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 Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics at the University of Manchester. It is located near Goostrey and Holmes Chapel in Macclesfield, Cheshire in the north–west of England.
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 located at the observatory; the Mark II, as well as 42 ft and 7 m diameter radio telescopes. 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 the Science and Technology Facilities Council.
The observatory was established in 1945 by Sir Bernard Lovell, who wanted to investigate cosmic rays after his work on radar in 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.

Early years
A searchlight was loaned to Jodrell Bank in 1946 by the Army;

Searchlight telescope
The Transit Telescope was a 218 ft parabolic reflecting aerial built at Jodrell Bank in 1947. At the time, it was the largest radio telescope in the world. It consisted of a wire mesh suspended from a ring of 24 ft scaffold poles, which focussed radio signals to a focal point 126 ft above the ground. The telescope mainly looked directly upwards, but the direction of the beam could be changed by small amounts by tilting the mast to change the position of the focal point. The focal mast was originally going to be wood, but this was changed to a steel mast before construction was complete.

Transit Telescope

Main article: Lovell Telescope Lovell Telescope

Main articles: Mark II and Mark III (radio telescope) Mark IV, V and VA telescopes
A 50 ft (15 m) alt–azimuth dish was also in use on the site; this was built in 1964. In addition to astronomical research, it was used to track the Zond 1, Zond 2, Ranger 6 and Ranger 7 space probes,

Other single dishes

Main article: MERLIN MERLIN

Main articles: European VLBI Network and Very Long Baseline Interferometry Very Long Baseline Interferometry

Main article: Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics Visitor facilities
Jodrell Bank has been mentioned in several popular works of fiction. Part of the Doctor Who episode Logopolis was filmed at Jodrell Bank. Also, Jodrell Bank was mentioned twice in the book The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: "The huge yellow somethings went unnoticed at Goonhilly, they passed over Cape Canaveral without a blip, Woomera and Jodrell Bank looked straight through them—which was a pity because it was exactly the sort of thing they'd been looking for all these years", 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. The observatory also got a brief mention in the infamous B-movie The Creeping Terror.