In Sofia Tech Park, the second of the final three schools within the framework of the STELLAR project in radio astronomy with LOFAR was held between May 22-26, 2023. The participants – from Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Hungary and Egypt – spent five days improving their knowledge with the help of lecturers from the Institute of Astronomy with NAO, the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy ASTRON, and the Dublin Institute for Advanced Research DIAS – Ireland.
Topics of the lectures and exercises on LOFAR data processing and analysis were: all types of low- frequency radio astronomy with the LOFAR telescope (galactic magnetic fields, active galactic nuclei, extragalactic sources, observations of stars and pulsars, and others); spectral and interferometric observations, specific methods for evaluation and analysis of radio astronomical data.
The participants of the school visited the Bulgarian supercomputer Discoverer located on the territory of Sofia Tech Park. They were introduced to its capabilities on its own, but also as part of the EU’s network of high-performance machines to process huge amounts of data. Of special interest were the areas of application of the supercomputer, power supply and cooling systems, as
well as the prospects for the development of our country in this field.
Read more about the school at https://stellar-h2020.eu/index.php/lofar_science_school/