UvA 2nd year research practicum

© JWTH/ASTRON

As in past years, from Jan 14-16th, 2014, the ASTRON Astronomy Group hosted four 2nd year undergraduate students from the University of Amsterdam. The students visited ASTRON as part of a bachelors course in which they undertake a short "real life" research project.

This year's students, Anouk, Ramon, Rico, and Sjoerd, analyzed 12 LOFAR pulsar observations in order to blindly discover the pulsar's rotational period and dispersion measure; refine their parameter estimation and then track the changes of the rotational period with time; and then finally use this information to model the pulsar's binary orbit and the properties of the eclipsing gas in this system.

As part of the project, the students also write-up a report on their findings and present them to their peers in Amsterdam.