ASTRON/UvA 2nd Year Research Practicum

© ASTRON

Each year, a group of four enthusiastic students from the University of Amsterdam come to ASTRON to do their 2nd Year Research Practicum project.

This year marks the 12th such group (it's sobering to think that I've been doing this since 2007). From left to right: Zeger Ackerman, Michael Stroet, Alaya Ben-Belkacem and Thomas Goldman (here pictured during the wrap-up meeting in my office in Amsterdam). Students from previous years have gone on to do MSc and PhD research in Amsterdam or other astronomical institutes.

In recent years, the students have been analysing LOFAR data of a bright pulsar in a binary system. They need to fish through the data to find the pulsar signal, then explain why its period is changing (spoiler: because of the Doppler effect), and then model its orbit. Based on their analysis, they prepare both a written and oral report.

Many thanks to Cees Bassa for helping with supervision, and to Liesbet Elpenhof for puzzling out the logistics.