LOFAR1 operations stopped, telescope gearing up for 2.0 upgrade
August 31st was the last day on which we received data from LOFAR1. With the shutdown of LOFAR1 operations, over a decade of gathering and handling huge amounts of data came to an end. LOFAR1 operations have led to the publication of more than 750 scientific papers so far, and this number is still growing by about two papers per week. The end of LOFAR1 production operations does of course not mean the end of LOFAR (which became LOFAR ERIC last year): right now we are working hard on upgrading the LOFAR telescope to version 2.0, both in software and hardware.
Gargantuan Black Hole Jets Are Biggest Seen Yet
Astronomers have spotted the biggest pair of black hole jets ever seen, spanning 23 million light-years in total length. That’s equivalent to lining up 140 Milky Way galaxies back to back.
Second-Generation Starlink Satellites Leak 30 Times More Radio Interference, Threatening Astronomical Observations
Observations with the LOFAR (Low Frequency Array) radio telescope last year showed that first generation Starlink satellites emit unintended radio waves that can hinder astronomical observations. New observations with the LOFAR radio telescope, the biggest radio telescope on Earth observing at low frequencies, have shown that the second generation ’V2-mini’ Starlink satellites emit up to 32 times brighter unintended radio waves than satellites from the previous generation, potentially blinding radio telescopes and crippling vital research of the Universe.
European grant allows ASTRON astronomer Joe Callingham to study the space weather of other worlds
Dr Joe Callingham has received an ERC Starting Grant worth 1.5 million euros.
Radio emission from white dwarf systems
© Ingrid Pelisoli
Radio emission has been detected from tens of white dwarf systems. Most of those are cataclysmic variables, where the white dwarf accretes mass from a cool main sequence companion. Notable exceptions are the binary white dwarf pulsars and magnetic propellers, where material is transferred but does not reach the white dwarf, and the radio most likely arises from synchrotron emission. Additionally, radio emission has been predicted as a possible outcome of a planetary system around a white dwarf. With these possibilities in mind, in this talk I will describe efforts to identify radio-emitting white dwarf systems. The first search was carried out aiming specifically at white dwarf pulsars and used the Gaia HR diagram as a starting point. As a result, one new white dwarf pulsar, J191213.72-441045.1 was identified. Radio follow-up is ongoing and has revealed narrow radio pulses whose intensity varies by orders of magnitude. In the second search, we cross matched the Gaia catalogue of candidate white dwarfs with the Very Large Array Sky Survey (VLASS) Epoch 1 Quick Look Catalogue and identified 13 matches. Out of those, only one has so far stood up to scrutiny, with the others being mainly chance alignments. The nature of the remaining source, WDJ204259.71+152108.06, is still a puzzle.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 […]