telescopes news
Data release from the first year of the Apertif imaging surveys
The Apertif imaging team has released science data from the first year of science operations of WSRT-Apertif as the Apertif Data Release 1 (DR1). Now the entire astronomical community can access the data collected by Apertif in its first year of observing, which started on 1 July 2019.
First direct detection of a brown dwarf with a radio telescope
Astronomers at ASTRON have discovered a brown dwarf with LOFAR. The discovery of the object dubbed Elegast, opens up a new path that uses radio telescopes to discover faint objects that are close-cousins of Jupiter-like exoplanets.
First phase of DISTURB completed
S[&]T (Science [&] Technology), ASTRON (Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy) and KNMI (Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute) have completed the design of DISTURB, a warning system for eruptions on the sun.
Apertif images yield first scientific results
The Apertif upgrade of the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT) has yielded its first scientific paper based on its images. The paper has been published in the scientific journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.
Simultaneous optical and radio observations of Perseids
From today (August 11th) up until Friday the yearly Perseids meteor shower will have its peak. This phenomenon is not only interesting for amateur astronomers, professional astronomers will be observing them as well.
What we look forward to in LOFAR 2.0: Live warning system to study solar eruptions
The Sun’s activity appears not only in the well-known 11-year Sunspot cycle, but also in short duration eruptions as flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs).
What we look forward to in LOFAR 2.0: Habitability of alien worlds
The Earth receives its life-sustaining energy from Sunlight, but “explosions” on the Sun can also be life-threatening. Explosions on the Sun’s surface, called flares, can spew out large masses of plasma and harmful radiation towards the planets.
What we look forward to in LOFAR 2.0: Cranking up LOFAR’s robustness
In order to receive radio signals from across the Universe, LOFAR needs to be very sensitive. The downside of that sensitivity is susceptibility to radio interference: other sources that produce radio signals that LOFAR detects, but does not want to measure.
What we look forward to in LOFAR 2.0: LOFAR expands to Italy
In 2018, Italy officially joined the International LOFAR Telescope (ILT) and in the near future the LOFAR station in Italy will become operational.
Nearest fast radio burst source is regularly active
An international team of astronomers, including a number of Dutch researchers, has discovered that a repeating fast radio burst (FRB) source becomes active about every sixteen days.
What we look forward to in LOFAR 2.0: A new specification and scheduling system
In 2021, ASTRON will deliver TMSS (Telescope Manager Specification System), which is a brand-new platform for the specification, administration, and scheduling of LOFAR observations.
What we look forward to in LOFAR 2.0: High-precision clock to all Dutch stations
In the LOFAR radio telescope, the observation data is synchronized over time for accurate processing of the received signals. Until now, the telescope uses GPS techniques to synchronize the observation data, achieving an accuracy between 1 ns and 10 ns.