What happens after neutron stars merge? Dr. Antonia Rowlinson has received an ERC Consolidator Grant to find an answer to that fundamental question.
August 31st was the last day on which we received data from LOFAR1. With the shutdown of LOFAR1 operations, over a decade of gathering and handling huge amounts of data came to an end. LOFAR1 operations have led to the publication of more than 750 scientific papers so far, and this number is still growing by about two papers per week. The end of LOFAR1 production operations does of course not mean the end of LOFAR (which became LOFAR ERIC last year): right now we are working hard on upgrading the LOFAR telescope to version 2.0, both in software and hardware.
Astronomers have spotted the biggest pair of black hole jets ever seen, spanning 23 million light-years in total length. That’s equivalent to lining up 140 Milky Way galaxies back to back.
Observations with the LOFAR (Low Frequency Array) radio telescope last year showed that first generation Starlink satellites emit unintended radio waves that can hinder astronomical observations. New observations with the LOFAR radio telescope, the biggest radio telescope on Earth observing at low frequencies, have shown that the second generation ’V2-mini’ Starlink satellites emit up to 32 times brighter unintended radio waves than satellites from the previous generation, potentially blinding radio telescopes and crippling vital research of the Universe.
Dr Joe Callingham has received an ERC Starting Grant worth 1.5 million euros.
ASTRON has been assessed by the Strategy Evaluation Protocol (SEP) committee as a research institute that produces excellent research both on astronomy and in technology and innovations.
Today, August 1st, marks Women Astronomers Day. Throughout history women astronomers have played a vital role in the development of astronomy and have made important astronomical discoveries.
Yesterday marked International Women in Engineering Day. We at ASTRON are very proud of our women engineers. Two of those are Ágnes Mika and Paula Fusiara.
Non-repeating fast radio bursts (FRBs) probably originate from galaxies similar to our Milky Way.