From today (August 11th) up until Friday the yearly Perseids meteor shower will have its peak. This phenomenon is not only interesting for amateur astronomers, professional astronomers will be observing them as well.
STORIES
In Humans of ASTRON we share stories about the people at ASTRON. Who are the people behind the discoveries and innovations and also, who are the people that make sure that everything runs smoothly? In this second part of the series, we’ll be sharing the story of Jorrit Siebenga, who joined ASTRON in 2017 as research instrument maker.
Throughout the history of astronomy, women have played essential roles towards astronomical breakthroughs. In this article we highlight but a few of these women identified in history from 1600 to the modern era.
In Humans of ASTRON we share stories about the people at ASTRON. Who are the people behind the discoveries and innovations and also, who are the people that make sure that everything runs smoothly? In this second part of the series, we’ll be sharing the story of Emanuela Orrù, support scientist at ASTRON since 2012.
DAILY IMAGE
LOFAR2.0 international station rollout: Go or No-Go?
© ASTRON
We held the International Rollout Readiness Review on March 18, to determine if we are ready to start upgrading SE607 by the end of April. Participants included AIV team, team Ruby, ICT, Commissioning, head of Telescope Operations, and PM for the construction of LOFAR stations in Italy and Bulgaria.
The process will be as follows:
1. Rollout readiness review
2. Pilot#1: upgrade first station SE607
3. Rollout review
4. Pilot#2: upgrade second station PL612
5. Rollout review
6. Continue with remaining the stations
This is because international stations are hundreds of kilometers from Dwingeloo; we can't simply travel whenever needed to solve issues, a flexibility we had and used last year.
During the meeting, we presented an overview of the issues encountered during the upgrade of Dutch stations and identified points for improvement. Input to the discussion were the actions and risks identified during the retrospective sessions held prior to the meeting. Finally, we reviewed the status of the items that need to be ready before the start.
By the end of the discussion, we did a ‘go/no-go poll’, everyone around the table had the opportunity to say:
‘Go’: we continue with the plan, or
‘No Go’: we take more time to prepare and delay Pilot #1.
The outcome was almost unanimous (one abstention): We go to Sweden!
The review ended with an information session for the major stakeholders: our MT and LOFAR ERIC director. With a very clear goal in mind, the teams continue preparations for our ‘launch’: Pilot#1, the upgrade of SE607.
EVENTS
CAREERS
