the LRO H1 radio telescope, which employs an ex-military Ptarmigan Triffid 4×4 dipole array (approximately 86 cm square). It uses a dual-stage filtering setup (1400–1427 MHz cavity filter plus Nooelec SAWBird H1 amplifier), along with an RTL-SDR receiver and the ezRA (Easy Radio Astronomy) software suite. The telescope is mounted on a simple wooden frame and operates continuously at a fixed azimuth, relying on drift scans (sidereal tracking) for data collection (astronomy.me.uk).
LRO has already produced a 2,500-hour hydrogen-line map of the Milky Way, demonstrating galactic arm structure, measuring rotation curves, and exploring the galaxy’s non-Keplerian dynamics indicative of dark matter (astronomy.me.uk).
Who Runs It?
The Lichfield Radio Observatory is the creation of Andrew Thornett (callsign M6THO), who both runs and manages it. He documents its work, shares live data, and has authored a collection of publications and presentations related to LRO activities for amateur radio astronomers. These include:
- “Mapping the galactic arms of the Milky Way in hydrogen…” published in the Journal of the Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers (Nov–Dec 2023)
- Announces and abstracts for presentations on hydrogen-line observing using military dipole arrays (SARA Western Conference 2024)
- Talks like “Mapping the Milky Way and Demonstrating Dark Matter in Your Own Backyard” (International Astronomy Show 2024)
- “Mapping the Milky Way at 1420 MHz (Hydrogen)” (RSGB Convention, Oct 2024) (astronomy.me.uk)
Dr Andrew Thornett is the driving force behind LRO—its founder, operator, primary researcher, and advocate for amateur radio astronomy.
Summary
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| What is LRO? | A multi-instrument amateur astronomical observatory in Lichfield, UK, active since 2005, focusing on radio (hydrogen-line, muons, meteors, etc.) and visual astronomy. |
| Who runs it? | Andrew Thornett (M6THO), who founded and continues to operate the observatory, sharing data and research with the amateur astronomer community. |