    the jodrell bank observatory (originally the jodrell bank experimental station, then the nuffield radio astronomy laboratories from 1966 to 1999; ) is a british observatory that hosts a number of radio telescopes, and is part of the jodrell bank centre for astrophysics at the university of manchester. the observatory was established in 1945 by sir bernard lovell, a radio astronomer at the university of manchester who wanted to investigate cosmic rays after his work on radar during 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. the managing director of the observatory is professor simon garrington. 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  and 7&nbsp;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 site of the observatory, which includes the jodrell bank visitor centre and an arboretum, is located in the civil parish of lower withington (the rest being in goostrey civil parish), near goostrey and holmes chapel, cheshire, north west england. it is reached from the a535. an excellent view of the telescope can be seen by travelling by train, as the main line between manchester and crewe passes right by the site, with [[go
1945_establishments_in_the_United_Kingdom Arboreta_in_England Astronomical_observatories_in_England Astronomy_institutes_and_departments Botanical_gardens_in_England Gardens_in_Cheshire Jodrell_Bank_Observatory Radio_telescopes Space_programme_of_the_United_Kingdom Square_Kilometre_Array Visitor_attractions_in_Cheshire