ASTRON has turned 75!
75 years ago today, SRZM (Stichting Radiostraling van Zon en Melkweg/Netherlands Foundation for Radio Astronomy) was founded. This organization would later become ASTRON.
ASTRON launches database of female experts
Today marks International Women’s Day. This year’s theme is ‘Inspire Inclusion’.
LOFAR ERIC: Distributed Research Infrastructure for European Astronomical Research Launched
LOFAR ERIC (European Research Infrastructure Consortium) has been officially launched at its first Council meeting today. The world-leading LOFAR (LOw Frequency ARray) Distributed Research Infrastructure has already revolutionised low-frequency radio astronomy research, resulting in an avalanche of scientific publications in the past decade. LOFAR ERIC is now a single legal entity across the European Union. The LOFAR ERIC statutory seat is in Dwingeloo, the Netherlands, hosted by NWO-I/ASTRON (Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy; the original designer of LOFAR).
Telescope quartet reveals surprising statistics of cosmic flashes
Scientists led by Chalmers astronomer Franz Kirsten have studied a famous source of repeating fast radio bursts – a still unexplained cosmic phenomenon. Comparing with earlier measurements, the scientists draw a conclusion with far-reaching consequences: any source of fast radio bursts will repeat, if watched long enough and carefully enough. The research team, a unique collaboration between professional and amateur radio astronomers, used four telescopes in northern Europe, amongst which ASTRON’s Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope.
Colloquium: The origins of solar energetic particles in the heliosphere revealed by radio observations
© Diana Morosan
Energetic particle populations are ubiquitous throughout the Universe and often found to be accelerated by astrophysical shocks. One of the most prominent sources for energetic particles in our solar system are huge eruptions of magnetized plasma from the Sun called coronal mass ejections (CMEs), which usually drive shocks that accelerate charged particles up to relativistic energies. Accelerated electrons can be observed remotely as low-frequency radio bursts or in situ at spacecraft. However, it is currently unknown where electrons accelerated in the early phases of such eruptions propagate and when they escape the solar atmosphere. New results from the field now use a three-dimensional representation of radio emission locations from ground-based observatories to relate it to the overlying coronal magnetic field, shock wave propagation, magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) models of the solar corona, and in situ electron observations at spacecraft. Our results indicate that if the in situ electrons are shock-accelerated, the most likely origin of the first arriving electrons is located near the acceleration site of electrons beams producing type II and herringbone radio bursts. These are regions during the early evolution of the CME where there is clear evidence of shock-electron acceleration and intersection of the CME shock with open field lines that can connect to the observing spacecraft.Open Dag: 6 oktober/Open Day: October 6th
Sun 06 Oct 2024
English follows Dutch Bezoek ons tijdens onze open dag op 6 oktober Hoe klinkt een dode ster? Hoe maak je onzichtbaar licht zichtbaar? Hoe werkt een zwart gat? Waarom kun je met een radiotelescoop terug in de tijd kijken? Achter al deze en nog veel meer interessante dingen kom je tijdens onze open dag […]