WSRT-APERTIF news
Telescope quartet reveals surprising statistics of cosmic flashes
Scientists led by Chalmers astronomer Franz Kirsten have studied a famous source of repeating fast radio bursts – a still unexplained cosmic phenomenon. Comparing with earlier measurements, the scientists draw a conclusion with far-reaching consequences: any source of fast radio bursts will repeat, if watched long enough and carefully enough. The research team, a unique collaboration between professional and amateur radio astronomers, used four telescopes in northern Europe, amongst which ASTRON’s Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope.
Pulsar clocks open new window on gravitational waves
An international collaboration of European astronomers, together with Indian and Japanese colleagues, have seen evidence for ultra-low-frequency gravitational waves, which is expected to originate from pairs of supermassive black holes found in the centres of merging galaxies. This is the result of more than 25 years of observations with the most sensitive radio telescopes in Europe and India, including the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT). In doing so, they have opened a new window on gravitational wave research. These gravitational waves contain information about the Universe’s best-kept secrets. The research has been published in a series of articles in the professional journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.
Astronomers discover Fast Radio Bursts that skewer nearby Galaxy
Astronomers have found five new Fast Radio Bursts with the upgraded Westerbork radio telescope array. The telescope images revealed that multiple bursts had pierced our neighbouring Triangulum Galaxy. This allowed the astronomers to determine the maximum number of otherwise invisible atoms in this galaxy for the first time.
ERIS 2022 School inspires next generation of radio astronomers
Over 70 students from all over the world participated in the 9th European Radio Interferometry School (ERIS 2022) hosted by JIVE and ASTRON in Dwingeloo (the Netherlands) on 19-23 September 2022.
Westerbork and the future of GigaHertz astronomy
The Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT) has been a powerhouse of science since it began operations in 1968, making more than 50 years of discoveries in radio astronomy happen. Looking forward, we will strengthen our activities in Westerbork on VLBI, GNSS, data releases of the Apertif surveys, and developing next-generation technology for our instruments.
Cosmic flashes discovered in a surprising location in space
Astronomers have observed mysterious flashes in the sky from an unexpected source, a globular cluster in the galaxy M81.
Periodic Fast Radio Burst found bare, unobscured by strong binary wind
By connecting two of the biggest radio telescopes in the world, astronomers have discovered that a simple binary wind cannot cause the puzzling periodicity of a Fast Radio Burst after all.
Apertif survey wraps up at end of 2021
The Apertif/ARTS surveys will wrap-up at the end of 2021. The WSRT observatory will of course continue to be operated, amongst other activities, as part of the European VLBI network.
ASTRON reveals life cycle of supermassive black hole
For the first time LOFAR and WSRT-Apertif have been used together to measure the life cycle of supermassive black holes emitting radio waves.
Cosmic flashes come in all different sizes
On May 24, four European telescopes took part in the global effort to understand mysterious cosmic flashes. The telescopes captured flashes of radio waves from an extreme, magnetised star in our galaxy.
Data release from the first year of the Apertif imaging surveys
The Apertif imaging team has released science data from the first year of science operations of WSRT-Apertif as the Apertif Data Release 1 (DR1). Now the entire astronomical community can access the data collected by Apertif in its first year of observing, which started on 1 July 2019.
Apertif images yield first scientific results
The Apertif upgrade of the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT) has yielded its first scientific paper based on its images. The paper has been published in the scientific journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.