The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded two of its prestigious Starting Grants to ASTRON scientists for research projects using the LOFAR radio telescope. One project will use LOFAR to create detailed images of lightning on Earth, the other aims to detect space weather events and magnetic fields around exoplanets.
Read more on the ASTRON website.
Image: © NASA This figure shows an artist’s impression of a solar flare hurling a large mass of hot plasma towards the Earth. The Earth’s magnetic field creates a protective cavity (shown in purple) and shields our life-sustaining atmosphere. The project STORMCHASER will study these processes in extrasolar systems.