Tomorrow I will be going to the Tango community meeting. A three day conference on industrial control systems using the #Tango ecosystem!
This system enables monitoring and control for the #LOFAR telescope.
The talks from @astron will include details on how we achieved control through #Grafana and #gRPC as well as how we collect metrics using #Prometheus.
Als we zijn uitgegiecheld over dat innovatie in Europa zich bezig houdt met het vastzetten van frisdrank-dopjes en we uitgebriest zijn over dat Nederland met z’n “stikstof-principes” en rechters die handhaven op een leefbaar land ipv groei en innovatie stimuleren…
Hier weer 1 van de vele juweeltjes voor als je weer in een “Europa reguleert alleen maar we zijn verloren” gesprek verzeild bent geraakt.
Vanaf nu zelfs met #400G-verbinding
During the #Christmas season, we often think of #wonders and the invisible
that connects our world. Did you know that scientists are searching for an invisible wonder - but in the #universe? 
#Axions, the promising candidates for Dark Matter (DM)
, are ultra-light particles with masses around 10⁻²² eV and wavelengths of about one kiloparsec (~ 3x10¹⁶ km).
Particles with similar properties to axions are called "axion-like particles" (ALPs). 
ALPs, which include ultra-light axions, can alter #light polarization – meaning the alignment of #lightwaves. During an internship with us, Sarah searched for such phenomena in low-frequency #LOFAR data 
from the pulsar PSR J0332+5434. Low frequencies
are ideal, as the ionosphere – an electron layer in the Earth's atmosphere 
, caused by solar radiation – creates interference that can be removed from low-frequency LOFAR data through calibration.
According to theories, axions apperars in strong magnetic fields, such as in #stellar cores, where they can escape because they interact very weakly with normal matter. Just like DM .
Similarly, pulsars have extremely strong static magnetic fields. When cosmic ALPs enter a strong #magneticfield, they can be converted into photons – that is, light 
– and thus become detectable, if ultra-light axions exist.
Currently, there are three methods for searching for ALPs:
Helioscopes for solar ALPs (e.g. IAXO, 
1) 
,
Haloscope searches in the galactic halo (e.g. observing radiopulsars, 2), and
Generating ALPs in the lab 
(e.g. ALPS II, @DESY , 3).
© S.Pappert, E.Moerova | MPIfR
Zur #Weihnachtszeit denken wir oft an #Wunder und an das Unsichtbare, das unsere Welt verbindet. Wusstet ihr, dass Wissenschaftler nach einem unsichtbaren Wunder suchen - allerdings, im #Universum? #Axionen, die vielversprechenden Kandidaten für Dunkle Materie (DM), ultra-leichte Teilchen mit Massen um 10⁻²² eV und Wellenlängen von etwa einem Kiloparsec (∼ 3x10¹⁶ km).
Teilchen mit ähnlichen Eigenschaften wie Axionen werden als „axionähnliche Teilchen“ (ALPs) bezeichnet. ALPs, zu denen auch ultra-leichte Axionen zählen, können die #Lichtpolarisation – also die Ausrichtung der #Lichtwellen – ändern. Während eines Praktikums bei uns suchte Sarah in niederfrequenten #LOFAR-Daten des Pulsars PSR J0332+5434 nach solchen Besonderheiten. Niedrige Frequenzen sind ideal, da die Ionosphäre – Elektronenschicht in der Erdatmosphäre – Störeffekte verursacht, die sich in niederfrequenten LOFAR-Daten durch Kalibrierung entfernen lassen.
Theorien zufolge entstehen Axionen in starken Magnetfeldern, etwa in #Sternkernen, wo sie entweichen können weil sie sehr schwach mit normaler Materie interagieren. Genau wie die DM
Ähnlich verhält es sich mit den Pulsaren, welche übrigens extrem starkes statisches Magnetfeld haben. Wenn die kosmischen ALPs in ein starkes #Magnetfeld eintreten, können sie in Photonen – also Licht - umgewandelt und damit nachweisbar werden, falls es ultra-leichten Axionen gibt.
Aktuell gibt es drei Methoden zur Suche nach ALPs: Helioskope für solare ALPs (z.B. IAXO 1), Haloskope zur Suche im galaktischen Halo (z.B. Beobachtung von Radiopulsaren, 2) und Die Erzeugung von ALPs im Labor (z.B. ALPS II, @DESY 3).
© S.Pappert, E.Moerova | MPIfR
#paperday : "On the nature of #LOFAR RMs and new constraints on magnetic
fields in cosmic filaments and on magnetogenesis scenarios" by Ettore Carretti, myself and others, using Faraday Rotation in LOFAR to detect plausible evidences of **primordial** cosmic magnetic fields!
https://arxiv.org/pdf/2411.13499
accepted and in publication by A&A
Even when our #LOFAR telescope is busy getting an upgrade, it is still reaching new milestones. According to the NASA/SAO Astrophysics Data System, the overview paper ‘LOFAR: The LOw-Frequency ARray’ has reached over 2,000 citations!
https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2013A%26A...556A...2V/abstract
This is all triggered by the work of @cgbassa and colleagues with #LOFAR https://www.astron.nl/starlink-satellites/
We're very proud of Joe Callingham for receiving a prestigious ERC starting grant, which he will use to discover the space weather of ohter worlds, using radio telescopes such as #LOFAR and #SKAO
@astrojoec @ERC_Research @skao
#ERCStG
https://www.astron.nl/european-grant-allows-astron-astronomer-joe-callingham-to-study-the-space-weather-of-other-worlds/
We are happy to share on behalf of LOFAR ERIC that Dr. Michiel van Haarlem has been appointed as the new #LOFAR #ERIC Executive Director: https://lofar.eu/michiel-van-haarlem-appointed-new-lofar-eric-executive-director/
Corollary: there a directions along the merger axis, in which we don't expect to see mega radio halos, only the centrally located classical radio halo.
Can this be tested?
Yes, we just need for the statistics of Mega Radio Halos to keep increasing, hopefully thanks to #LOFAR, or other low frequencies instruments that can do the same job, like MWA in the other hemisphere.
On 4 June, #LOFAR was officially welcomed to the #ERIC family at the Research Infrastructures Conference in Brussels. Today we celebrate this momentous milestone.
https://www.astron.nl/dailyimage/main.php?date=20240610
#LOFARERIC
Important work by PhD stud. Giada Pignataro at the University of Bologna, just accepted by A&A Letters:
"Abell 0399−Abell 0401 radio bridge spectral index:
the first multifrequency detection"
https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.00772 Pignataro et al. incl. @annalisa_bonafede and myself
The low frequency radio detection using #LOFAR, allows to refine our understanding of this cosmic monsters which I described already in the past (https://mastodon.social/@franco_vazza/110881494306225478)
We are currently hosting the 7th LOFAR Data school. We'll be introducing the LOFAR system to new LOFAR community members, whether they are students, postdocs, or staff. We welcome our newest members into the LOFAR family!
#LOFAR #LOFARDataSchool #LDS
https://indico.astron.nl/event/315/overview
The emission was the first discovered of this kind: it is the largest unique radio structure in the sky so far discovered (nearly 3.5 Megaparsecs from side to side!) and it is a surprise, because it appears between two clusters of galaxies which still have to undergo a merger.
It was discovered using the LOFAR telescope, High Band Antenna (HBA), at about 200 MHz, in a deep observation by F. Govoni (INAF) and collaborator (including your truly) in 2019.
#introduction
I am a data engineer working in the health sector. Formerly worked as an astrophysicist studying the relation between galaxy environment and nuclear activity and enabling state-of-the-art radio-astronomy surveys with #LOFAR. Also developed software for the #SKA and #ALMA for some time.
Next year will be my 20th #Python anniversary.
My radio amateur call sign is AE7KUL (previously MM0SKB).
I like #photography, #nature, and the #sea but do not have much spare time right now.
Hello #astrodon!
Here's a belated #introduction. I'm an astronomer at #ASTRON in the Netherlands, using the #LOFAR radio telescope to study #pulsars and #FRBs (amongst other things). I'm involved in the upgrade of the telescope. Besides astronomy I, keep track of stuff in Earth orbit by tinkering with radios, video cameras and the software to control them. I'm joining the #twittermigration to make myself a little less dependent on the whims of a billionaire.
