Daily Image
08-02-2024
First LOFAR2.0 fringes!
| Submitter: | Cees Bassa, on behalf of the LOFAR2.0 team |
| Description: | On February 1st, the signals from the first LOFAR2.0 station (CS001) were correlated with those from a LOFAR remote station (RS503) resulting in these fringes. These fringes represent a major milestone in the verification of the LOFAR2.0 hardware, firmware and software. During this 5 minute observation, the new LOFAR2.0 hardware and firmware in CS001 - known as the LOFAR2.0 Test Station - was controlled by the new station monitoring and control system, with the observation on RS503 setup from within TMSS. The LBA_OUTER antennas were used to match the RS503 configuration and pointed to Cassiopeia A for this 5 minute test observation. The figure shows the amplitudes (lefthand 4 plots) and phases (righthand 4 plots) for the auto and cross-correlation products between CS001 and RS503. The phase plots show the phases drift with frequency and time, indicative of a yet-to-measure clock offset between CS001 and RS503, and variations in the ionosphere. The structure in the amplitudes is due to the active Sun coming in through the sidelobes of the stations. This observation ties together many of the LOFAR systems like the TMSS telescope management system and the COBALT correlator to the LOFAR2.0 station, and confirms that the LOFAR2.0 subsystems involved in this observation operate as intended. These fringes are the result of the work of a large group of people at ASTRON, many of whom have already signed a poster showing these fringes. |
| Copyright: | ASTRON |
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