Origin of fast radio bursts come into focus through polarized light
Non-repeating fast radio bursts (FRBs) probably originate from galaxies similar to our Milky Way.
Violette Impellizzeri to head astronomy and operations department
We are excited that Dr Violette Impellizzeri will join ASTRON as head of the Astronomy & Operations department. She will start her new duties on 1 September 2024. Her research focus is on VLBI investigations of the molecular gas enveloping black holes and spectral line analyses.
New calibration technique circumvents Earth’s ionosphere
An international team of researchers has developed a new calibration technique to circumvent disturbances of Earth’s ionosphere.
ASTRON has turned 75!
75 years ago today, SRZM (Stichting Radiostraling van Zon en Melkweg/Netherlands Foundation for Radio Astronomy) was founded. This organization would later become ASTRON.
Colloquium: Galaxy Clusters at Low Radio Frequencies
© van Weeren
The vast majority of the baryonic matter in the Universe is in the form of plasma, and most of this plasma resides in the large-scale cosmic web structure of the Universe. It is only in the densest and hottest parts of this web that the plasma can be easily observed through thermal Bremsstrahlung at X-ray wavelengths. In these regions, massive clusters of hundreds to thousands of galaxies reside. Clusters grow via the accretion of plasma and through mergers with other clusters and groups. During mergers, energy is dissipated into the intracluster medium through shocks and turbulence. Radio observations have demonstrated that cluster shocks and turbulence can accelerate particles to highly relativistic energies. In the presence of magnetic fields, these cosmic rays emit synchrotron radiation, which can be detected with radio telescopes. These extended synchrotron cluster sources are characterized by steep radio spectra and large megaparsec sizes. Therefore, low-frequency observations, such as those conducted with LOFAR, are crucial for addressing open questions regarding these sources. By examining individual clusters and samples with LOFAR, we have made significant progress in understanding these phenomena. In this talk, I will provide an overview of key results obtained and discuss ongoing efforts to extend LOFAR studies to the highest resolution, greatest depth, and lowest frequencies.Open Dag: 6 oktober/Open Day: October 6th
Sun 06 Oct 2024
English follows Dutch Bezoek ons tijdens onze open dag op 6 oktober Hoe klinkt een dode ster? Hoe maak je onzichtbaar licht zichtbaar? Hoe werkt een zwart gat? Waarom kun je met een radiotelescoop terug in de tijd kijken? Achter al deze en nog veel meer interessante dingen kom je tijdens onze open dag […]