Saturday, 28 March 2009

Administrative Week

Filed under: School — Tags: — George Privon @ 17:53

This last week has been slow in the research department. I got some things done both for classes and TA work though. Most of it consisted of tracking down people to check on things (where’d that CCD camera we ordered go? etc). I’m happy to say that most of it got resolved relatively easily.

This weekend is also the visiting weekend for prospective students. Seven of the accepted students are here to tour the department, find out what we’re working on, and meet the graduate students. I’ve been to a couple meals with them and taken them to/from some of the visits (NRAO Technology Center, Fan Mountain Observatory, etc). It has been fun getting to meet them all. I’m looking forward to hopefully seeing them in the Fall! Things are wrapping up tonight with a party, which is always a good time.

On the personal front, as soon as this post is done I will be editing my pictures from observing in Green Bank, then hopefully the pictures from New Orleans. Links will be posted when those are done…

Wednesday, 25 March 2009

“Nawlins”

Filed under: Louisiana — Tags: , , , , , — George Privon @ 23:55

I spent this past weekend in New Orleans with my NASA friends who were attending the National Science Teacher Association (NSTA) Conference. I attended a bit of the conference and did some sightseeing as well.

On Saturday, after a local styled omlette for breakfast, Aleya and I wandered around the waterfront near the financial district. Right off the bat we saw part of a breakdance performance on the street. Quite impressive!

Head Slide

After that we continued down the waterfront before heading into the conference center to attend a seminar and walk around the exhibit hall. While the seminar on professional development left something to be desired, there was lots of cool stuff at the exhibit hall. We dissected an owl pellet, constructed a model cell, and did an electro-chemistry demo. Aleya topped it all off with a raffle win (her 2nd of 3 for the conference), walking away with a dinosaur tracking kit, model kidney, and a beaker of shiny rocks. I won the dubious honor of helping carry the loot :p

Naturally we had seafood for dinner before watching a couple hours of Feynman videos. They were quite interesting.. He has a unique take on things and an excellent ability to provide explanations for things in relatively simple terms. Aleya capped off her wining streak at this event by winning a Feynman movie and book as a door prize.

Sunday morning was Aleya’s session on “Kinetic Astronomy” at the NSTA conference. It went quite well and seemed well attended. After wrapping up the conference events for the weekend, we took the streetcar out to Audubon Park. It was a gorgeous day and there were lots of people out walking, biking, and just laying in the sun. We walked most of the way back to the downtown area, passing through the park and the Garden District. Only stopping to eat some strawberries, a snowball (sno cone) and a hot dog (well, and so Aleya could accidentally sit on an ant colony! Oops!).

Streetcar Garden District

Upon our return, we met up with Laszlo and Emilie at the Cafe Du Monde for some coffee and beignets. The rest of the afternoon was spent wandering around town. We stopped in for a drink on Bourbon Street before heading to a restaurant for a late dinner, with a stop by Preservation Hall.

Aleya at Preservation Hall

Shortly after dinner, we were joined by an old friend of mine from Idaho who is living in New Orleans. He’s both a musician and a yoga teacher, so we got a bit of local info. Sadly our time was limited due to an early flight out on Monday morning, but we managed to walk down Frenchman Street and poke our heads in a bar to hear some “trad” jazz, which was quite cool.

All in all, a short trip, but packed with as much fun as could be managed. I’d certainly like to visit again, see more of the city, and listen to more music!

Saturday, 21 March 2009

“We’re jazzed you’re here”

Filed under: Louisiana — Tags: , — George Privon @ 00:38

Landed in New Orleans a few hours ago and was greeted with the above slogan. As typical for me, the flights were delayed, although perhaps I can just blame that on flying through Atlanta?

After getting back from observing around 8am, I slept until around noon. The afternoon was spent packing and taking care of little errands before flying. I’m in New Orleans for the weekend with some friends. They are at the National Science Teacher Association 2009 Conference. I’ll be joining them for a couple of the seminars, and hopefully some sightseeing later on.

Having never been to New Orleans, I am looking forward to doing a bit of exploring! Naturally, I’ve brought my camera and should have some good pictures to show for it.

Friday, 20 March 2009

10 Hours into the Observing Run

Filed under: Astronomy, West Virginia — Tags: , , , , , — George Privon @ 03:09

The observing run has been going quite smoothly so far. I haven’t had any trouble with the telescope or any other equipment. RFI seems to have been minimal as well. I’ve split the 10 hours I’ve used so far between two galaxies; 3 hours on one, and 7 on the other. I’m planning to spend the rest of the night on the latter galaxy, giving it about 9 hours total. This, plus some calibrations should wrap up the night nicely.

Quick looks at the data are promising. Our observing program was intended to look at two Seyfert galaxies which have upper limits on the neutral hydrogen (HI) mass. Using the improved sensitivity of the Green Bank Telescope, we were hoping to detect emission from the HI and possibly use the information to fir another piece of the puzzle for the two galaxies. As I said, things are looking promising, I think we might have detected the HI in both galaxies along with some other potentially interesting features. A proper reduction will be necessary to make be certain however.

Observing here in Green Bank has been a great experience. I’ve enjoyed meeting the staff here and enjoyed using the telescope. I hope I can come back, although the option to observe remotely exists.

At any rate, my observations are automated for the next 2 hours, so I think I’m going to catch a quick nap…

Thursday, 19 March 2009

Orion and the GBT

Filed under: Astronomy, Photography, West Virginia — Tags: , , , , , — George Privon @ 14:55



Orion and the GBT

Originally uploaded by GeorgePrivon

I took this somewhat unique picture on Tuesday night while in Green Bank, WV observing on the Green Bank Telescope (GBT). The telescope is nicely lit up for the shot, which is unusual. In this case, there were some issues with the HVAC system and the lights were turned on so it could be repaired. Naturally, this put a temporary end to our observations, but we made the best of it and took some pictures. This is probably the best of the ones I took. I have a few more which I’ll upload later.

The net result of the night was ~5.5 hours of the 11.5 hour run lost to equipment issues. We managed to make good use of the 6 hours we did have, but we still need more data.

Fortunately, due to a combination of weather and our lost time, we were given more time tonight to finish our observations! As I write this, I am back in the GBT control room in Green Bank. My observing scripts are ready to go and I’ll begin observing in a little over an hour. As before, I’ll be providing updates on twitter as I go.

With an hour left to go, the GBT is currently being used as part of a global network of radio telescopes to look at Cygnus A, a radio source which is near and dear to my heart (I’m finishing my MS thesis on it). Hopefully they get some good results!

Tuesday, 17 March 2009

Checking back in & Waiting to Observe

Filed under: Astronomy, West Virginia — Tags: , , , , — George Privon @ 18:07

Had an exceptionally busy week last week, and have been meaning to write it up. Classes were quite busy, with multiple assignments due in rapid succession last week. Plus observing preparation (where I am now), an outreach event at the Udvar-Hazy Center of the Air and Space Museum, and the other “normal” things I have to do throughout the week.

In addition to this, several of my fellow graduate students and I (along with comments from a couple astronomers at UVa and NRAO) wrote and submitted a white paper to the 2010 Decadal Survey regarding hands-on experience with telescopes for students. It was quite a bit of work in a short time (~4 days from concept to submission), but was a great experience. It’s great to know that we are providing input on the direction of astronomy for the next decade.

I am currently sitting in the control room of the Green Bank Telescope, in Green Bank, WV. Well into our 11.5 hour observing block, we still haven’t gotten on sky due to some equipment issues. They are being worked on as we speak, and I think we should be on sky and observing soon. I will try to post updates to twitter as the night goes on. We’re looking for HI in a couple Seyfert galaxies. Should be fun! There will hopefully be a longer update after we finish observing…

Tuesday, 10 March 2009

Spread the joy of astronomy with a Galileoscope

Filed under: Astronomy — Tags: , — George Privon @ 12:31

To celebrate the 2009 Year of Astronomy, the Galileoscope was created. Intended to commemorate Galileo’s telescope, it is a relatively inexpensive ($15) refracting telescope. The goal is to get telescopes in the hands of as many people as possible to celebrate the Year of Astronomy. The Bad Astronomy blog (link below) has a post with some information on the project and how to order one. You can purchase one for yourself for $15 or anonymously donate one for $12.50!

Spread the joy of astronomy with a Galileoscope | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine.

Monday, 9 March 2009

Both Sides of the Assignments

Filed under: Astronomy, School — Tags: , , , — George Privon @ 19:04

I spent this weekend (and most of today) bouncing between sides of the coin. Many of the introductory classes had their midterm exams the week before break. So I spent part of the weekend grading exams.

The other part was spend doing my own assignments. The first was a problem set for the Interstellar Medium class. It primarily dealt with emission from atoms.

After class I moved on to the first data assignment for the radio astronomy instrumentation. We are looking at some of the raw data from the PAPER Experiment.The goal is to look at how to remove radio frequency interference from the data without adversely affecting the good data. We also looked at the autocorrelation of the signals from individual antennas to see if there were any anomalies in the recorded data. It was an interesting assignment. Always cool to work with real data! :)

Saturday, 7 March 2009

Cloudy there, sunny here

Filed under: Astronomy — Tags: , , , , , — George Privon @ 06:54

We called it quits on observing just as the sun rose here in Charlottesville. Clouds and wind in New Mexico kept us from even opening the dome. Now, had we been observing in the radio…

Wait, that’s the next observing run… In a little over a week I will be in Green Bank, WV to do some looking for neutral hydrogen (H I) in some active galaxies. Fortunately, that is much less susceptible to weather conditions. I’ll definitely be posting regarding that. But now it’s bedtime. Let’s see if I can get there before the Sun is up!

Back in Cville

Filed under: Astronomy — Tags: , — George Privon @ 00:49

I’m back in Cville after almost a week in Idaho. I spent 4 straight days skiing, mostly with excellent snow. It was great to see family and ski with them.

I am about done unpacking from my trip, and the first load of laundry is just about done too. Glamorous eh?

I have an observing run at APO starting in less than 2 hours, so I’ll be heading into work in a bit to get set up. The weather is looking quite poor, with the satellite loop showing a stationary cloud over the observatory. It’d be great if it cleared up, but I’ll be kinda surprised if that happens. We shall see I guess..

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