Wednesday 16 June 2010

LOFAR - world's biggest radiotelescope


Drenthe, the province of the Netherlands in which we live, is the least densely populated in the Netherlands. There is a lot of beautiful countryside here, and a lot of farming. However, it's not just a farming area.

A few days ago, Queen Beatrix officially opened the world's largest radiotelescope, LOFAR, based here in Drenthe, but spread across Europe, is the biggest in the world. The individual parts all link with a supercomputer in Groningen.

It's one of those many surprises you find when cycling across the province. And of course the video about the radiotelescope can't help but include bikes here in the "cycling province".

The Wikipedia page on LOFAR has more details, and there's another video showing some of how it works.

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