MERLIN

The Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network (MERLIN) is an interferometer array of radio telescopes spread across England. The array is run from Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire by the University of Manchester on behalf of UK Research and Innovation.

The array consists of up to seven radio telescopes located in Jodrell Bank (Lovell Telescope and Mark II), Darnhall and Pickmere (previously known as Tabley) in Cheshire, Knockin in Shropshire, Defford in Worcestershire, and Cambridge. The longest baseline is therefore 217 km and MERLIN can operate at frequencies between 151 MHz and 24 GHz. At a wavelength of 6 cm (5 GHz frequency), MERLIN has a resolution of 40 milliarcseconds which is comparable to that of the HST at optical wavelengths.

Some of the telescopes are occasionally used for European VLBI Network (EVN) and Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) observations in order to create an interferometer with even larger baselines, providing images with much greater angular resolution.