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12-06-2014
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ASTRON & POLFAR sign for three new Polish LOFAR antenna stations

Submitter: Ronald Halfwerk
Description: Yesterday, ASTRON and the Polish LOFAR consortium POLFAR signed a contract for the construction of three new antenna stations for the International LOFAR Telescope (ILT), in the north, west and south of Poland. Signing of the contract took place at the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn in Poland in the presence of representatives of ASTRON, the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education, local governments, and representatives of the Polish astronomical and space sciences communities.

At the end of 2013, POLFAR received a grant from the Polish Minister of Science and Higher Education for the construction and equipment of three international LOFAR stations as part of their national research infrastructure investment. The new LOFAR stations will be located in Lazy (in southern Poland, operated by the Jagiellonian University in Krakow), Baldy (in northern Poland, operated by the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn), and Borowiec (in western Poland, operated by the Space Research Centre of the Polish Academy of Sciences). The formal agreement between the POLFAR consortium and ASTRON now marks the start of the preparations for the roll-out of these new stations.

Astronomical interests in Poland range from neutral hydrogen distribution in the early universe, to the timing of pulsars and studies of magnetic fields in various intergalactic, interstellar, planetary, and solar environments.

The International LOFAR Telescope has 38 stations in the Netherlands, six in Germany, and one each in France, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Connecting the three new POLFAR stations will add valuable extra sensitivity to the array. Moreover, the Polish stations provide new baselines of up to 1550 km in the array, making the ILT a much more capable instrument for high resolution imaging of detailed structures. Finally, the positions of the new stations literally provide new angles on ionospheric tomography.

The manufacturing of all components for the POLFAR stations, such as the thousands of antenna elements, and electronics, are to be contracted out to industry. The construction of the three new stations will start immediately and is estimated to be completed before the end of 2015.

The image shows the representatives of POLFAR and ASTRON at the LOFAR signing ceremony:
  • Prof Jerzy Jaroszewski (Vice Rector for Research of University of Warmia and Mazury)
  • Prof Andrzey Krankowski (University of Warmia and Mazury)
  • Prof Katarzyna Otmianowska-Mazur (coordinator of POLFAR, Astronomical Observatory of the Jagiellonian University)
  • Dr Marian Soida (Vice Director of the Astronomical Observatory of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow)
  • Mr Ronald Halfwerk (ASTRON)
  • Ass Prof Hanna Rothkaehl (Space Research Center of Polish Academy of Sciences in Warszawa)
  • Dr Rene Vermeulen (ASTRON)
  • Dr Krzysztof Chyzy (Astronomical Observatory of the Jagiellonian University)
  • Ass Prof Ewa Szuszkiewicz (Head of the Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics of the Szczecin University)
  • Copyright: Przemysław Skrzydło / Agencja Gazeta
     
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