Jodrell Bank Observatory
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Jodrell Bank Observatory | |
 The 76m Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank Observatory. |
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| Organization: | University of Manchester |
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| Location: | Cheshire, United Kingdom |
| Coordinates: | Longitude 2° 18' 25.7" W Latitude 53° 14' 10.5" |
| Website: | www.jb.man.ac.uk |
| Telescopes | |
| Lovell Telescope: | 76m |
| Mark II: | 38.1x25.4m |
| 42ft: | 13m |
| Undergraduate: | 7m |
The Jodrell Bank Observatory (originally the Jodrell Bank Experimental Station, then the Nuffield Radio Astronomy Laboratories from 1966 to 1999) is an observatory that hosts a number of radio telescopes, and is part of the University of Manchester. It is located near Goostrey and Holmes Chapel in Cheshire in the north-west of England. 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 purchased three fields at Jodrell Bank. 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 (also see William Jauderell). The site was extended in 1952 by the purchase of a farm from a local farmer, George Massey. The new land included the site upon which the Mark I was sited. [1]
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. His main focus at the time was the radio echoes from ionized meteor trails. Over the next few years, he accumulated more ex-military radio hardware, including a portable cabin, commonly known as a "Park Royal" in the military. The first permanent building on the site was located near to this cabin, and was named after it. [1]
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.
The original visitors centre, opened on 19 April 1971 by the Duke of Devonshire,[3] was demolished in 2003; a new science centre is currently being planned.
[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, among other things; occasionally used 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 as of 2006 shown in picture The 50ft Circular 50ft/15.2m 1964 1982 Replaced with the more accurate 42ft following an accident that irreparably damaged the dish's surface 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 and dismantled. Transportable 25ft telescope Circular 25ft 1960s 2006 Originally used in conjunction with the Lovell telescope to determine the size of quasars.[4]. Later part of the Visitors Centre, where it was used by visitors to observe the sun. Dismantled when the visitors' centre was demolished; scrapped on 23 November 2006.
[edit] Directors
[edit] Books
A series of books have been written by Sir Bernard Lovell that detail the construction and use of the telescopes and facilities at Jodrell Bank. They include:
- Lovell, Bernard (1968). Story of Jodrell Bank. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-217619-6 (hardback).
- Lovell, Bernard (1973). Out of the Zenith: Jodrell Bank, 1957-70. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-217624-2 (hardback).
- Lovell, Bernard (1985). The Jodrell Bank Telescopes. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-858178-5 (hardback).
[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.
- Some scenes for Placebo (band)'s music video of The Bitter End were filmed at Jodrell Bank.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b Lovell, Bernard (1968). The Story of Jodrell Bank. Oxford University Press.
- ^ Jodrell Bank Visitor Centre 3-D Theatre. Jodrell Bank Observatory.
- ^ Lovell, Bernard (1973). Out of the Zenith; Jodrell Bank 1957-1970. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0192176242.
- ^ 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
 Cheshire Portal |
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| Unitary authorities: | Halton • Warrington |
| Boroughs/Districts: | Chester City • Congleton • Crewe and Nantwich • Ellesmere Port and Neston • Macclesfield • Vale Royal |
| Cities/Towns: | Alsager • Bollington • Chester • Congleton • Crewe • Ellesmere Port • Frodsham • Knutsford • Macclesfield • Middlewich • Nantwich • Neston • Northwich • Runcorn • Sandbach • Warrington • Widnes • Wilmslow • Winsford See also: List of civil parishes in Cheshire |
