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LOFAR, the World's Biggest Telescope, Is Up and Running

Posted by timothy on from the can-we-call-this-a-meta-telescope? dept.

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.'"

6 of 100 comments (clear)

  1. Not only that, but . . . by Seumas · · Score: 5, Funny

    Not only is LOFAR up and running, but it beat out the competing project HINEAR, in record time!

  2. my prediction by deathcow · · Score: 4, Funny

    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.

  3. For actual information ... by dtmos · · Score: 4, Informative

    ... instead of a PR puff piece, see the LOFAR web site.

  4. Not simply in the UK by Neil+Boekend · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.
  5. "LOFAR". ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    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'.

  6. Re:Larger than the VLBA? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.