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.
Mercury, just a Boring Rock in Space?
© Willi Exner
Short answer: No. :)
Long answer: Being the closest planet to the Sun, Mercury subject to intense solar radiation and varying severity of solar wind. The planet itself has the largest iron core fraction of the terrestrial planets with 80% of its radius, resulting in a internally produced magnetic field. The interaction of the planetary magnetic field with the impinging solar wind produces a global magnetosphere, that albeit qualitatively similar that to Earth and Jupiter, being quantitatively smaller by a factor of twenty. This results in a magnetosphere that lacks many features we know from its bigger sisters, and therefore should not really work, questioning our understanding of how magnetospheres are actually working. Additionally, the surface is bombarded by the solar wind and radiation, whose sputtering and desorption processes result in a tenuous exosphere mainly consisting of sodium. While tenuous, the exospheric particles are populating the magnetosphere and can even increase the magnetospheric volume. Let us dive into our current understanding of the Hermean environment by investigating spacecraft observations of the late Mariner 10 and MESSENGER missions, Earth-based observations and results of global numerical modelling efforts. Being the target of the ESA-JAXA BepiColombo mission, I will also show how future observations by Bepi could expand our understanding of these first world problems.