Jodrell Bank Observatory

The Jodrell Bank Observatory (originally the Jodrell Bank Experimental Station and from 1966 to 1999, the Nuffield Radio Astronomy Laboratories; /ˈdʒɒdrəl/) hosts a number of radio telescopes, and is part of the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics at the University of Manchester. The observatory was established in 1945 by Bernard Lovell, a radio astronomer at the University of Manchester to investigate cosmic rays after his work on radar during the Second World War. It has since played an important role in the research of meteors, quasars, pulsars, masers and gravitational lenses, and was heavily involved with the tracking of space probes at the start of the Space Age. The managing director of the observatory is Professor Simon Garrington. The main telescope at the observatory is the Lovell Telescope, which is the third largest steerable radio telescope in the world. There are three other active telescopes at the observatory; the Mark II, and 42 ft (13 m) and 7 m diameter radio telescopes. Jodrell Bank Observatory is the base of the Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network (MERLIN), a National Facility run by the University of Manchester on behalf of the Science and Technology Facilities Council. The Jodrell Bank Visitor Centre and an arboretum, are in the civil parish of Lower Withington and the Lovell Telescope and the observatory are in Goostrey civil parish, near Goostrey and Holmes Chapel, Cheshire, North West England. The observatory is reached from the A535. The Crewe to Manchester Line passes right by the site, and Goostrey station is a short distance away. On 7 July 2019, the observatory became a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Jodrell Bank was first used for academic purposes in 1939 when the University of Manchester's Department of Botany purchased three fields from the Leighs. It is named from a nearby rise in the ground, Jodrell Bank, which was named after William Jauderell whose descendants lived at the mansion that is now Terra Nova School. The site was extended in 1952 by the purchase of a farm from George Massey on which the Lovell Telescope was built. The site was first used for astrophysics in 1945, when Bernard Lovell used some equipment left over from World War II, including a gun laying radar, to investigate cosmic rays. The equipment was a GL II radar system working at a wavelength of 4.2 m, provided by J. S. Hey. He intended to use the equipment in Manchester but electrical interference from the trams on Oxford Road prevented him from doing so. He moved the equipment to Jodrell Bank, 25 miles (40 km) south of the city, on 10 December 1945. Lovell's main research was transient radio echoes, which he confirmed were from ionized meteor trails by October 1946. The first staff were Alf Dean and Frank Foden who observed meteors observed with the naked eye while Lovell observed the electromagnetic signal using equipment. The first time Lovell turned the radar on – 14 December 1945 – the Geminids meteor shower was at a maximum. Over the next few years, Lovell accumulated more ex-military radio hardware, including a portable cabin, known as a 'Park Royal' in the military (see Park Royal Vehicles). The first permanent building was near to the cabin and was named after it.