News Overview
NAC 2023 to be held in Leeuwarden in May
The 78th edition of the Nederlandse Astronomen Conferentie (NAC) will be held this year in the Westcord WTC hotel in Leeuwarden from 15 to 17 May.
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.
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.
Michiel Brentjens wins Teacher of the Year 2022 award
Michiel Brentjens has won the award for Teacher of the Year 2022 at Leiden University.
Jessica Dempsey nominated for Drenthe Woman in the Media Award
ASTRON-director Jessica Dempsey has been nominated for the Woman in the Media Award for Drenthe.
People of ASTRON: Klaas Kliffen
Klaas Kliffen is a software engineer without a background in radio astronomy.
ASTRON involved in European consortium to develop next-gen technologies for radio astronomy infrastructures
The RADIOBLOCKS project has been granted 10 M€ by the European Commission to develop “common building blocks” for technological solutions beyond state-of-the-art, that will enable a broad range of new science and enhance European scientific competitiveness.
Construction of Square Kilometre Array commences
Today, SKA Observatory celebrates the start of on-site construction of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA).
Astronomers discuss future of Space VLBI in Dwingeloo
On 17-19 October 2022, JIVE and ASTRON co-hosted the 3rd Next Generation VLBI workshop (ngSVLBI-3) in Dwingeloo, the Netherlands. The hybrid workshop was attended both in-person and remotely by about ninety participants from all over the world.
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.
ERIS 2022 School inspires next generation of radio astronomers
Over 70 students from all over the world participated in the 9th European Radio Interferometry School (ERIS 2022) hosted by JIVE and ASTRON in Dwingeloo (the Netherlands) on 19-23 September 2022.
TOPIC-led consortium develops CSP-Low for SKA
The SKA telescopes are currently in the construction phase, and with it the central signal processor (CSP) for the SKA Low frequency telescope, called CSP-Low. CSP-Low will be integrated and delivered to site by a consortium led by the Dutch company TOPIC; ASTRON is one of its subcontractors. One of TOPIC’s specializations is designing and developing hardware, firmware, and software for sophisticated systems.