Jodrell Bank Observatory is being switched back on after the longest shutdown in its history.
Scientists have dubbed it 'probably the biggest reboot' in the history of astrophysics.
During lockdown the observatory's 60 staff were reduced to a 'skeleton crew' after on-site work stopped on March 17.
Scientists have continued their research by working from home.
The Manchester University-run site will remain closed to visitors until the government changes its guidelines on visiting public places such as museums, said a spokesman.
Jodrell Bank director Prof Mike Garrett said the 42-foot dish that sits atop Jodrell Bank’s main building has been switched back on and and is busy monitoring the activities of pulsars, while the Mark II radio telescope, which is connected to a netwoork of similar telescopes across the world, has also been reactivated .
He said: "Getting Jodrell Bank back into operation after such a long shutdown is a really positive signal to our team at Jodrell, the rest of the university and the international science community as a whole
"Safety is our number one consideration, so nothing can be rushed. We must be sure that research, technical staff and students are all safe – thankfully, much of our work can be done remotely."
Prof Garrett said the biggest challenge has been restarting the 'supercomputer' which crunches the numbers and makes sense of the vast amounts of data the telescopes gather from the cosmos.
"This has now been turned on – we had all our fingers and toes crossed and so far it looks good. Of course, it still needs to be exercised with some real data but that will come," added Professor Garrett.
