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Astronomers Discover Fast Radio Bursts That Skewer Nearby Galaxy

Astronomers have found five new Fast Radio Bursts with the upgraded Westerbork radio telescope array. The telescope images revealed that multiple bursts had pierced our neighbouring Triangulum Galaxy. This allowed the astronomers to determine the maximum number of otherwise invisible atoms in this galaxy for the first time.

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telescopes
WSRT-APERTIF
Published by the editorial team, 12 April 2023
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ERC Advanced Grant for research into the origin of fast radio bursts from space

Jason Hessels, Professor of Observational High-Energy Astrophysics at the University of Amsterdam and Chief Astronomer at ASTRON, has been awarded a €3.5 million ERC Advanced Grant to search for the origin of fast radio bursts. Among other things, the research money will be used to develop new hardware to set up a coordinated network of European radio telescopes to study repeating FRBs in more detail.

Astronomy
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telescopes
Published by the editorial team, 30 March 2023
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NAC 2023 to be held in Leeuwarden in May

The 78th edition of the Nederlandse Astronomen Conferentie (NAC) will be held this year in the Westcord WTC hotel in Leeuwarden from 15 to 17 May.

Astronomy
News
Published by the editorial team, 6 March 2023
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ASTRON astronomy groups focus on LOFAR and SKA

Recently, the astronomy group within the A&O department of ASTRON went through a reformation: instead of several focus groups, it now consists of two groups: the LOFAR Science Group and the SKA Science Group. The LOFAR Science Group is led by André Offringa, the SKA Science Group by Joe Callingham.

Astronomy
LOFAR
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SKA
Published by the editorial team, 21 February 2023
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Flurry of new discoveries as incredible new image revealing 4.4 million galaxies is made public

Over a seven year period an international team of scientists has mapped more than a quarter of the northern sky using the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR), a pan-European radio telescope. It reveals an astonishingly detailed radio image of more than 4.4 million objects and a very dynamic picture of our Universe.

Astronomy
LOFAR
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telescopes
Published by the editorial team, 25 February 2022
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Cosmic flashes discovered in a surprising location in space

Astronomers have observed mysterious flashes in the sky from an unexpected source, a globular cluster in the galaxy M81.

Astronomy
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telescopes
WSRT-APERTIF
Published by the editorial team, 23 February 2022
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Astronomers find largest radio galaxy ever

By a stroke of luck, a team led by Dutch PhD student Martijn Oei has discovered a radio galaxy of at least 16 million light-years long.

Astronomy
LOFAR
News
telescopes
Published by the editorial team, 22 February 2022
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Gigapixel radio image of the Universe using Europe as a radio telescope

An international team of astronomers has created one of the largest and most detailed radio maps at megahertz frequencies thanks to Dutch supercomputers. This research, led by Frits Sweijen at Leiden University, has been published in Nature Astronomy on Thursday.

Astronomy
LOFAR
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telescopes
Published by the editorial team, 28 January 2022
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Two ERC Starting Grants awarded to (space) weather research projects with the LOFAR radio telescope

The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded two of its prestigious Starting Grants to ASTRON scientists for research projects using the LOFAR radio telescope. One project will use LOFAR to create detailed images of lightning on Earth, the other aims to detect space weather events and magnetic fields around exoplanets.

Astronomy
LOFAR
News
Published by the editorial team, 10 January 2022
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Volcanic ‘activity’ in black holes blows monumental bubbles spanning hundreds of thousands of light years

An international team of researchers, which included astronomers from the Netherlands Institutes for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON) and Space Research (SRON) as well as Leiden University, observed the full extent of the evolution of hot gas produced by an active black hole for the first time.

Astronomy
LOFAR
News
Science
Published by the editorial team, 18 October 2021
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Inheemse blik op de hemel in Leiden tentoongesteld

Op zaterdag 16 oktober opent de bijzondere tentoonstelling Onder onze hemel (origineel Shared Sky), een culturele blik op de sterrenhemel door Aboriginal Australische en Zuid-Afrikaanse artiesten, in de Oude Sterrewacht in Leiden.

Astronomy
News
SKA
Published by the editorial team, 12 October 2021
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Aurorae discovered on distant stars suggest hidden planets

Using the world’s most powerful radio telescope, LOFAR, scientists have discovered stars unexpectedly blasting out radio waves, possibly indicating the existence of hidden planets.

Astronomy
LOFAR
News
Published by the editorial team, 11 October 2021
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Latest tweets

Our congratulations go out to Anna Bilous and her colleagues, for this intriguing paper, which was published in Nature.

Every year on May 4th we put our Westerbork telescopes into mourning mode, to remember all the victims who fought for our freedom. Watch the video that we made a couple of years ago in cooperation with @kampwesterbork, demonstrating this. #4mei #Memorial

Our radio telescopes don't need the darkness to function, but they do need quiet skies, free from radio interference. This month is Dark and Quiet Skies month. What can you do to keep our skies dark and quiet?
https://www.iau.org/public/darkskiesawareness/
#DarkAndQuietSkies

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