Jodrell Bank is an UNESCO World Heritage Site, helping to maintain the UK’s competitive edge in space science and technology. Here we operate e-MERLIN, the UK’s national radio astronomy facility, and host the headquarters of the Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO) – set to become the largest radio telescope in the world.
We are also home to the iconic, Grade I listed Lovell Telescope, the third largest steerable radio dish on Earth.
Our astrophysics research community specialises in observational astronomy, accompanied by a rigorous, theoretical interpretation of the data - we have a long tradition and expertise in areas such as cosmology, pulsars, transient radio sources, extragalactic, galactic and solar astronomy. We have been a pioneer of radio interferometry, the handling of massive astronomical data sets, and hardware/software development for radio astronomy.
We are also operating a major radio observatory at Jodrell Bank, in particular the UK’s radio astronomy national facility e-MERLIN. In addition to conventional astrophysics research, the observatory is at the forefront of emerging fields such as SETI (the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) and Space Situational Awareness, working with partners such as the Breakthrough Foundation, NATO and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl).
Our researchers collaborate with partners worldwide, drawing on our world-leading capabilities, such as:
e-MERLIN, the UK's national radio telescope interferometer, headquartered at Jodrell Bank and operated by The University of Manchester on behalf of the Science and Technology Facilities Council.
An array of seven radio telescopes, spanning 217 km across Britain and connected by a superfast optical fibre network, it has an angular resolution comparable to that of the Hubble Space Telescope and can carry out centimetre wavelength radio astronomy with micro-Jansky sensitivities. e-MERLIN also operates as part of the European VLBI Network (EVN)
The Atacama Large Millimetre Array (ALMA) and the Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO) are the largest observatories ever built operating from metre to submillimetre wavelengths. These telescopes provide astronomers with dramatic new insight into the formation of stars and galaxies, and how these structures first formed after the big-bang. JBCA hosts the UK ALMA Regional Centre and is playing a leading role in the UK SKA Regional Centre. JBCA has been a proponent of the SKA right from its original conception, and contributed to the detailed design of the telescope.
The 76-m (250 ft) diameter Lovell Telescope is part of e-MERLIN and the third largest steerable radio telescope on Earth. It famously tracked the Sputnik 1 launched vehicle and supported many iconic space missions during the dawn of the space age. It was also used as part of the West's early warning ballistic missile system in the 1960s. Today it is used for scientific observations of a wide range of cosmic phenomenae - especially pulsae and other transient sources but also continues to be involved in state of the art precision spacecraft navigation.
Our High Performance Computer clusters, including systems with large memory and high-end Graphical Processing Unit cards, process much of the data from these and other telescopes. JBCA is at the forefront of using machine learning and AI in analysing the enormous data flows that the current and next generation of radio telescope generate.
Our impact
Discover our space-related research made possible through our unique capabilities:
Speak to our experts
Professor Michael Garrett
Sir Bernard Lovell chair of Astrophysics and director of JBCA
Professor Anna Scaife
Professor of Radio Astronomy, Astronomy and Astrophysics Theory Group
Dr Laura Wolz
Presidential Fellow and UKRI Future Leader Fellow