Jodrell Bank Observatory
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The Jodrell Bank Observatory (originally the Jodrell Bank Experimental Station, then the Nuffield Radio Astronomy Laboratories from 1966–1999) is near Goostrey, Cheshire in the north-west of England. The observatory hosts a number of radio telescopes, and is part of the University of Manchester. It has played an important role in the research of quasars and pulsars. In 1979, scientists at Jodrell Bank announced the first detection of a gravitational lens, which confirmed Einstein's theory of general relativity.
The observatory was established in 1945 by Dr. Bernard Lovell (now Sir Bernard Lovell), who wanted to investigate cosmic rays after his work on radar in World War II. One of the telescopes of the observatory honours his name.
Jodrell Bank Observatory is also the base of the Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network (MERLIN), a National Facility run by the University of Manchester on behalf of PPARC.
[edit] History
- See also: Timeline of Jodrell Bank Observatory
The Jodrell Bank site was first used for academic purposes in 1939, when the University of Manchester's horticultural botany department compulsory purchased eleven acres of farmland from a local farmer, George Massey.[1] The site was named after a ground rise called Jodrell Bank, which was named after a landowning family called Jodrell or Jauderell who lived in a mansion that is now Terra Nova School.
The first use of the site for astrophysics was in 1945, when Bernard Lovell wished to use some radar equipment left over from World War II to investigate cosmic rays. Electrical interference from the trams that then ran down Oxford Road prevented him from doing so in Manchester, so he moved the equipment to Jodrell Bank, 25 miles (40 km) south of the city. The first major radio telescope on the site, a wire paraboloid 218ft (66m) in diameter called the Transit Telescope, was built in 1947.
The famous "Mark I" telescope, now known as the Lovell Telescope, was the largest steerable dish radio telescope in the world, 76.2 m (250 ft) in diameter, when it was constructed in the mid 1950s. It became operational in the summer of 1957, just in time for the launch of Sputnik 1, the world's first artificial satellite. Jodrell Bank was the only installation in the world able to track Sputnik's booster rocket by radar, and the fame and income this brought in enabled the considerable construction debts to be paid off.
In February 1966, Jodrell Bank tracked the USSR unmanned moon lander Luna 9 and listened in on its facsimile transmission of photographs from the moon's surface. The photos were sent to the British press and published before the Soviets themselves had made the photos public.
[edit] Visitor facilities
- See also: Jodrell Bank Arboretum
The 35 acre (140,000 m²) Jodrell Bank Arboretum houses the UK's national collections of Malus and Sorbus species, as well as the Heather Society's Calluna collection. The arboretum also features a small scale model of the solar system, the scale being approximately 1:5,000,000,000. As part of the SpacedOut project, Jodrell Bank is also the location of the Sun in a 1:15,000,000 scale model of the solar system covering the UK.
There is an educational visitors' centre at the site, which covers the history of Jodrell Bank and also has a 3D theatre hosting trips to Mars.[2] There is also a path around the Lovell telescope, approximately 20m from the telescope's outer railway, which hosts a number of information boards explaining how the telescope works and the research that is done with it.
[edit] Telescopes
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Picture Name Shape Size Construction date Demolition date Current telescopes 
Lovell Telescope / Mark I / Mark IA Circular 76m/250ft 1957 - Used for observations of pulsars; as part of MERLIN and VLBI 
Mark II Elliptical Major axis 125ft/38.1m
Minor axis 83ft 4 in/25.4m1964 - Part of MERLIN 42ft Circular 13m/42ft 1982 - Observations of pulsars 
7m Undergraduate Circular 7m ??? - Undergraduate teaching Historic telescopes Transit Telescope Wire parabola 216ft 1947 [1] ??? One of the original test receivers from the 1950s 
Polar Axis Circular 50ft/15.2m 1962 ??? Demolished; remains shown in picture The 50ft Circular 50ft/15.2m 1964 1982 Replaced with the more accurate 42ft Mark III Elliptical Major axis 125ft/38.1m
Minor axis 83ft 4 in/25.4m1966 ~2003 Was located in Wardle, near Nantwich. Was used as part of MERLIN. Now decommissioned. Transportable 25ft telescope Circular 25ft 1960s 2006 Originally used in conjunction with the Lovell telescope to determine the size of quasars.[3] Scrapped on 23 November 2006.
[edit] Directors
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Name From To Sir Bernard Lovell 1945 1980 [2] Professor Sir Francis Graham-Smith 1980 ~1990 Professor Rod Davies ~1990 ~1999 Professor Andrew Lyne ~1999 1 October 2006 Professor Phil Diamond 1 October 2006 Present
[edit] Trivia
- The name Jodrell Bank has been immortalised in Cockney rhyming slang.
[edit] Fictional references
- Part of the Doctor Who episode Logopolis was filmed at Jodrell Bank.
- Jodrell Bank was mentioned twice in the book The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy ("Miles above the surface of the planet the huge yellow somethings began to fan out. At Jodrell Bank, someone decided it was time for a nice relaxing cup of tea."). The Lovell Telescope also appeared briefly in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy film and scenes in the movie trailer were filmed in the main control room.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Lovell, Bernard (1968). The Story of Jodrell Bank. Oxford University Press.
- ^ Jodrell Bank Visitor Centre 3-D Theatre. Jodrell Bank Observatory.
- ^ The MKI and the discovery of Quasars. Jodrell Bank Observatory. Retrieved on 2006-11-23.
[edit] External links
- Jodrell Bank Observatory - official site.
- Jodrell Bank's role in early space tracking activities - Part 1, Part 2
- Spaced Out - World's largest scale model of the Solar System.
- The Jodcast - an astronomy podcast from Jodrell Bank Observatory
- Jodrell family tree
- Satellite pictures : Google Maps, WikiMapia
