Mark II (radio telescope)
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| Location(s) |
Jodrell Bank Observatory  , United Kingdom
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| Coordinates | 53°14′14″N 2°18′12″W / 53.2373°N 2.3034°WCoordinates: 53°14′14″N 2°18′12″W / 53.2373°N 2.3034°W |
| Organization |
Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics
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| Built | 1960–1964 |
| Telescope style |
radio telescope, Altazimuth mount
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| Diameter | 38.1 m (125 ft 0 in) |
| Focal length | 12.2 m (40 ft) |
 Location of Mark II in United Kingdom.
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The Mark II is a radio telescope located at Jodrell Bank Observatory, near Goostrey, Cheshire, in the north-west of England. It was built on the site of the 218 ft (66.4 m) Transit Telescope. Construction was completed in 1964. The telescope's design was used as the basis of the 60 ft (18 m) Goonhilly 1 telescope, and the Mark III telescope is also based on a similar design.
The original dish surface of the telescope was more accurate than the Lovell Telescope's at the time it was made, meaning that it was better suited for observations at higher frequencies. As well as operating as a solo instrument, it has been used as an interferometer with the Lovell Telescope, which provides a 425 m (1,394 ft) baseline. It is commonly used as part of the Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network (MERLIN), and for Very Long Baseline Interferometry observations.
The telescope was designed by Charles Husband at the instigation of Bernard Lovell, with design work starting around September 1960. Funding for the construction of the telescope was requested on the 19 December 1960, and the telescope was operational by the summer of 1964.
The telescope originally intended as a prototype for a larger, "Mark IV" telescope, which was never constructed. As a result, an elliptical dish was used, with a major axis of 125 ft (38.1 m) and a minor axis of 83 ft 4 in (25.4 m). The focal length is 40 ft (12.2 m). Although an elliptical dish is not the optimal surface shape for astronomical observations, it would have been necessary on a much larger telescope to reduce the telescope's height above the ground.
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