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Education
The Low-Frequency Array - LOFAR
The Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR) is currently the World’s largest radio telescope. It receives radio signals from the Universe at frequencies between 10 and 250 MHz, close to what your car radio picks up when tuned to FM radio!
Unlike most radio telescopes, LOFAR does not comprise a few large dishes, but actually consists of thousands of small antennas working together which mimic a giant telescope. Most of the antennas are centered in the north of the Netherlands (the LOFAR core) but a few are also spread across a large part of Europe. This map shows where the LOFAR antennas are located!
By using a technique called interferometry astronomers can combine the radio signals that the antennas receive to effectively build a radio telescope that is as large as 15,000 football fields. This can produce some very high resolution images, including the ones you are looking at when participating in this project!
Many exciting new science projects are made possible by LOFAR. For example, LOFAR will observe radio signals from objects that are so far away that the signals have travelled over 13 billion years to reach the Earth, telling us about the earliest moments of the Universe. LOFAR will also be used to study magnetic fields in galaxies, cosmic rays, and even phenomena close to Earth like magnetic storms on the Sun.