Sweden and the United Kingdom have joined the LOFAR ERIC (European Research Infrastructure Consortium) as a member, following the decision of the Council on 26 March 2025. This significant expansion brings the total membership to eight countries, marking an important milestone in the growth of this pioneering research infrastructure.
ASTRON receives €4.6 million to widen and sharpen LOFAR’s cosmic vision
The Dutch Research Council (NWO) has awarded over €4.6 million to ASTRON, the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy, for a major upgrade to the Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR) radio telescope. The project, called LOFAR Enhanced Network for Sharp Surveys (LENSS), will significantly increase LOFAR’s observational capabilities, enabling astronomers to view four times more of the sky simultaneously while producing images with unprecedented clarity.
Invisible jets from tiny black holes sculpt the Galaxy
Black holes, even relatively small ones, leave dramatic “footprints” in space that extend far beyond their immediate vicinity—like ripples from a pebble dropped in a pond. New research using the MeerKAT radio telescope reveals that stellar-mass black holes (those formed from collapsed stars) shoot powerful jets of energy creating massive shockwaves, effectively carving out space and influencing their galactic neighbourhoods over thousands of years. The discoveries show smaller black holes play a much more significant role in shaping galaxies than previously thought. These findings are published today in two studies featured in the scientific journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.
‘Beyond what we’d hoped’: international telescope in Australia captures first glimpse of the Universe
The first image from the international SKA Observatory’s telescope in Australia, SKA-Low, has been released – a significant milestone in its quest to reveal an unparalleled view of our Universe.
New Technology for Ultra-Fast Data Transfer: SURF and ASTRON Establish 400G Connection
SURF and ASTRON have implemented the OpenZR+ technology to establish a 400G network connection, significantly enhancing scientific research in the Netherlands.
CASPER Workshop 2025
The CASPER workshop is a semi-annual workshop where FPGA, GPU, and general heterogeneous system programmers get together to discuss new instruments in radio astronomy, as well as the tools and libraries for developing and manipulating these instruments.
Astronomers Astonished: Enigmatic Distant Radio Bursts Appear to be Neutron Stars
Using the radio telescope at Westerbork, The Netherlands, astronomers have discovered two dozen of the unexplained Fast Radio Bursts. After zooming in on the signal of the distant bursts, the astronomers found a striking similarity to the radio flashes emitted by nearby, known neutron stars. The discovery is remarkable because these nearby neutron stars already produce more energy than anything achievable on Earth. The distant stars that emit the Fast Radio Bursts must somehow generate an astounding one billion times more energy than the nearby ones.
European Pulsar Timing Array Wins Two Prestigious Awards
The European Pulsar Timing Array (EPTA) has been honored with two major awards for its groundbreaking work in gravitational wave astronomy. In 2024, the team received the International Congress of Basic Sciences (ICBS) Frontiers of Science Award in China, followed by the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) Group Achievement Award in the United Kingdom in 2025.These accolades celebrate the team’s innovative use of pulsar timing to detect low-frequency gravitational waves. The EPTA is a collaborative effort involving scientists from more than ten institutions across Europe. ASTRON is one of the participating organisations in this project with its most sensitive radio telescope including the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope. (WSRT).