Tonight RTE 1 screens a documentary on how Ireland built part the largest radio telescope in the World. LOFAR (The Low-Frequency Array) is an international effort to study the Universe at the lowest radio frequencies, straddling either side of the familiar VHF band. Historical resonances abound in that the radio telescope is on the same site as the famous Leviathan of Parsonstown, once the largest optical telescope in the World. Amazingly there is so little radio interference nearby, that it is the radio equivalent of a pristine site high in the Andes when it comes to seeing the stars!
DIAS is a partner in LOFAR and will use it to study the birth of stars and planets. We will also contribute to the complex software required to operate such a telescope across the European continent with our international partners.

The LOFAR Telescope in Birr, County Offaly. DIAS is part of the Irish consortium that constructed it and we will use it to study how stars like our Sun are born and also how they die.
Leave a Comment
Last Updated: 23rd May 2018 by mary
RTE documentary on LOFAR – Thursday 19th October
Tonight RTE 1 screens a documentary on how Ireland built part the largest radio telescope in the World. LOFAR (The Low-Frequency Array) is an international effort to study the Universe at the lowest radio frequencies, straddling either side of the familiar VHF band. Historical resonances abound in that the radio telescope is on the same site as the famous Leviathan of Parsonstown, once the largest optical telescope in the World. Amazingly there is so little radio interference nearby, that it is the radio equivalent of a pristine site high in the Andes when it comes to seeing the stars!
DIAS is a partner in LOFAR and will use it to study the birth of stars and planets. We will also contribute to the complex software required to operate such a telescope across the European continent with our international partners.
The LOFAR Telescope in Birr, County Offaly. DIAS is part of the Irish consortium that constructed it and we will use it to study how stars like our Sun are born and also how they die.
Category: Astronomy and Astrophysics Section News & Events, News
Meet the Judges of our "Reach for the Stars" Astrophotography competition! @petertgallagher is Head of @DIASAstronomy & has spent the past two decades studying the Sun its impacts on the Earth. To learn more and submit an entry see dias.ie/reachforthesta… #DIASdiscovers
She has over 15 years’ experience working in PR and communications and has wide-ranging experience of providing strategic communications support to organisations. Learn more about the competition and submit an entry 👉dias.ie/reachforthesta… #DIASdiscovers #astrophotography
Meet the Judges of our "Reach for the Stars" Astrophotography competition! @MartinaPQuinn is the Founder & Managing Director of @helloalicepr.
Want to learn more about what's happening on Mars? Check out our public lecture from November delivered Dr John Clinton and titled MarsQuakes! (5/5) youtu.be/_Lp0oLJ8Ahs
And then this Thursday @NASAMars Perseverance rover reaches Mars, which will try to land in a near equatorial crater called Jezero. Here you can see a possible route around the crater. (4/5)
Last Wednesday, the day the UAE revealed their first image of Mars, China's National Space Administration's Tianwen-1 arrived at Mars. This carries a rover which will be despatched to the surface in the coming months. (3/5) bbc.com/news/science-e…
First up is the @uaespaceagency's Hope mission entered orbit this day last week. It is the first inter-planetary mission by the UAE, and will stay in a wide orbit for one Martian year or two earth years to study climate and weather. (2/5)
It's a busy month over at our planetary neighbour Mars. Three missions headed there have or will enter orbit this month. Why so many at one time? They were timed to launch when the distance between the Earth and Mars was relatively short. (1/5)
#WomeninResearch
Looking for some #MondayMotivation? We are delighted to share this short video by @CClearych who is the O'Donovan Scholar at the School of Celtic Studies. Here she describes the amazing inputs of Eleanor Knott MRIA. youtu.be/Zfvw0KZbFTk @SCSLibrary @RIAdawson
Another addition to this DIAS managed online resource twitter.com/DIAS_ISOS/stat…