Triangular piece of sectioned segment panel for the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT), 1986

Made around 1986, this sample panel with adjustor was constructed at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Chilton in Wiltshire. It is one of 276 lightweight panels that form the collecting dish for the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT). Each aluminium section can be continually adjusted using computer control to maintain its precise shape. Located at an altitude of over 4000m on the mountain of Mauna Kea in Hawaii, the JCMT observes the sky sub-millimetre wavelengths. Housed inside an observing building with massive retracting doors, the radio dish is hidden behind a huge Gore-Tex fabric sheet. This protects the dish from any distortion caused by the wind yet allowing the radio waves through when the observatory doors are open.