One of those staples of childhood museum trips was to stop off at the gift shop at the end of the day and get some astronaut ice cream. Crumbling freeze-dried goodness packed in a shiny foil wrapper. It was always one of the highlights of going to any museum, ranking just below the animatronic dinosaurs and just above the screen that would hold your shadow for several seconds after a light turned off. (Of course, it never came close to the planetarium.)
Today I find myself connecting through Houston on my way to California. Capitalizing on a certain NASA center somewhere in this town, there's a "Space Trader" gift shop here in my terminal. They have astronaut ice cream. I can't even remember the last I had any. So I bought some.
You're probably expecting me to say it doesn't taste as good as I remember. But you'd be wrong, it's delicious!
Showing posts with label Astronomy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Astronomy. Show all posts
Friday, July 25, 2008
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Science For Sale
A good friend sent me this sad, sad link. It seems the British government no longer feels their radio astronomy program is worth having around. They have decided to essentially cut all of the funding for the program that operates the e-Merlin network of radio telescopes.
Some enterprising eBay users have decided to capitalize on their government's unwanted leftovers, and have put several of the radio telescopes up for auction. The Lovell Telescope at the Jodrell Bank Observatory has been pivotal in the history of radio astronomy. The Lovell has been used to measure and the distances to Venus and the Moon. With this telescope, astronomers discovered the 21cm Hydrogen emission line, the first OH emissions of masers, and were able to confirm the existence of pulsars. Since then it has contributed to research on gravitational lensing and quasars as part of the Merlin network.
And of course, who can forget its time served in the SETI program?
But perhaps the most ironic part of this story? The eBay listing has not yet been shut down!
Some enterprising eBay users have decided to capitalize on their government's unwanted leftovers, and have put several of the radio telescopes up for auction. The Lovell Telescope at the Jodrell Bank Observatory has been pivotal in the history of radio astronomy. The Lovell has been used to measure and the distances to Venus and the Moon. With this telescope, astronomers discovered the 21cm Hydrogen emission line, the first OH emissions of masers, and were able to confirm the existence of pulsars. Since then it has contributed to research on gravitational lensing and quasars as part of the Merlin network.
And of course, who can forget its time served in the SETI program?
The huge yellow somethings went unnoticed at Goonhilly, they passed over Cape Canaveral without a blip, Woomera and Jodrell Bank looked straight through them—which was a pity because it was exactly the sort of thing they'd been looking for all these yearsIt's disheartening to hear that other countries are slowly dismantling their astronomy research base. The US has been cutting funding for years, most notably with NASA focusing more on engineering projects than on research. Isn't it interesting how the most publicly appealing of sciences can be the first to the chopping block?
—Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
But perhaps the most ironic part of this story? The eBay listing has not yet been shut down!
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
You Can Always Go Back....
From the New York Times
Queen Guitarist to Complete Doctorate
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: July 25, 2007
Filed at 10:10 a.m. ET
LONDON (AP) -- Brian May is completing his doctorate in astrophysics, more than 30 years after he abandoned his studies to form the rock group Queen.
The 60-year-old guitarist and songwriter said he plans to submit his thesis, ''Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud,'' to supervisors at Imperial College London within the next two weeks.
May was an astrophysics student at Imperial College when Queen, which included Freddie Mercury and Roger Taylor, was formed in 1970. He dropped his doctorate as the glam rock band became successful.
Queen were one of Britain's biggest music groups in the 1970s, with hits including ''Bohemian Rhapsody'' and ''We Will Rock You.''
After Mercury's death in 1991, May recorded several solo albums, including 1998's ''Another World.'' But his interest in astronomy continued, and he co-wrote ''Bang! The Complete History of the Universe,'' which was published last year.
He was due to finish carrying out astronomical observations at an observatory on the island of La Palma, in Spain's Canary Islands, on Tuesday, the observatory said.
May told the British Broadcasting Corp. that he had always wanted to complete his degree.
''It was unfinished business,'' he said. ''I didn't want an honorary Ph.D. I wanted the real thing that I worked for.''
--------------------------------------------
Some people have told me that they worry that I've given up my dream, or my principles. I'd just like to remind them that no decision is permanent, and you can always go back.
Queen Guitarist to Complete Doctorate
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: July 25, 2007
Filed at 10:10 a.m. ET
LONDON (AP) -- Brian May is completing his doctorate in astrophysics, more than 30 years after he abandoned his studies to form the rock group Queen.
The 60-year-old guitarist and songwriter said he plans to submit his thesis, ''Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud,'' to supervisors at Imperial College London within the next two weeks.
May was an astrophysics student at Imperial College when Queen, which included Freddie Mercury and Roger Taylor, was formed in 1970. He dropped his doctorate as the glam rock band became successful.
Queen were one of Britain's biggest music groups in the 1970s, with hits including ''Bohemian Rhapsody'' and ''We Will Rock You.''
After Mercury's death in 1991, May recorded several solo albums, including 1998's ''Another World.'' But his interest in astronomy continued, and he co-wrote ''Bang! The Complete History of the Universe,'' which was published last year.
He was due to finish carrying out astronomical observations at an observatory on the island of La Palma, in Spain's Canary Islands, on Tuesday, the observatory said.
May told the British Broadcasting Corp. that he had always wanted to complete his degree.
''It was unfinished business,'' he said. ''I didn't want an honorary Ph.D. I wanted the real thing that I worked for.''
--------------------------------------------
Some people have told me that they worry that I've given up my dream, or my principles. I'd just like to remind them that no decision is permanent, and you can always go back.
Friday, April 28, 2006
Drove Through the Desert in a Car With No Name
Ok, so it had a name. The gloriously trendy, painfully yellow Chevy Cobalt with a spoiler practically begged a name. And so one was granted. For two weeks, I drove the Baby Bumble Bee all around southern Arizona.
Most of the time, observing runs occur strictly on whatever mountaintop your telescope happens to be located. However, when you've got a rental car, an adventurous companion, and two weeks of telescope time, there is room for a little exploration. Let me tell you a story:
The setting: The Sonoran Desert, home to the Tohono O'odham people, packs of coyotes, wild horses, and the ubiquitous saguaro cactus--the state tree of Arizona.
-MDM Observatory, located on the southwest ridge of Kitt Peak.
-Tucson, part cowboy town, part artsy city, all dusty and brown.
-The Mexican border, or, the wide open gate in the barbed wire fence miles and miles from nowhere.
The characters: Two students from the big city, exploring the far bigger desert.
-The grad student, desperately trying to get work done, but constantly distracted by better and more beautiful things.
-The undergrad, the ex-Marine/astronomer/journalist/photographer/composer/race car driver/etc.
-The Baby Bumble Bee, cutest little car in the west.
As our story begins, our two heroes meet in the Tucson airport. They pick up a rental car, a beautiful white Monte Carlo, and begin their adventure. Spirits are high as they head off into the sunset, quite literally, up to Kitt Peak to begin their observing run on the 1.3-meter telescope. Settling in, they begin working on their observations.
One fine day, they decide to go for a drive. For reasons not likely to become clear in this narrative, they stop at the airport rental place in Tucson and trade in their wonderful car for the Baby Bumble Bee. It took quite an effort to stifle their laughter, but they managed, and continued on their drive. West of Tucson, they were startled by the beauty of the desert. Rolling foothills, with cacti of all shapes and sizes peaking up through the dirt and rocks. "Wanna take a walk?" one asks the other. The Baby Bumble Bee obligingly pulls over to the side of the road, and off they go. They didn't have much water, and so figured they'd only walk for a bit away from the road, and then turn around. But as they crested some small foothills, and lost site of the car, they decided to just continue exploring. After all, they could always summit one of the hills to find the car later. It's quite hard to miss in the middle of the desert. Their walking took them all the way to the nearest full-grown mountain and turned into hiking. Along the way, they encountered numerous dead saguaros, and discovered their tree-like secrets. Continuing higher, the hiking turned into climbing, as they grew nearer the summit. Finally, reaching the top, they surveyed the desert around them. It was stunning. They had climbed a mountain without water, but there was no question about the worth of the climb. When the vultures started circling, however, they decided it was time to head back.
On another day, they decided to drive through Tucson and up the mountains to the east. They stopped briefly in town to experience a little of the local culture. Finding little indeed, they continued up the mountains. Once again they were entranced by the beauty of the place. So harsh an environment with so much life that survives despite. About 5,000 feet up they stopped at an overlook. But they never made it to the overlook itself. Rather, they started climbing the rest of the way up the mountain. Surely, they thought, the view would be even better from up there. This climb was a little more difficult, but all the more worth it. When they finally reached the top, they were rewarded with a full view of the valley below, and more mountains to the east. They felt on top of the world, and as the ground fell steeply away from them on all sides, justifiably so. They agreed that there is simply no other feeling like reaching the top of a mountain on your own power and surveying all the Earth below you.
Not all days and nights were grand adventures, of course. In the more calm of times, the grad student quietly worked on his research while the undergrad etched out the details of a libretto he was writing for an opera. They drove up to the Kitt Peak summit for dinner, meeting other visiting astronomers and sharing stories. They stood on the western cliff of the mountain and watched the most lovely of sunsets every night before opening up the telescope dome for observing.
The last adventure of the trip was mostly a road trip, no mountains on this particular day. This time, our two friends decided to explore the Native American reservation on which Kitt Peak sits. The reservation belongs to the Tohono O'odham, or Desert People, who have lived in the Sonoran Desert for over two thousand years. Our heroes first drove west to Sells, the capital of the reservation. A sleepy little town, they almost missed it entirely. Here, however, they turned south in search of smaller communities and the Mexican border. Smaller communities they found, three or four houses grouped together in the middle of vast expanses of desert. As the road turned to a dirt two-track, they encountered a pack of coyotes, cattle roaming free, and drove alongside wild horses in full gallop across the desert valley floor. After seemingly endless miles, they finally reached a small barbed wire fence with a gate. The gate was wide open. They had no map with them, but they had measured the distance to the border on a map, and they had gone further than they thought they had to to reach the border. At first, it seemed odd that an unguarded gate should be left wide open, allowing anyone who likes to walk right into the US. Looking around, however, they realized that no one walking through this gate could have come from anywhere close, nor would they reach anywhere soon. The vastness of the desert would certainly forbid any human from walking through this gate.
Turning around, they headed back northward. Along the way, they cut eastward and found themselves heading up the base of Bobaquavari Peak, the most sacred ground of the Tohono O'odham. It was here, according to their beliefs, that L'litoi the Creator lived, and from which he created the universe. They stopped at the base, and stared up. The large rock dome on the very peak certainly struck a sense of awe into anyone who would be looking up at it. They could understand the holiness of the place, and left it in peace.
Eventually, the undergrad had to leave. The grad student was left alone on the mountain for the last five nights. He worked, he read, he played with Google Earth far more than he should have. His last night was plagued by bad weather, beginning with hail and ending with a humidity level to high to risk exposing the telescope mirror to the air. So he reflected, he smiled, and he wrote.
The end.
Most of the time, observing runs occur strictly on whatever mountaintop your telescope happens to be located. However, when you've got a rental car, an adventurous companion, and two weeks of telescope time, there is room for a little exploration. Let me tell you a story:
The setting: The Sonoran Desert, home to the Tohono O'odham people, packs of coyotes, wild horses, and the ubiquitous saguaro cactus--the state tree of Arizona.
-MDM Observatory, located on the southwest ridge of Kitt Peak.
-Tucson, part cowboy town, part artsy city, all dusty and brown.
-The Mexican border, or, the wide open gate in the barbed wire fence miles and miles from nowhere.
The characters: Two students from the big city, exploring the far bigger desert.
-The grad student, desperately trying to get work done, but constantly distracted by better and more beautiful things.
-The undergrad, the ex-Marine/astronomer/journalist/photographer/composer/race car driver/etc.
-The Baby Bumble Bee, cutest little car in the west.
As our story begins, our two heroes meet in the Tucson airport. They pick up a rental car, a beautiful white Monte Carlo, and begin their adventure. Spirits are high as they head off into the sunset, quite literally, up to Kitt Peak to begin their observing run on the 1.3-meter telescope. Settling in, they begin working on their observations.
One fine day, they decide to go for a drive. For reasons not likely to become clear in this narrative, they stop at the airport rental place in Tucson and trade in their wonderful car for the Baby Bumble Bee. It took quite an effort to stifle their laughter, but they managed, and continued on their drive. West of Tucson, they were startled by the beauty of the desert. Rolling foothills, with cacti of all shapes and sizes peaking up through the dirt and rocks. "Wanna take a walk?" one asks the other. The Baby Bumble Bee obligingly pulls over to the side of the road, and off they go. They didn't have much water, and so figured they'd only walk for a bit away from the road, and then turn around. But as they crested some small foothills, and lost site of the car, they decided to just continue exploring. After all, they could always summit one of the hills to find the car later. It's quite hard to miss in the middle of the desert. Their walking took them all the way to the nearest full-grown mountain and turned into hiking. Along the way, they encountered numerous dead saguaros, and discovered their tree-like secrets. Continuing higher, the hiking turned into climbing, as they grew nearer the summit. Finally, reaching the top, they surveyed the desert around them. It was stunning. They had climbed a mountain without water, but there was no question about the worth of the climb. When the vultures started circling, however, they decided it was time to head back.
On another day, they decided to drive through Tucson and up the mountains to the east. They stopped briefly in town to experience a little of the local culture. Finding little indeed, they continued up the mountains. Once again they were entranced by the beauty of the place. So harsh an environment with so much life that survives despite. About 5,000 feet up they stopped at an overlook. But they never made it to the overlook itself. Rather, they started climbing the rest of the way up the mountain. Surely, they thought, the view would be even better from up there. This climb was a little more difficult, but all the more worth it. When they finally reached the top, they were rewarded with a full view of the valley below, and more mountains to the east. They felt on top of the world, and as the ground fell steeply away from them on all sides, justifiably so. They agreed that there is simply no other feeling like reaching the top of a mountain on your own power and surveying all the Earth below you.
Not all days and nights were grand adventures, of course. In the more calm of times, the grad student quietly worked on his research while the undergrad etched out the details of a libretto he was writing for an opera. They drove up to the Kitt Peak summit for dinner, meeting other visiting astronomers and sharing stories. They stood on the western cliff of the mountain and watched the most lovely of sunsets every night before opening up the telescope dome for observing.
The last adventure of the trip was mostly a road trip, no mountains on this particular day. This time, our two friends decided to explore the Native American reservation on which Kitt Peak sits. The reservation belongs to the Tohono O'odham, or Desert People, who have lived in the Sonoran Desert for over two thousand years. Our heroes first drove west to Sells, the capital of the reservation. A sleepy little town, they almost missed it entirely. Here, however, they turned south in search of smaller communities and the Mexican border. Smaller communities they found, three or four houses grouped together in the middle of vast expanses of desert. As the road turned to a dirt two-track, they encountered a pack of coyotes, cattle roaming free, and drove alongside wild horses in full gallop across the desert valley floor. After seemingly endless miles, they finally reached a small barbed wire fence with a gate. The gate was wide open. They had no map with them, but they had measured the distance to the border on a map, and they had gone further than they thought they had to to reach the border. At first, it seemed odd that an unguarded gate should be left wide open, allowing anyone who likes to walk right into the US. Looking around, however, they realized that no one walking through this gate could have come from anywhere close, nor would they reach anywhere soon. The vastness of the desert would certainly forbid any human from walking through this gate.
Turning around, they headed back northward. Along the way, they cut eastward and found themselves heading up the base of Bobaquavari Peak, the most sacred ground of the Tohono O'odham. It was here, according to their beliefs, that L'litoi the Creator lived, and from which he created the universe. They stopped at the base, and stared up. The large rock dome on the very peak certainly struck a sense of awe into anyone who would be looking up at it. They could understand the holiness of the place, and left it in peace.
Eventually, the undergrad had to leave. The grad student was left alone on the mountain for the last five nights. He worked, he read, he played with Google Earth far more than he should have. His last night was plagued by bad weather, beginning with hail and ending with a humidity level to high to risk exposing the telescope mirror to the air. So he reflected, he smiled, and he wrote.
The end.
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
A Few Thoughts.
Once again, I'm motivated to update simply by too many people noticing that I haven't. Ah well. Where to begin?
This blog turned one year old last month, with little fanfare. It still feels like it doesn't have much of a purpose, but then even in the beginning I never stated a purpose. Poor little blog, lost in the wilds of the internet searching for meaning in life.
Onward.
I had an observing run at the Very Large Array (VLA) in New Mexico. Pictures can be found here, for those of you who have asked.
Weddings. So many weddings this summer. Why do you people all have to get married? Sheesh. Truly, though, I'm very happy for my friends and family members getting married. And hey, they are more excuses to travel. The current list has two weddings in Michigan, one in North Carolina, one in Florida, and possibly another in Iowa. Add to that a trip to Wisconsin, another observing run, and possibly a conference in Canada, and my summer already seems completely full.
This is the perfect time of year to be in New York. All the trees are in bloom, the weather is warm--but not so warm that you over-heat walking around town. I wish it would stay in the 60's all through the summer.
Work needs to be done. This needs to be updated later.
This blog turned one year old last month, with little fanfare. It still feels like it doesn't have much of a purpose, but then even in the beginning I never stated a purpose. Poor little blog, lost in the wilds of the internet searching for meaning in life.
Onward.
I had an observing run at the Very Large Array (VLA) in New Mexico. Pictures can be found here, for those of you who have asked.
Weddings. So many weddings this summer. Why do you people all have to get married? Sheesh. Truly, though, I'm very happy for my friends and family members getting married. And hey, they are more excuses to travel. The current list has two weddings in Michigan, one in North Carolina, one in Florida, and possibly another in Iowa. Add to that a trip to Wisconsin, another observing run, and possibly a conference in Canada, and my summer already seems completely full.
This is the perfect time of year to be in New York. All the trees are in bloom, the weather is warm--but not so warm that you over-heat walking around town. I wish it would stay in the 60's all through the summer.
Work needs to be done. This needs to be updated later.
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
A Random Walk
Looks like I've yet again let this thing sit for a while without posting. Ah well. I'd like to say that I try, but the truth is, it's still just a diversion from work. So on the rare occasion that I am actually working, it doesn't get updated.
So, since the last post, I've gone skiing at Killington, had Christmas in Michigan, New Years in NYC, gone observing at Kitt Peak, and ran a 420-couple ballroom dance competition--in which I also competed. How's that for a run-on sentence, eh?
The ski trip was wonderful, the perfect end to a semester. Granted more time was spent being lazy by fire (and not being lazy by the fire) than actually skiing, but that was fine with me. I needed to relax and unwind, and I couldn't have asked for a better time.
After that, it was a whirlwind 4-day trip to Michigan and back for Christmas. Not much to report there, beside the usual huge Italian family craziness.
Back in NYC, I met up with a friend from swing dancing to go to a New Year's party not far from Times Square. (No, I did not actually go to Times Square, that would be silly.) It was a nice party, sort of low key, but lots of good people. For the actual count-down to the new year, we went up on the roof to see/hear the Times Square crowd. They fired off fireworks in the square. I couldn't believe it; fireworks being shot off between skyscrapers, exploding next to windows, and raining ash down on the crowd. No kiss on the dawn of the new year, though, as the only one I would have was far, far away.
Then it was off to Arizona for an observing run on a 1.3-meter telescope partially owned by Columbia. For the most part, we had perfect weather, and got lots of good data. As usual, I met some great people there, as well. I love meeting people on observing runs, it's one of my favorite things about what I do.
When I returned, I had only three short days to finish the preparations for the Manhattan Amateur Classic 2006 ballroom competition. I've been on the organizing committee for this since last spring, and preparations began back in June. While there were, of course, major crises every ten minutes, we were able to quell most of the problems and work out reasonable solutions. It was a lot of work, a lot of effort, and long hours. But in the end, the event came off well, and we received a lot of positive feedback from competitors and audience members. When the competition ended, the other members of the organizing committee took me out to nice dinner. Then we went to the hotel room of one of the organizers for an after-party. Oh, and in the competition, my partner and I placed 5th in Silver, which is the highest we've achieved thus far. Good times.
And now it's back to the grind. Today is the first day of class (I like to emphasize that I'm only taking one--and it's the last class I will ever have to take!). Though my class actually starts tomorrow. Nonetheless, there's much work to be done on my research. Data from the observing run to analyze. Officemates with whom to catch up on things. And of course, all my webcomics to read!
So, since the last post, I've gone skiing at Killington, had Christmas in Michigan, New Years in NYC, gone observing at Kitt Peak, and ran a 420-couple ballroom dance competition--in which I also competed. How's that for a run-on sentence, eh?
The ski trip was wonderful, the perfect end to a semester. Granted more time was spent being lazy by fire (and not being lazy by the fire) than actually skiing, but that was fine with me. I needed to relax and unwind, and I couldn't have asked for a better time.
After that, it was a whirlwind 4-day trip to Michigan and back for Christmas. Not much to report there, beside the usual huge Italian family craziness.
Back in NYC, I met up with a friend from swing dancing to go to a New Year's party not far from Times Square. (No, I did not actually go to Times Square, that would be silly.) It was a nice party, sort of low key, but lots of good people. For the actual count-down to the new year, we went up on the roof to see/hear the Times Square crowd. They fired off fireworks in the square. I couldn't believe it; fireworks being shot off between skyscrapers, exploding next to windows, and raining ash down on the crowd. No kiss on the dawn of the new year, though, as the only one I would have was far, far away.
Then it was off to Arizona for an observing run on a 1.3-meter telescope partially owned by Columbia. For the most part, we had perfect weather, and got lots of good data. As usual, I met some great people there, as well. I love meeting people on observing runs, it's one of my favorite things about what I do.
When I returned, I had only three short days to finish the preparations for the Manhattan Amateur Classic 2006 ballroom competition. I've been on the organizing committee for this since last spring, and preparations began back in June. While there were, of course, major crises every ten minutes, we were able to quell most of the problems and work out reasonable solutions. It was a lot of work, a lot of effort, and long hours. But in the end, the event came off well, and we received a lot of positive feedback from competitors and audience members. When the competition ended, the other members of the organizing committee took me out to nice dinner. Then we went to the hotel room of one of the organizers for an after-party. Oh, and in the competition, my partner and I placed 5th in Silver, which is the highest we've achieved thus far. Good times.
And now it's back to the grind. Today is the first day of class (I like to emphasize that I'm only taking one--and it's the last class I will ever have to take!). Though my class actually starts tomorrow. Nonetheless, there's much work to be done on my research. Data from the observing run to analyze. Officemates with whom to catch up on things. And of course, all my webcomics to read!
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Blue Skies
An old friend came to visit last weekend. We met at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Seattle way back in January 2003. I was the only student from MTU there, and didn't know anyone else. She was visiting from Sweden, and hadn't really met anyone else. We hung out together at the conference, and went out around Seattle exploring in the evenings. It was a great trip, and meeting such a good friend made it that much more enjoyable.
Last weekend, she, and two other friends (both Canadian) came to stay at my apartment. They were here for the U2 concert on Monday night, but they came for the whole weekend to see New York. We did the tourist thing, walking around the Battery and up through Chinatown and Little Italy. We went dancing, we went to the Met (the museum, not the opera), we walked through Central Park. It was raining most of the time, and a little cold, but such a wonderful weekend. I so love this city, and to run around with people who haven't spent much time here is fantastic. They were the perfect guests, (which simply means they didn't get me up too early in the mornings!) and we all had a great time. I feel like I've grown much closer to one friend, and made two more.
For your viewing pleasure, I refer you to their pictures of the weekend here, here, and here.
When they left, it rained for eight continuous days.
But since then, everything has looked up. The weather has been beautiful, in the 60's and sunny. I wrote a telescope proposal to get back to the mountains (it's been far too long). I've just been smiling a whole lot more lately. Someone's been helping with that.
Last weekend, she, and two other friends (both Canadian) came to stay at my apartment. They were here for the U2 concert on Monday night, but they came for the whole weekend to see New York. We did the tourist thing, walking around the Battery and up through Chinatown and Little Italy. We went dancing, we went to the Met (the museum, not the opera), we walked through Central Park. It was raining most of the time, and a little cold, but such a wonderful weekend. I so love this city, and to run around with people who haven't spent much time here is fantastic. They were the perfect guests, (which simply means they didn't get me up too early in the mornings!) and we all had a great time. I feel like I've grown much closer to one friend, and made two more.
For your viewing pleasure, I refer you to their pictures of the weekend here, here, and here.
When they left, it rained for eight continuous days.
But since then, everything has looked up. The weather has been beautiful, in the 60's and sunny. I wrote a telescope proposal to get back to the mountains (it's been far too long). I've just been smiling a whole lot more lately. Someone's been helping with that.
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
"Great day in the morning....
....what once was lost, now is found."
Kudos to you if you remember that commercial. Congratulations on having a life if you don't.
So, yes, I'm alive. Yes, I've been busy. Yes, I've been watching the comments on my last post. Yes, I think you're both silly. Did I miss anything? Oh, yes, I'm wearing new socks today.
Busy, busy, busy. My first year research project is finished. [/begin stuff you probably don't care to know] What was originally pegged as a pulsar candidate from coincident radio and x-ray detections turned out to be a high-mass x-ray binary similar to Cygnus X-3. That is, my object is actually a binary system consisting of a compact object (black hole or neutron star) and a Wolf-Rayet star. This is only the second such system (Cygnus X-3 being the first) to be identified. [/end stuff you probably don't care to know] I presented at Astrofest 2005, and had quite the time at Astrofeast 2005. I wrote up a paper on the research. Tomorrow I meet with my committee. They will tell me everything I did wrong, and I will drop to my knees pleading that I have only completed one year of grad school, am young and naive, and will never let it happen again. They will have mercy, or at least pity, and I'll get to start my next project.
Classes have started. I'm taking two, and teaching one. This semester is all about cosmology and extrasolar planets. As for the class I teach, I think I've got a pretty good group this year. (Or am I just saying that in case one of them finds this blog?)
I'll try and update more. I have some new ideas for more Modern-Day Etiquette, and have received some great suggestions from people as well. Lots of things are going on, and since you've nothing better to do, I'm sure you'll read all about them here.
By the way, I just think it's hilarious that this blog comes with a spell checker....a spell checker in which "blog" is not recognized as a word. That delights me to no end.
(And in case you were wondering, it was a VW commercial, circa 1999-2000. The thing that was once lost was a full-size spare tire. And here you thought it went the way of the coelacanth, didn't you?)
(Ha! It didn't recognize coelacanth either.)
(What? Coelacanth? It's a prehistoric fish, thought to be extinct....until they caught one off the coast of Madagascar. Ah, that commercial was so funny at the time....)
Kudos to you if you remember that commercial. Congratulations on having a life if you don't.
So, yes, I'm alive. Yes, I've been busy. Yes, I've been watching the comments on my last post. Yes, I think you're both silly. Did I miss anything? Oh, yes, I'm wearing new socks today.
Busy, busy, busy. My first year research project is finished. [/begin stuff you probably don't care to know] What was originally pegged as a pulsar candidate from coincident radio and x-ray detections turned out to be a high-mass x-ray binary similar to Cygnus X-3. That is, my object is actually a binary system consisting of a compact object (black hole or neutron star) and a Wolf-Rayet star. This is only the second such system (Cygnus X-3 being the first) to be identified. [/end stuff you probably don't care to know] I presented at Astrofest 2005, and had quite the time at Astrofeast 2005. I wrote up a paper on the research. Tomorrow I meet with my committee. They will tell me everything I did wrong, and I will drop to my knees pleading that I have only completed one year of grad school, am young and naive, and will never let it happen again. They will have mercy, or at least pity, and I'll get to start my next project.
Classes have started. I'm taking two, and teaching one. This semester is all about cosmology and extrasolar planets. As for the class I teach, I think I've got a pretty good group this year. (Or am I just saying that in case one of them finds this blog?)
I'll try and update more. I have some new ideas for more Modern-Day Etiquette, and have received some great suggestions from people as well. Lots of things are going on, and since you've nothing better to do, I'm sure you'll read all about them here.
By the way, I just think it's hilarious that this blog comes with a spell checker....a spell checker in which "blog" is not recognized as a word. That delights me to no end.
(And in case you were wondering, it was a VW commercial, circa 1999-2000. The thing that was once lost was a full-size spare tire. And here you thought it went the way of the coelacanth, didn't you?)
(Ha! It didn't recognize coelacanth either.)
(What? Coelacanth? It's a prehistoric fish, thought to be extinct....until they caught one off the coast of Madagascar. Ah, that commercial was so funny at the time....)
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