An introduction to Lofar Observations
30 August - 03 September 2010, Hamburg, Germany
Organised by Hamburger Sternwarte / German Long Wavelength Consortium (GLOW)
LOFAR (Low Frequency Array) is a new radio telescope under construction by ASTRON in the Netherlands operating between 30 and 240 MHz. In this largely unexplored frequency range, LOFAR will be the dominant telescope over the next decade, observing the low frequency sky with unprecedented resolution and sensitivity. LOFAR is rapidly becoming a European effort, with France, Germany, Poland, Sweden and the United Kingdom actively pursuing a participation in the LOFAR European network. Lofar commissioning observations are routinely carried out, and the first all-sky survey is about to begin in summer 2010.
Even though it is expected that in the long run Lofar will deliver images without the need for users to calibrate the data, observers still need to understand how the instrument works, what (and why!) can be observed and where potential sources of error are. Furthermore, Lofar will need a substantial amount of debugging of all parts and relies on users to participate in the process. This interferometry school aims at students and astronomers without prior knowledge of radio interferometry, to present the the theory and practice of Lofar observations.