News & Events

Astronomers pinpoint the source of the brightest one-off fast radio burst ever

An international team of astronomers has localized one of the brightest non-repeating fast radio bursts (FRBs) ever observed to a nearby galaxy.

Astronomers uncover white dwarf system emitting bright radio pulses with strange rhythm

Researchers identify a mystifying Long-Period Transient with 100% polarized radio emission, suggesting new type of cosmic radio source. A team of astronomers at ASTRON, the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy, has discovered a mysterious new cosmic radio source that challenges current theories about how dead stars can produce such powerful emissions. Using the LOFAR (Low Frequency Array) radio telescope, the team picked up the unusual signal as part of a study led by astronomer Sanne Bloot. This research was published today in the scientific journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

Exoplanet Sparks Stellar Fireworks

Astronomers have witnessed a planet causing storms to erupt on its parent star, a discovery that could reshape our understanding of how planets and stars interact and evolve together. These findings are published today in the scientific journal Nature.

New ‘mini halo’ discovery deepens our understanding of how the early Universe was formed

Astronomers have uncovered a vast cloud of energetic particles – a ‘mini halo’ – surrounding one of the most distant galaxy clusters ever observed, using the LOFAR radio telescope, marking a major step forward in understanding the hidden forces that shape the cosmos.

An Earth-sized radio observatory just got better: South Africa’s MeerKAT telescope joins forces with the European VLBI Network of telescopes

South Africa’s MeerKAT radio telescope has successfully conducted very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) observations with telescopes of the European VLBI Network (EVN)—currently the world’s most sensitive VLBI network. Their synergy sets a new standard for global collaboration and significantly enhances both resolution and sensitivity, opening new avenues for scientific exploration.

All sky, all the time – A new radio sky monitor for transients and technosignatures

Breakthrough Listen, headquartered at the University of Oxford – the most ambitious project to date searching for technosignatures (signs of technology as an indicator of extraterrestrial intelligence) – is partnering with ASTRON, the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy, and the University of Manchester, to deploy a new all-sky monitor at the Westerbork Observatory in the Netherlands. The new experiment takes phased array feeds (PAFs) – essentially wide-field radio cameras – that were previously deployed on the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT), and installs them on the ground, looking up at the sky directly.

Open Dag 5 oktober 2025 in Exloo

Ontdek, experimenteer en verwonder tijdens de open dag van ASTRON in Exloo! Nieuwsgierige, jonge (en oudere) avonturiers gezocht! Ontdek en experimenteer erop los bij ASTRON, het Nederlands Instituut voor Radioastronomie, op het plein bij het Hallenhoes en op de Superterp LOFAR. Ontdek de escape room in het Hallenhoes, doe experimenten met echte wetenschappers en ingenieurs, […]

Cursus: Toegepaste RF-techniek

De cursus Toegepaste RF-techniek bestaat uit een theoriegedeelte (75%) en hands-on sessies in ons eigen lab (25%).
Deelnemers aan deze cursus dienen een hbo werk- en denkniveau te hebben. De deelnemer kent de basisbegrippen van elektronica. Parate kennis van wiskundige concepten is niet vereist, maar komt wel aan de orde bij de transmissielijntheorie. In de cursus wordt ook complexe rekenwijze toegepast.

CASPER Workshop 2025

The CASPER workshop is a semi-annual workshop where FPGA, GPU, and general heterogeneous system programmers get together to discuss new instruments in radio astronomy, as well as the tools and libraries for developing and manipulating these instruments.