Jodrell Bank
The Jodrell Bank Observatory, near Macclesfield, Cheshire in the north west of England, is a part of the University of Manchester, and has played an important part in the research into quasars and pulsars, as well as the first detection of a gravitational lens in 1979, confirming one of Einstein's theories.
The observatory was established in 1945 by Dr. Bernard Lovell, who wanted to investigate cosmic rays after his work on radar in World War II.
The first radio telescope was built in 1947, but the famous "Mark I" telescope, at the time the largest steerable dish radio telescope in the world, 76.2 metres (250 feet) in diameter, was constructed in the mid 1950s, becoming 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.
The Mark I telescope has been updated twice, to allow greater sensitivity and make structural repairs, in 1970-71 and 2001-2003. In 1987, on its 30th anniversary, the telescope was renamed The Lovell Telescope in Sir Bernard's honour. A second radio telescope, the Mark II, was built at Jodrell Bank in 1964, with a diameter of approximately 25 metres (it's parabolic, not circular), while a third telescope, the Mark III, located some 20 miles away near Nantwich is part of the Jodrell Bank Observatory.
The much-visited site was planted as an arboretum by Sir Bernard. Jodrell Bank Arboretum houses the UK's national collections of Malus and Sorbus species and the Heather Society's Calluna collection, on 35 acres.
Statistics of the Lovell Telescope
Location:
Latitude 53 deg 14 min 13.2 sec north
Longitude 0 deg 9 min 14.04 sec west
Mass of telescope: 3200 tonnes
Mass of bowl: 1500 tonnes
Diameter of bowl: 76.2 metres
Surface area of bowl: 5270 square metres
Collecting area of bowl: 4560 square meters
Height of elevation axis: 50.5 metres
Maximum height above ground: 89.0 metres
Radius of wheel girders: 38.5 metres
Outer diameter of railway track: 107.5 metres
Amount of paint for 3 coats of the bowl: 5200 litres.
In Cockney Rhyming Slang "Jodrell Bank" refers to masturbation.
External Link
Referenced By
Beagle 2 | Cheshire | December 2003 | Jodrell Bank Arboretum | List of astronomical topics | List of astronomical topics (N-Z) | List of observatories | Manchester University | Royal Astronomical Society | Timeline of telescopes, observatories, and observing technology | University of Manchester | Victoria University of Manchester
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