A grassroots telescope array is taking aim at a wide range of astronomy questions, with projects in geophysics and agriculture piggybacking on its infrastructure.
Dipole antennas dotting the Netherlands and several nearby countries together form a radio telescope that is sensitive in the relatively unexplored wavelength range of 1–10 m (roughly 10–250 MHz) and has an enormous field of view. About three-fourths of the telescope’s 44 stations are functioning, and the rest are set to be completed by the end of the year."
Dipole antennas dotting the Netherlands and several nearby countries together form a radio telescope that is sensitive in the relatively unexplored wavelength range of 1–10 m (roughly 10–250 MHz) and has an enormous field of view. About three-fourths of the telescope’s 44 stations are functioning, and the rest are set to be completed by the end of the year."
by Toni Feder, Physics Today March 2011
Tiny antennas form vast radio telescope array - Physics Today March 2011
It is the International LOFAR Telescope
http://www.lofar.org/about-lofar/image-gallery/latest-lofar-images
It is a radio interferometric array, consisting of many low-cost antennas. There are two distinct antenna types: the Low Band Antenna (LBA) between 10 and 90 MHz and the High Band Antenna (HBA) between 110 and 250 MHz. These "sensors" are organised many stations, distributed over an area about one hundred kilometres in diameter, located in the North-East of the Netherlands. This infrastructure will give rise to new resources for non-radio astronomers. In the geosciences field, it should be possible, for example, to extend the understanding of natural and induced seismicity, subsidence, and water management. The agricultural application of LOFAR is in the measurement of the micro-climate.
Tiny antennas form vast radio telescope array - Physics Today March 2011
It is the International LOFAR Telescope
http://www.lofar.org/about-lofar/image-gallery/latest-lofar-images
It is a radio interferometric array, consisting of many low-cost antennas. There are two distinct antenna types: the Low Band Antenna (LBA) between 10 and 90 MHz and the High Band Antenna (HBA) between 110 and 250 MHz. These "sensors" are organised many stations, distributed over an area about one hundred kilometres in diameter, located in the North-East of the Netherlands. This infrastructure will give rise to new resources for non-radio astronomers. In the geosciences field, it should be possible, for example, to extend the understanding of natural and induced seismicity, subsidence, and water management. The agricultural application of LOFAR is in the measurement of the micro-climate.
