What is Jodrell Bank and what does it do?

All scientific work carried out using the UK's largest telescope could end in the next two years.

The government has decided to pull funding for the Jodrell Bank Observatory to focus investment on projects that deliver long-term impact.

It has left the University of Manchester, which owns the site in Cheshire, scrambling to find alternative cash before 2028.

Astronomers have described the move as "short-sighted" and a significant blow to the UK's research capabilities.

The observatory is a UNESCO World Heritage Site found between two villages in the east of rural Cheshire and spans less than one square mile.

It is dominated by the enormous, 250 ft wide Lovell Telescope, which can be seen from as far away as Manchester, 20 miles away.

Across the campus there are control rooms, the Mark II Radio Telescope and a visitor centre.

The area of relatively flat countryside was chosen by pioneering astronomer Sir Bernard Lovell as the perfect place to build an observatory because of its quiet radio environment, far away from interference.

He moved equipment into the open fields there in 1945, turning the area into a University of Manchester research station.

Lovell founded the observatory because he needed a quiet place to study radio signals from space.

Before radio astronomy was pioneered by people like Lovell, most observatories used visible light to detect objects in space.

He later decided he needed a larger telescope to help researchers detect weaker signals from space, and the Lovell telescope was completed in 1957.

It was the largest radio telescope in the world, and unlike others at the time, it could be steered to track objects across the sky.

In the next decade, the smaller Mark II telescope was built to work alongside the larger telescope to increase the observatories capabilities.

A radio telescope like the giant Lovell dish catches radio signals from distant stars, galaxies and planets in space, turning them into pictures and scientific data.

The size of the Lovell Telescope allows it to detect signals that are extremely weak, while the other telescopes at the site help scientists paint a more detailed picture.

It can then connect with the UK's e-MERLIN network, which includes five other telescopes about 125 miles apart to improve its capabilities even further.

The observatory has been responsible for helping identify objects like supermassive black holes, discovering new galaxies and tracking spacecraft.

The e-Merlin networks research has helped shine a light on how planets and their parent stars form and how galaxies evolve.

The Lovell Telescope has been overtaken in size by larger radio telescopes, but has continuously been modernised and remains key to the UK's radio astronomy capability.

It supports thousands of scientists who use its research, and 28 jobs could be lost if alternative funding cannot be found for the site.

The cut by the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) agency comes while construction of a new super radio telescope in South Africa and Australia called the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) is underway.

It is set to start gathering data in five years, and by failing to back Jodrell Bank, the UK risks missing out on this scientific bonanza, according to Prof Philip Diamond.

The former head of Jodrell Bank as well as the SKA organisation, said: "It's removing the science capability which is essential for the long-term health of UK radio astronomy and the SKA.

"So it would have a severe impact on the training and career of young researchers."