Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics

Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics comprises research activities in astronomy and astrophysics at The University of Manchester, the world leading facilities of the Jodrell Bank Observatory, the MERLIN/VLBI National Facility, the Development Office of the Square Kilometre Array, and the Jodrell Bank Visitor Centre.

Features

The expanding shell around V445 Puppis (CREDIT: ESO/P.A. Woudt)

Ticking Stellar Time Bomb Identified

Using ESO's Very Large Telescope astronomers have made the first time-lapse movie of a rather unusual shell ejected by a "vampire star".

Jodrell Bank engineer Phil Clarke - Photo by Ed Swinden

Engineering

Engineers at Jodrell Bank Observatory needed more than just a jack and a brace when a steel tyre on the famous Lovell radio telescope cracked.

Double pulsar

Pulsars

Cosmic Lighthouses

Formed in supernova explosions following the collapse of massive evolved stars, pulsars make superb cosmic clocks which are used to study some of the most extreme physics in the universe.

The Lovell Telescope - Photo by Anthony Holloway

The Lovell Telescope

Radio eye on the universe

The 76-m Lovell Telescope is the world's third largest, fully-steerable radio telescope and has stood proudly over the plains of Cheshire since 1957.

The Sun

Our Local Star

Our nearest star may be a familiar sight in the daytime sky but it still holds many mysteries. At Jodrell Bank we study the complex interactions between plasma and magnetic fields in the solar corona.

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