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LOFAR, the World's Biggest Telescope, Is Up and Running
HansonMB writes with this bit from Motherboard: "Back in September, Motherboard ventured into the English countryside to listen to the universe. There lives a brand new piece of Europe's already-massive Low Frequency Radio Array radio telescope: a clever EU-wide installation that uses low-tech antennas and supercomputer-power data processing to transform into a giant mega-telescope, absorbing cosmic radio waves from the full sky." That was then; now, says the article, "In the past month, using signals from the new station, LOFAR has delivered its first EU-UK radio 'pictures.'"
Not only is LOFAR up and running, but it beat out the competing project HINEAR, in record time!
LOFAR will find a stream of information from an extraterrestrial source. When we decode it, we'll find that it's archives of extraterrestrial warez.
What the hell is "EU-UK" supposed to mean? Did the Conservatives pass a bill without anyone noticing or something?
... instead of a PR puff piece, see the LOFAR web site.
The '70s just called. They want their sense of humor back.
If you mod me down the terrorists will have won
If the summary had pointed us to the correct website the few who read the article itself would have seen the lofar isn't simply in the UK. The LOFAR is to big for that. There is one substation in the UK, most are in the Netherlands (since the center is there), some are in Germany, one in France and one in Sweden. These substations are assembled in a giant phased array by means of a supercomputer. This array can look at multiple parts of the sky at the same time while having a great resolution in low frequencies.
Well, I might have a way, but it only works on a semi spherical planet in a vacuum.
Wait, if it's " low frequency radio array telescope ", wouldn't it be "LOFART"?
Don't blame me, but they're the ones who chose the name, I'm just sayin'.
LOFAR antenna work just above and just below the FM radio bands (the black boxes - HBAs - work at higher freqs, and the spindly things - LBAs - work at lower freqs). What's more LOFAR electronics are designed to supress radiation in the FM frequencies because they are so enourmous compared to the astronomical signals we're looking for.
In some ways yes - in other no. See here: http://blog.lofar-uk.org/2011/02/lofar-largest-telescope-in-world.html
By the way I'm new to slashdot and trying not to reply annoymously by every time I login in the site dumps me out again. :( I'm Karen Masters - and I run the blog for LOFAR-UK (among other things). I wrote that post above.
Interesting to hear Jocelyn Bell in this short video.
She is the lady, who as a grad student discovered pulsars. Her supervisor, Anthony Hewish, got awarded the Nobel prize for it together with Martin Ryle, but not she. To be fair, Hewish had co-invented the radio-telescope modality (aperture synthesis) that made the discovery possible. Nonetheless this spectacular discovery certainly contributed to his Nobel prize.
Ms Bell is quite famous in radioastronomy circles and has done lots of good work.
The most common interpretation of this is going to be "overall visible mass". Brings up images of those monster dishes.
But of course this is referring to "largest DISTRIBUTED antenna system". While I realize this is one way to say it, that's like me telling someone I have the "largest computer in the world" because I have three PCs networked together, one in the USA, one in Netherlands, and one in Australia.
If you're going to say "largest", don't be such a headline whore and at least throw in "distributed" somewhere in the headline. "Most widely distributed" actually is closer on the mark.
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.