I’m back from my summer internship in the Netherlands. I had a great time there both with the research and the cultural experience. It was great to be back in Europe and have the opportunity to explore the Netherlands. I highly recommend the ASTRON/JIVE summer program for aspiring astronomers. It’s an excellent internship and the people are awesome. More info on the ASTRON/JIVE summer internship. There’s a short page about my group here.
I’ve been posting pictures online from my adventures all summer, and many of them have been posted here. I’ve grouped them all into a collection. Please feel free to check them out at the link below.
Collection: ASTRON Summer Internship – 2007
It was a great adventure! I hope I can get back there soon. But for now, it’s onward to the next adventure: PhD!
Well, I’ve finally made it back to the United States…
My flight from Amsterdam to London was late, so I missed my connection from London to Philadelphia. Since that was the last flight from London to anywhere near Delaware, I got a free one night “vacation” in London courtesy of British Airways. They put me up in a hotel for the night with a free dinner and breakfast. It was unfortunately not much of an actual vacation as all I did was sleep and go back to the airport.
Quite possibly the most impressive (although not unexpected) aspect was my luggage. Which as of now is probably still in London. Even though they had over 12 hours to sort out my luggage, they didn’t manage. But, all in all, it’s ok. They’re the ones that have to drive it to Virginia. 
My time in Dwingeloo is coming to an end. I’ve finished up my research and given my 15 minute lunch talk about the results. It went quite well as far as I can tell and people seem to have enjoyed it. Studying neutral hydrogen in radio galaxies was very interesting. Also, it was a lot of fun to see the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope, where I got some of my data.
I had a great time in the Netherlands. It’s nice to go exploring and seeing Amsterdam, Groningen, and the areas around Dwingeloo (Zwartewaterland, Aalden, Lhee) was always enjoyable. I’ll have great memories of the country and the friendly people.
Soon, I start my next adventure. A PhD!
Today was my last opportunity to ride to Germany, so I hopped on my bike and left at around 10:30 this morning. I spotted a section that didn’t seem to be too far away. Probably about 30km to the border (as the crow flies). You can see the whole route I took (~100km in total) here.
It was a beautiful day, with just a few clouds in the sky…
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Today was the Harvest Festival in Lhee. It celebrates farming and features a number of attractions including a tractor show and demonstrations of farming life 100 years ago. It was a really cool festival.
I went with another summer student (Gabriele). We started out walking between a row of tractors and a row of turn of the 20th century engines. 2- and 3-hp motors were loudly pumping water and belching out smoke. It was quite something. We rounded a corner and saw a fake house facade set up in a field. In each window there was a board with flames painted on it. About 30ft away, a line of kids were waiting for their turn to use a small firehose to knock down the boards and “put out” the fire.
Just past that was an open field where three horses were being used to plow for planting. Behind them, a collection of machines were being used to bale hay.
All around the town were stalls with vendors selling everything from Disney posters to wooden-shoe neckerchief slides. In fact, there was even a man hand-carving a pair of wooden shoes!
The rest of the pictures from the trip are online: Lhee Harvest Festival on Flickr
I went out for a late night bike ride with the summer students and visitors…. beautiful clear skies greeted us and as we were riding past a corn field we saw a beautiful shooting star. So I took the opportunity to lie down on the edge of the field and spend some time staring upwards at the milky way. It was a cool night with no cloud cover.
With only 20 or so minutes of laying there, I saw 7 or 8 shooting stars and 7-10 satellites passing overhead. This is probably due to the Perseid meteor shower which is occuring this weekend, and is starting tonight. So, if you can, get out and watch!
Bad Astronomy Blog has more information on this year’s Perseid meteor shower.
There was a very nice sunset last night on the heath. I snapped a few pictures as the sun slipped below the horizon. See my flickr page for more.
The Spitzer Science Center has announced the discovery of four massive galaxies undergoing a simultaneous merger. This event, a merger without gas, is an important discovery for the theories of galaxy evolution. See the full press release below for more information.
The clashing galaxies, spotted by NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, will eventually merge into a single, behemoth galaxy up to 10 times as massive as our own Milky Way. This rare sighting provides an unprecedented look at how the most massive galaxies in the universe form.
Press Release: NASA’s Spitzer Spies Monster Galaxy Pileup
There’s an article about this discovery on the BBC: BBC NEWS | Galaxies clash in four-way merger
As I didn’t go wadlopen today, I opted for a nice bike ride. So far I’ve been North, West, and South. But not East. So, my decision on where to ride was quit easy. I headed off towards Emmen, which is near the German border. The route mainly passed through farmland and small towns. At the turn around point in Aalden, I was treated with the sight of a well preserved windmill. It was located on the very edge of town, next to a field of wheat.
All in all it was a nice ride. I covered over 30 miles at a leisurely pace, ending up with around 3 hours of cycling. I roughly followed this route, out and back. If I hadn’t been here for the weeks and weeks of rain in July, I’d think it was always sunny and warm here in the Netherlands!
To see more pictures from the ride: Cycling to Aalden on Flickr
