STFC Chilbolton Observatory Open Day

14th May 2011 10:30am – 3:00pm

For Site Map and Ticket Application, please use the links at bottom of page.

The Projects

LOFAR

The Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) is a 'next generation' radio telescope working at the lowest frequencies available from Earth (30 ‐ 240 MHz). The Chilbolton LOFAR system comprises over a thousand individual elements that can be directed electronically without any moving parts to observe the radio sky. Together with other LOFAR systems across northern Europe, and linked in to a supercomputer in the Netherlands by optical fibre, it forms part of the world's largest radio telescope.

Met Office Observation Site

The Met Office has an observing site at Chilbolton used for recording the state of the atmosphere above the site. Currently in operation are a radar wind profiler, used to provide the forecast model with wind observations, and a laser ceilometer which observes cloud height and aerosols (such as volcanic ash in Spring 2010). The site is also used to investigate new ways of using these instruments and providing a more effective observing network.

Chilbolton Facility for Atmospheric and Radio Research

The Chilbolton Observatory is a facility hosting more than twenty major scientific instruments. Individually, and in combination, they are being used to support research in key areas of environmental science, including studies designed to improve storm forecasting, the prediction of climate change, and the impact of atmospheric pollution. A number of those same instruments are being used to support the development of the European global positioning system, ‘Galileo’, and also to monitor orbiting satellites