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
BG616 processing container shipped
© ASTRON
Inside the container, several 19-inch equipment racks accommodate the complete signal processing chain of the station. These include receiver units for the 4 × 96 antenna signals, UniBoard-based beamformers, the Local Control Unit (LCU), and the networking equipment that transports the processed data to the Central Processing (CEP) facility in Groningen, the Netherlands.
Together, these racks form an impressive collection of highly sophisticated and sensitive hardware, providing the processing power that enables the station to operate reliably while meeting the stringent electromagnetic compatibility requirements of radio astronomy.
Before shipment, the container was fully assembled, integrated, tested, and verified at the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT) site. Following a successful journey to the Rozhen National Astronomical Observatory, it was installed at its final location in the center of the BG616 LOFAR station, where it will serve as the operational heart of the station.
During the next 10 weeks, the remaining station infrastructure will be installed, integrated, and thoroughly tested.
EVENTS
CAREERS
