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LOFAR news

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).

LOFAR
News
Published by the editorial team, 22 January 2024

Radio waves leaking from large satellite constellations could jeopardize astronomical exploration

The LOFAR radio telescope has shown that satellites can unintentionally emit radio waves that interfere with the observations of radio telescopes. Satellites circle the globe in ever increasing numbers. Their radio emission could, if not addressed, close unique and scientifically valuable windows into the Universe. It is of crucial importance for the astronomy sector and industry to collaborate to overcome these issues and for the International Telecommunications Union to establish regulation to control this emission.

Astronomy
LOFAR
News
Science
Published by the editorial team, 5 July 2023

Animation explaining the workings of LOFAR

We have created an animation, which briefly explains the workings of our LOFAR radio telescope.

LOFAR
News
telescopes
Published by the editorial team, 23 March 2023

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
News
SKA
Published by the editorial team, 21 February 2023

Major upgrade of International LOFAR Telescope approved

The ILT Board has approved the order for the LOFAR2.0 upgrade of all 52 stations plus 2 additional stations of the International LOFAR Telescope (ILT), plus spare parts. A total of € 10 million investment goes to orders at the Dutch companies Neways, Major Electronics, Variass, and Batenburg Industriële Elektronica.

LOFAR
News
telescopes
Published by the editorial team, 7 February 2023

LOFAR detects gigantic radio sources in the universe

An international research team has discovered four radio sources of up to ten million light years in size: megahalos.

LOFAR
News
Published by the editorial team, 19 October 2022

NenuFAR officially becomes a LOFAR super station

The low-frequency radio telescope NenuFAR will be connected to the international LOFAR telescope, operated by ASTRON, the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy.

LOFAR
News
telescopes
Published by the editorial team, 10 March 2022

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
News
telescopes
Published by the editorial team, 25 February 2022

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

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
News
telescopes
Published by the editorial team, 28 January 2022

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

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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