Detailed Radio Image from LOFAR

The Daily Image today over at ASTRON is this wonderful high resolution radio image of the extragalactic source 3C61.1.

The image compares the LOFAR result at 173 MHz (1.7m), with images from other recent radio surveys. Most directly comparable are the results at low frequencies from the VLSS survey (which used the Very Large Array in New Mexico) and the WENSS survey (which used the Westerbork Synthesis Telecope in the Netherlands).

The VLA image at 1.5 GHz (20cm) comes from radio waves 10 times higher in frequency (or 10 times shorter in wavelength) than the LOFAR image, so the comparable resolution of these two images is a really impressive feat. The resolution (or sharpness) of an image is set by both to the size of the telescope (or in this case array of telescopes) and the wavelength of the light (or radio waves). The bigger the difference in size between your telescope and the wavelength you are detecting, then better the resolution you can get. This is why in radio astronomy, where we have very long wavelengths to deal with we must build very massive arrays to get anything like the resolution a "classic" telescope can achieve for optical light. So the fact that the resolution of the LOFAR image and the VLA image look similar says immediately that the LOFAR array must be spread 10 times wider than the VLA. Pretty impressive!

This result which used 20 LOFAR HBA (high band antenna) stations (16 in the core, and 4 remote stations) for a 60 hour observation is a wonderful teaser of the amazing images we can expect when the full LOFAR array is functioning.

And remember, the LOFAR-UK station at Chilbolton will add a lot to the resolution which can be achieved by LOFAR, being one of the most distant stations from the Dutch core.

STFC support for LOFAR-UK

Following extensive discussions with STFC and the UK SKA R&D teams, a package has been formulated which guarantees the future of the LOFAR-UK station at Chilbolton, supplementing the resources already raised by LOFAR-UK. Additional support for installation, commissioning and operations of the station will now be provided from within the funding provision that was made for the UK SKA R&D programme, while maintaining the independence of LOFAR-UK. The program will now move ahead at full speed, facilitating full UK participation in LOFAR science during the first full array observations in 2010 and beyond.

Chilbolton Status Update for January

Ground Works

A contractor to start the ground works has not yet been found, party due to the first quote coming in to high, but also there has been some delay due to the uncertainty over STFC funding (which was cleared up this week). The project manager Mike Willis and other staff will meet new bidders at Chilbolton in early Feb. Work is now expected to commence in early March. It will be tight but we are still hoping to complete the ground work before the 1st of June. This work must be completed before any of the antennas can be installed.

LBA Installation

We are happy to announce that Gordon Brown (of STFC) will be taking on the job of co-ordinating the teams of volunteers at the time that the LBAs (low band antennas) are being deployed (and possibly also the high band antennas, HBAs). Mike Willis, the project manager for LOFAR at Chilbolton says "I would like to thank Gordon for taking on this task, I am sure it will go smoothly under his guidance."

(For LOFAR-UK astronomers, this is an edited summary of the reports from Mike Willis on 5th and 26th Jan which can be found in full on the main LOFAR-UK Wiki in the Restricted Section)

Sad News for LOFAR-UK Community

There is sad news for the LOFAR-UK community from this weekend.

Dr Timothy Garn, a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Royal Observatory of Edinburgh and a member of the LOFAR Surveys team died on Sunday after he lost his footing hiking in the Scottish mountains.

Edinburgh Evening News article

Dr. Philip Best, deputy PI for LOFAR-UK and Edinburgh astronomer is quoted as saying Dr Garn was "an outstanding scientist, always enthusiastic, energetic, and most of all extremely talented, continually surpassing expectations. Nature has cruelly taken Tim away far too early. It has cut short an extremely promising research career, and deprived the world of a truly fine young man."

Our deepest condolences go to Tim's family and friends at this time.

LOFAR-UK on Radio Solent

For your listening pleasure, you can download here (.WAV) or here (.MP3) the interview I did with BBC Radio Solent presenter Matt Treacy during the test installation of LOFAR Low Band Arrays at Chilbolton last month.

Photo of the team after construction:

LOFAR-UK Statement on STFC Science Programme Prioritisation 2010-2015

LOFAR-UK Statement on the STFC Science Prioritisation 2010-2015 (pdf file)

LOFAR is a large new radio astronomy facility in the final phases of construction and commissioning. It will be the largest low-frequency radio telescope in the world, and is the major pathfinder for the low-frequency component of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA). The science case for LOFAR is extremely diverse, from planetary astrophysics to galaxy formation to the epoch of re-ionisation, facilitated by its multiple very large fields of view and resultant unparalleled survey speed.

LOFAR-UK is a consortium of astronomers with the goal of constructing and operating one or more antenna stations in the UK forming a key part of the International LOFAR Telescope across Europe. The consortium represents over 20 British universities, making it the largest radio astronomy collaboration in the country. More than 70 leading UK astronomers are directly involved in the project. Since 2005, LOFAR-UK has raised £1.2M from its member institutions independently of the research councils. We have been engaged with, and multiply-reviewed by STFC, as funding was sought for additional UK stations, technical development effort and, crucially, the bulk of the operating costs for the first station, dominated by the costs of data transport to the supercomputer in The Netherlands. All the various STFC panel recommendations have been for significant funding for the project. With the support of STFC, LOFAR-UK's independent funds were therefore used to purchase the first station, sited at the STFC facility at Chilbolton.

Our most recent request to STFC was therefore for running costs for this station, now under construction. These costs are at a level around 0.1% of the total current ground-based astronomy award, and this extremely modest operational budget would enable the UK astronomy community to participate in over 40% of the science from the International LOFAR Telescope, a 200MEuro facility, giving an extremely good return on STFC's investment. During the response to the STFC funding crisis, LOFAR-UK was reviewed by both the Far- Universe- and Near-Universe Advisory Panels (FUAP and NUAP respectively) as well as the Ground-Based Facilities Review (GBFR). All three panels rated the project extremely highly; in an open poll of UK astronomers, which was published in the GBFR, LOFAR-UK was rated as the sixth (out of 26) most important facility for UK astronomy over the next 10 years (only ESO facilities [ESO, VISTA, ALMA and E-ELT] and SKA R&D were ahead of it).

However, on Dec 16, LOFAR-UK was informed by STFC that there will be no funding of the project by the research council. This puts the entire project, and with it any UK involvement in LOFAR, in jeopardy.

LOFAR-UK will campaign to get this decision by STFC reviewed as soon as possible.

Efflesberg LOFAR Station Maps Sky with HBA

Check out this press release from the Max Planck Institut for Radio Astronomy at Efflesberg describing the first all-sky map of the radio sky made with a complete LOFAR station in the HBA (high band antenna) 110-190 MHz freq. band.

Nice aerial picture of the complete Efflesberg LOFAR station as well: