LOFAR: opening a new window on low frequency radio astronomy

TL;DR

LOFAR is a new low-frequency radio telescope with innovative design, offering unprecedented sensitivity and resolution, and is showing promising initial results in imaging and pulsar observations.

Contribution

This paper reports on the development, deployment, and initial commissioning results of LOFAR, a novel next-generation low-frequency radio telescope.

Findings

Successful deployment of LOFAR stations in the Netherlands and internationally.

Initial imaging and pulsar mode results demonstrate the instrument's capabilities.

LOFAR's wide field-of-view and multi-beam features enable new astronomical observations.

Abstract

This contribution reports on the status of LOFAR (the LOw Frequency ARray) in its ongoing commissioning phase. The purpose is to illustrate the progress that is being made, often on a daily basis, and the potential of this new instrument, which is the first "next-generation" radio telescope. Utilizing a novel phased-array design, LOFAR is optimized for the largely unexplored low frequency range: 10 - 240 MHz. The construction of LOFAR in the Netherlands is almost complete and 8 international stations have already been deployed as well. The wide field-of-view and multi-beam capabilities, in combination with sub-milliJansky sensitivity at arcsec (and sub-arcsec) resolution, are unprecedented at these frequencies. With the commissioning of LOFAR in full swing, we report some of the initial results, in particular those coming from the testing of imaging and pulsar modes.