Jülich LOFAR Station Opened

On 5 October 2011, the LOFAR station was officially opened on the campus of Forschungszentrum Jülich. The antenna station is an integral part of the digital radio telescope and the European large-scale project LOFAR (Low Frequency Array). It will contribute to measuring long-wave radio signals from the dawn of the universe. The Jülich LOFAR station was built as part of a cooperation between Ruhr University Bochum, Jacobs University Bremen and Forschungszentrum Jülich with funds provided by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

JSC is contributing to the organization and operation of the antenna station. Furthermore, JSC will function as a computing and storage centre for the German LOFAR stations in Effelsberg, Garching, Potsdam, Tautenburg, and Jülich, which are organized in the GLOW (German Long Wavelength) consortium, as well as for the international LOFAR project. The data communication traffic of these stations to the central computing system in Groningen is also managed by JSC.

Within LOFAR, key science projects will investigate the cosmological epoch of re-ionization, transient sources, ultra-high energy cosmic rays and cosmic magnetic fields. Furthermore, LOFAR is an instrument for solar science, space weather and deep extragalactic surveys. More information and pictures of the station can be found at http://www.fz-juelich.de/ias/jsc/lofar.

(Contact: Dr. Thomas Fieseler)

from JSC News No. 198, October 2011