Visiting ASTRON

ASTRON's main headquarters are located in Lhee, near Dwingeloo, the Netherlands. The Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope is located in Westerbork. Outreach activities about astronomy can be found on the Milky Way path near the Westerbork telescope. More information about the route to ASTRON in Dwingeloo and Westerbork is given below.

Milky way path 

It is possible for the public to visit the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescopes (WSRT) of ASTRON. You can use the Milky Way path ("Melkwegpad") to walk to the telescopes. On this path you can find information about the different planets.

For further information about outreach, please contact our PR officer:

Ms. F. Boekhorst
Phone: (00) (31) (0) 521 595 204
boekhorst [at] astron [dot] nl

Route description

Information on this page:

• Traveling to Dwingeloo by train or by car
• Traveling by bike
• Traveling to Westerbork by train or by car

Addresses can be found on the Contact Information page.

ASTRON weergeven op een grotere kaart

Traveling to Dwingeloo by train

If you arrive by train, you can use the time table of the Dutch trains. From the nearest station (either Hoogeveen or Beilen) you will need either a "friend" to pick you up or a taxi to take you to the institute. A taxi can be booked by ASTRON (strongly recommended) and in this case it will be waiting for you outside the station: "Taxi Ellerie" is advertised on the taxi. The taxi driver will know the name of the expected guest and have a sign "ASTRON/JIVE" on view in the taxi.
If you arrive at the guesthouse outside office hours, the taxi driver will accompany you to make sure that you can enter the guesthouse and have access to your room. Then he/she will leave.
The price is € 27,50 from Hoogeveen and  from Beilen. If you need a taxi, please let the institute reception (0521-595100) know (during office hours) your arrival time, from where you are arriving and at which station.

Traveling to Dwingeloo by car

How to reach ASTRON and JIVE also available in pdf-format in Dutch and English language.

Exit highway A28 using exit 29 for Spier, Dwingeloo and Wijster. Take direction Dwingeloo. After about 5 kilometers, turn left at the sign 'Lhee 1'. After entering "Lhee" take the second way to the left. Follow this way. The institute is located in the woods, at about a kilometer distance from your last turn. The ASTRON Institute is surrounded by a restricted access zone. Visitors are advised to park their cars outside the zone (and walk to our buildings), or to announce their arrival in advance (call the institute reception at 0521-595 100 during office hours) because we'll need to know your car's license number. Failure to follow these procedures may result in a fine.

If you visit Dwingeloo for data reduction you should ask for a booking of a workstation and disk space. Ask your ASTRON contact person. If local support for data reduction is required, we will try to assign a support astronomer to novice users who would like to receive assistance with their data reduction. Please let us know in advance if this is requested.

People of the astronomy group are located most of the time Dwingeloo. The institute in Dwingeloo also include the JIVE group and the Technical Lab developing new hardware for future telescopes.

Traveling by bike

If you arrive by train and want to use a bike to go to the Dwingeloo or Westerbork location, you can use the "Fietsrouteplanner provincie Drenthe" page from the Dutch Cyclists' Union. From the nearest station  you can make your own route.

From Beilen station, it is a 12 kilometre bike ride to either Westerbork or Dwingeloo. The trip from the Hoogeveen station to Dwingeloo is about 11km. Both stations of Beilen and Hoogeveen have bike rentals and "ov-fietsen".

Visiting the WSRT

The Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT) is situated close to the village of Hooghalen in the area of the "Voormalig Kamp Westerbork''. From this camp, during the Second World War, people were sent to the concentration camps. From Hooghalen you can follow the signs "Voormalig Kamp Westerbork".

You can park the car at the parking place of the Herinnerings Centrum Kamp Westerbork. From there, you can carry on by foot. Please turn off your mobile phone. There are two possible routes. The first follows the asphalt road straight to the telescopes(in the summer it is mostly used by a shuttle bus service). The second is an educational route through the forest, along the so called "Melkwegpad'' (Milky Way path). The Milky Way path is a down-scale model of the solar system. You can find a short explanation for every planet. The Milky Way path ends at the first dish of the WSRT. From there, you have a nice view of 12 of the dishes.

Traveling to Westerbork by train

The Westerbork telescope is located some 30 km from Dwingeloo (near Hooghalen, between Beilen and Assen). If you get there by train the nearest station is Beilen. You must call us ahead of time to arrange transport to Westerbork, a driver from the Observatory will normally meet you at the station. Contact the reception by telephone at 0521-595 100 during office hours.

There is no guest house at the Westerbork facilities. Please contact ASTRON or JIVE to make the proper arrangements.

Traveling to Westerbork by car

How to reach ASTRON Westerbork (address: Schattenberg 1, 9433 TA Zwiggelte) also available in pdf-format in Dutch language.

To minimize the possibility of interference in ongoing observations with the radio telescope array, the ASTRON facilities are surrounded by a restricted access zone. Visitors will have to park their cars outside the zone, or announce their arrival in advance (call the institute reception at 0521-595 100 during office hours; we'll need to know your car's license number.).

Exit highway A28 using exit 31 for Westerbork. From there on, follow the signs that say 'Kamp Westerbork'. Kamp Westerbork is a World War II historical site, and is located near the ASTRON Westerbork facilities.