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Star Trails and Meterology(?)

George Privon — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 22:02:16 +0000

Tonight is the only night since I’ve been in the Netherlands which could remotely qualify as “clear”. But, since it’s all relative I can tell you how “clear” it was. As I was letting my camera go for a few minute exposure, I noticed a plane flying close in projection to the moon. I was initially hoping to see the plane silhouetted against the moon, but as it flew closer I realized that wasn’t going to happy, but something possibly even a bit more neat was going to…

As the plane flew “past” the moon, it was still close enough that it’s shadow was projected onto the thin cirrus which was abundant in the sky. So, based on that I can say with some confidence that the altitude of the clouds is greater than 0m and less than about 9000m!

But, to the real point.. I was able to get a few pictures of the Dwingeloo 25m radio telescope. Despite the moon and haze, there are a few star trails evident. Taking even a 5 minute exposure (with the aperture open) was too long! It might have been fun to stop the aperture down and take some 30 minute exposures, but with the cool air (-4C!) my battery wasn’t lasting.

And finally, a picture of the heath by night..

Leiden to Hoogeveen

George Privon — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 19:59:43 +0000

Today was partially a traveling day. When those happen in Europe, it impresses me with how smoothly their public transit system works. Granted, I was traveling on a Sunday morning, so crowds were nonexistent. First, bus from the hotel to Leiden Centraal. Then, after a few minutes wait, I caught this train:

Less than fifteen minutes later, I was underneath Schipol. After a slightly longer wait, I boarded an intercity train bound for Groningen, found a window seat and plopped down for the ride. It was raining a bit near Amsterdam, but it thinned out as we made our way east. A little over 2 hours after leaving Leiden, I was in Hoogeveen. A quick taxi ride to ASTRON and here I am!

There are only three of us in the guest house, so things are relatively quiet. I expect they’ll pick up tomorrow though. I’ll be spending the next 5 days here, hopefully finishing up a paper. I was awarded some time on the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope, and coincidentally, the first observations will take place on Wednesday! I’m looking forward to seeing those results.

Den Haag Photo Essay

George Privon — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 18:08:59 +0000

Photos from a few hours walking around Den Haag (The Hague).

View the rest of the pictures here: Den Haag on flickr

Leiden Photo Essay

Leiden Photo Essay

George Privon — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 17:00:18 +0000

Ok, maybe just a couple sentences… I spent a few hours today walking around Leiden and exploring the older, central part of town. Nice sights. Below are a few of my favorite pictures from the day. Follow the link at the bottom to see the rest!

See the rest of the pictures: Leiden on flickr

Live from Leiden

George Privon — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 08:48:08 +0000

Contrary to what the time on the blog post says, it’s 9:30am where I am. A few hours ago, I landed in Leiden for a week-long workshop on powerful radio galaxies. It’s going to be an exciting and interesting conference, but I must admit that I just really want to sleep right now. I managed to get ~5 hours of sleep on the plane, but as anyone who’s slept on a plane knows, it’s not “real” sleep.

And speaking of planes, I took a train from Amsterdam to Leiden and concluded (not for the first time and probably not for the last time), that trains are a much more civilized way to travel. It’s nice to go somewhere and not be shoe-horned in with 300 other people. But, trains aren’t as fast and in the US, they’re never on time. So I guess the price of losing civility is gaining time at your destination (if you even get there at all on Amtrak!).

But before I ramble too much, I’m going to go for a run and start the day by exploring town. My hope as the week goes on is to post some things about the conference here, but most likely, all I’ll have time to do is tweet on occasion. If you’re interested in the program it is available here: Program Powerful Radio Galaxies: Triggering and Feedback.

Summer in the Netherlands

George Privon — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 09:24:35 +0000

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!

Last Day in the Netherlands…

George Privon — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 10:03:17 +0000

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!

To Germany for some Ice Cream

George Privon — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 16:02:10 +0000

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…

I rode south through some familiar towns (Pessa and Hoogeveen) before entering unexplored territory. As with most of the Eastern Netherlands, it’s mostly farmland. The clouds were quite nice overhead and I got some nice vistas of the countryside.

Finally, a short while after passing through Coevorden, I crossed the border into Germany. My goal was Emlichheim, about 9km from the Dutch border. About half an hour later, I was in town, treating myself to an ice cream cone.

After my lunch and ice cream stop, I turned around and headed back. The rest of the trip was rather uneventful.. with more farmland and sunshine. I was getting a bit tired by this point. But, I did see another windmill! That brings my total for the summer to 4.

At 16:25, almost 6 hours and 100km after I’d left, I returned to the guesthouse. Now I think it’s time for a nap!

For the rest of the pictures from the trip: Cycling to Germany on Flickr

Lhee Harvest Festival

George Privon — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 16:08:09 +0000

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

Dwingeloo Radio Telescope

George Privon — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 10:09:27 +0000