LOFAR-UK on the (Bing) Map

From the KAIRA Project Blog: the LOFAR-UK station at Chilbolton now appears on the satellite images used by the Bing Maps.

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Nice to see. :)

For the contrasting view, Google Maps currently has only empty fields at the same location.

July - a good time to install a LOFAR station

Two years about LOFAR-UK was blogging about installing our station (with much thanks to Derek for such regular updates).

Last year I gave instructions on how to relive this by following the live installations in Finland (HBAs) and Sweden.

The Swedish array was opened in October 2011, but the short summers in Finland, mean the rest of the Finnish station is being installed this year.


So again the @KAIRAProject are working hard installing their low band antennas (LBAs) and live blogging and tweeting the experience. 


Here's their progress of LBA installation as of Friday (colours indicate installation on different days).

Keep up the good work, and enjoy. 

Blogging about installing a LOFAR Station

From the hit counts last summer we know that the reports here describing the installation of the LOFAR station at Chilbolton were very popular. If you miss those posts  you have two options

(1) revisit them using the tag installation

(2) relive this experience with a different station this summer as the KAIRA blog reports on the installation of the LOFAR station in Finland (also follow @KairaProject and @EISCAT_3D on Twitter for updates).

Edited to add option (3) which is to look at the pictures/blog posts about the installation of Swedish LOFAR. Tack så mycket to Swedish LOFAR Tweeters @OnsalaRymd for reminding me about that.

LOFAR on Google Maps

Another fun post from our friends at KAIRA - LOFAR stations now visible on Google Maps.

Not Chilbolton yet though - still just empty fields shown at the moment for our UK station.

How Does LOFAR Work (Parts 10 and 11) from the KAIRA blog

We're getting a bit behind in the series, but here are the next two installments from the KAIRA blog about how LOFAR works:

Part 10 : Multi-beam operations (explaining one of the techniques used in the press release about the first peer reviewed science results from LOFAR).

Part 11 : Ambiguities (about phase errors)

How does LOFAR Work Parts 8 and 9 (from the KAIRA blog)

Parts 8 and 9 of the series from the KAIRA blog on how LOFAR works, covering how the array is pointed as specific places on the sky:

8: Steering a Phased Array
9: Digital Beam Steering. 

How does LOFAR Work Part 7 (from the KAIRA blog)

Part 7 of the series from the KAIRA blog on how LOFAR works:

Phased Arrays.

How does LOFAR Work Part 6 (from the KAIRA blog)

And they've been busy over at KAIRA, here's also Part 6 in the series in how LOFAR works. Seems this is the end of the preamble, the real details will start soon.

Squinted Vision (about the need to steer radio dishes).

How does LOFAR Work Part 5 (from the KAIRA blog)

The next installment in how LOFAR works from KAIRA - a reminder about how traditional radio astronomy dishes work.

The Parabolic Dish.

How Does LOFAR Work Part 4 (from the KAIRA blog)

Part 4 of the KAIRA blog series on how LOFAR works: 


From radio waves to electrical signals

How Does LOFAR work Part 3 (from KAIRA blog).

The third installment in the series on how LOFAR works from the KAIRA (LOFAR-Finland) blog.

Part 3 : Start with the radio waves

How Does LOFAR Work Part 2 (from the KAIRA blog)

The next post in the series from KAIRA on how LOFAR works: "What is a LOFAR system?".

How Does LOFAR Work? (from the KAIRA blog)

Over at the KAIRA blog, they're posting a series of articles on how LOFAR works. We'll be linking them all from here.

Here's the first: "Part 1 : Introduction"

Welcome to LOFAR in Ireland

(Note post copied straight from KAIRA blog).

We extend a welcome to the LOFAR community to our colleagues in Ireland.

There is a new website for 'i-LOFAR' — a LOFAR station in Ireland. This is a new proposal for another international LOFAR station, to be located at Birr Castle. At station placed here will extend the longest baseline of the LOFAR International Telescope even further.

Birr Castle itself is a historic astronomy site. It is the place where the Rosse Telescope was built; the largest telescope of its day. This 183cm optical telescope was completed in 1845 and remained the largest telescope in the world for many decades.

Once again, this historic site will be associated with the largest telescope in the world... the LOFAR International Telescope. (And, this will be the first LOFAR station with a castle!)

Visit the LOFAR Ireland website at: http://www.lofar.ie/