LOFAR-UK on OU Learn Channel

LOFAR-UK now appears on the OU Learn Channel. In the below video Dr Stephen Serjeant (reader in cosmology at the Open University and a member of LOFAR-UK) talks about the recent opening at Chilbolton about how LOFAR works and the exciting cosmology it will do, along with how the Open University is involved.

Transformational Science from a Revolutionary Radio Telescope

Now available on YouTube is the talk "Transformational Science from a Revolutionary Radio Telescope" given by Prof. Rob Fender (Southampton Uni/LOFAR-UK Project Leader) at the LOFAR-UK Chilbolton Opening on Monday 20th September 2010.

Derek's Talk at the Opening

On Monday I filmed the speech given by Derek McKay-Bukowski (LOFAR-UK Project Manager) at the evening event in the Intech planetarium. Thanks are owed from all of use to Derek for making LOFAR-UK such a success.

Video of Soundbite Interviews

At the opening on Monday I filmed short "soundbite" interviews with many of the scientists involved in LOFAR-UK. The resulting video is a nice summary of the excitement felt within the UK community (and wider) about our involvement in LOFAR.

Video of Ribbon Cutting at Chilbolton

This video shows hi-lights from the part of the LOFAR-UK opening on Monday 20th September 2010 which took place at the Chilbolton Observatory itself. This included a ribbon cutting by Dame Jocelyn Bell-Burnell, and some real time observations of a bright pulsar (as explained by Dr. Aris Karastergiou).

Coverage of the Opening

There has been some online coverage of the opening events on Monday. Here's a collection of links. If you have something to add let me know.

BBC Science Article

Redorbit (Science, Space, Technology and Health News and Information)

Space Daily

Sify News (Indian News)

LOFAR-UK links:

Universities:

Birmingham,
Edinburgh,
Portsmouth,
Southampton,
Sussex

STFC Press Release (which includes a video of the ribbon cutting and the first pulsar observations)

Official LOFAR-UK Opening

Yesterday was a big day for LOFAR-UK. The station at Chilbolton was officially handed over (as per an earlier blog report) and was also officially opened by Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell in a ribbon cutting ceremony out in the field.


(Picture taken by James West, SEPnet)

This ribbon cutting was followed by real time observations of one of the brightest pulsars in the sky (thanks to Aris Karastergiou from Oxford Univ. who had worked very hard and set up some impressive computing to process the data to show us in real time). Jocelyn seemed very pleased to see the telescope worked, and was very excited particularly about it's potential to detect new transient radio emitters.


(Picture taken by James West, SEPnet)

After the Chilbolton event was a celebratory event held at the nearby Intech Science Centre. Rob Fender (LOFAR-UK PI, Southampton Uni), John Womersley (STFC), Mike Garrett (ASTRON) and Derek McKay-Bukoswki (Chilbolton Station Project Manager) all gave talks, and then Jenny Shipway (Intech Planetarium Manager) gave us a wonderful planetarium show specially adapted to include links to LOFAR science. I think I can speak for most astronomers in the room by saying that we don't get to see planetarium shows very often, and it was a wonderful reminder of the inspirational science behind why most of us got into this game in the first place.

Also we had cake.

(Picture taken by Bob Nichol, Portsmouth).

Well done to everyone involved.

Sign of the times

The finishing touch on the LOFAR field was putting up the sign. On it, apart from the station name (LOFAR-UK Chilbolton) and number (UK608), there are the logos/names of all the contributing organisations.