About LOFAR
Initiatiefnemer: Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON)
Dit project wordt medegefinancierd door de Europese Gemeenschap, Europees Fonds voor Regionale Ontwikkeling en het Samenwerkingsverband Noord Nederland, EZ/KOMPAS.
LOFAR covered by snow
Wed, 01/13/2010 - 23:47
A layer of approximately 25 cm snow covers the LOFAR landscape.
Consequently, the roll-out and the validation work in the field had to
be stopped. But the various roll-out people are still busy. The indoor
assembly of subracks and complete cabinets at Excel Assemblies now has
priority. The employees of Autonational are producing high-band
antennas, which are stored in a large warehouse. Colleagues in the
ASTRON organisation are executing remote tests to verify the hardware
and software. Astronomers are doing test observations.
We are still looking critically at the temperature in the cabinets, but
the control system works as expected. The indoor temperature of the
cabinets is low but not below zero. We use as little energy as possible
for heating and also for cooling.
In short, we are preparing for the last stage of the LOFAR roll-out.
Sometimes we gaze out the window and enjoy the beautiful white
landscape. An old-fashioned Dutch winter, and a good test environment.
Happy New Year to you all wishes the LOFAR team!
LOFAR started as a new and innovative effort to force a breakthrough in sensitivity for astronomical observations at radio-frequencies below 250 MHz.