01.10.09
Posted in IYA2009 at 21:00 by Kathleen
I do not know if you have ever noticed, but the Full Moon is very bright. It is quite striking at a dark site, like the summit of Mauna Kea, or even where I live, where there is no light pollution. I once walked over a dark laval field after dark without the flashlight on, just using the Moon. (Don’t try this at home, the terrain was fairly smooth and I had the flashlight with me, it was just an experiment not to use it.)
Now, what does that mean for a telescope trying to detect faint stars and galaxies? Read the rest of this entry »
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01.09.09
Posted in IYA2009 at 21:53 by Kathleen
A recent press release stated that a new study brings the rotational velocity of the Galaxy to 270 km/s, up from the 220 km/s astronomers learned about in school. This implies that the Milky Way is somewhat larger and more massive than earlier thought.
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01.08.09
Posted in IYA2009 at 22:20 by Kathleen
In a big project like Gemini, information has to be exchanged efficiently across time zones, across continents. The expert we need might be located on the other side the planet. Travel is not always possible. Email, phone, sure. But isn’t it true that a picture is worth a thousand words?
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01.07.09
Posted in IYA2009 at 20:45 by Kathleen
Scientific research involves a lot of tedious, mundane, boring work. Maybe that is the price to pay for the reward we get at the end of the process. I guess it is like everything else, if it is too easy to obtain, we do not, perhaps cannot, appreciate it. Read the rest of this entry »
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01.06.09
Posted in IYA2009 at 22:01 by Kathleen
“You catch more flies with honey then vinegar”. And I am getting good at sweetening my words.
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01.05.09
Posted in IYA2009 at 21:19 by Kathleen
An observatory, especially a big one like Gemini, is open 365 nights per year. Christmas, New Year, Thanksgiving, name them all, we are on. That is as long as the weather cooperates! Read the rest of this entry »
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01.04.09
Posted in IYA2009 at 21:49 by Kathleen
I have always been fascinated by the night sky, space, stars and planets, as far as I can remember. Apparently, I cannot remember saying it, but as a pre-schooler I freaked out my Mom by telling her that one day I would go to the Moon.
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01.03.09
Posted in IYA2009 at 19:38 by Kathleen
That planning to plan thing keeps on giving… Sometimes the only way to stand a chance to catch up with things at work is to work on weekends. But I cannot complain too much, it is still infinitely better than grad school.
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01.02.09
Posted in IYA2009 at 21:45 by Kathleen
An you thought a typical astronomer’s day was all about stars and galaxies? Not quite! Especially if the astronomer works for an observatory. Odd isn’t it?
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01.01.09
Posted in IYA2009 at 21:37 by Kathleen
Here we go! January 1, 2009. First day of the International Year of Astronomy. I will be attempting to keep a one-year long blog about the day to day life of a professional astronomer (that would be me).
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