site.btaBrussels Approves Establishment of LOFAR Consortium with Bulgaria’s Participation

The European Commission has approved the setting up of LOFAR ERIC (European Research Infrastructure Consortium), in which Bulgaria is full-fledged member, the Institute of Astronomy with Bulgarian Academy of Sciences said.  

The main task of LOFAR ERIC is to provide the European astronomical community with a coordinated operation of LOFAR (Low Frequency Array), the world's largest radio telescope in the low frequency range below 250 MHz - megahertz. The LOFAR ERIC aims to position LOFAR as a world-leading research infrastructure that will, in the long term, maintain global leadership positions in radio astronomy. 

LOFAR is an extremely versatile modern radio telescope that can be used to observe the most ancient stars and galaxies, as well as the Sun and the dynamics of the Earth's ionosphere. It is essentially a pan-European infrastructure for low-frequency radio astronomy observations with antenna stations located in eight European countries (by 2021). The LOFAR-BG site planned for construction in Bulgaria in the National Roadmap for Science Infrastructure (2020-2027) will be the southernmost and easternmost facility of the telescope - a new and the only antenna station to date in South-Eastern Europe.