May 11: 75 years of the hydrogen line in the Netherlands — from Kootwijk to Westerbork and SKA
On 11 May 1951, the predecessor of ASTRON (the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy) observed the 21-centimeter radiation of neutral hydrogen for the first time in the Netherlands. Since then, this radio emission has become one of the most important tools in modern astronomy.
Innovative radio receiver sees its first light on the Westerbork telescope
In the continuing quest to observe the sky as never before possible, ASTRON develops novel technologies for radio telescopes that allow astronomers to see farther, faster, and at more frequencies. These same innovations are leveraged for satellite tracking and other remote sensing applications. With the development of the Ambient L-band Feed (ALF), ASTRON is charting a new course where such measurements can be done using less power and requiring less maintenance of the equipment. Recently, first light measurements using the ALF prototype receiver demonstrated the power of this novel technology by revealing a pulsar across a broader range of radio wavelengths than Westerbork has ever measured before.
Geoffrey Bower appointed as new director of ASTRON
The Board of NWO-I has appointed Prof. Dr. Geoffrey C. Bower as the new director of ASTRON, Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy. Effective 1st of September 2026, Prof. Dr. Bower will succeed Prof. Dr. Jessica Dempsey. With this appointment, ASTRON welcomes a strategic leader with a wide range of scientific and technical work in the field of Physics and Astronomy.
Insight into the inner workings of lightning
A bright flash, a loud bang, and a deep rumble: lightning is a fascinating meteorological phenomenon, and perhaps a little scary. Though it has been around forever, research on the inner workings of lightning has been limited thus far. However, Brian Hare and his colleagues from the Kapteyn Astronomical Institute (part of the Faculty of Science and Engineering at the University of Groningen) are shaking up the lightning research landscape. How? By using ASTRON’s large radio telescope LOFAR.
All Dutch LOFAR HBA stations 2025
© CC-BY-SA 4.0 Tammo Jan Dijkema / PDOK
This image is available at this 5-8cm per pixel resolution for every year starting 2021. The version from 2026 will be online very soon.
Can you spot the missing tile?
8th LOFAR Data School
Wed 16 Sep 2026 - Wed 23 Sep 2026
We are pleased to announce that the 8th LOFAR Data School (LDS2026) will be held from Wednesday, September 16th to Wednesday, September 23rd 2026 at ASTRON, the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy, in Dwingeloo, the Netherlands. The registration is now open at: https://acme-lds2026.sciencesconf.org/ and it will close on April 20th, 2026. Rationale The goal of the school is […]