Daily Image
15-07-2009
LOFAR Polarization Busy Week
| Submitter: | George Heald on behalf of the Polarization Busy Week Team |
| Description: | The "busy week" concept has been very successful in driving forward recent progress in the development of LOFAR (see the previous daily images from the Pulsars and TBB groups). This week, a small but dedicated group of us -- from Dwingeloo, Leiden, Cambridge, and Bochum -- have congregated at ASTRON to work on issues related to polarization and ionospheric calibration. The main goals of our efforts this week are to (1) to determine LOFAR's instrumental polarization response by tracking a well-known polarized source across the sky; and (2) to determine the effects of the ionosphere on the data obtained with the telescope. Both of these steps are required in order to properly calibrate the instrument. The timing of this busy week has been fantastic - three new stations are on the ground (in addition to the old, but still usable, test station CS010) and are either already, or nearly, accepted for astronomical use. Not only have we had the pleasure of watching this groundbreaking new interferometer blossom this week, but we have also been able to use early commissioning data to find out how the instrument behaves. During the week, we have taken part in Michiel Brentjen's impressive efforts to obtain data from all four stations simultaneously. The picture captures the moment when success was achieved! Stay tuned for reports on the results from this latest busy week. |
| Copyright: | ASTRON |
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