December 13, 2012

It's finals week so this is the last email until winter quarter. Some important things before our break begins:

Grad School inquiries: The Department occasionally gets requests from other graduate programs to provide a list of students interested in hearing from someone at their Department. Due to confidentiality we do not give out student information, however if you would like to be added to a list that is given out after such requests please send me a quick note saying it's OK.

ASTR 497 Exoplanets: This winter, consider taking ASTR 497, a course on Exoplanets. For thousands of years, humanity has pondered the possible existence of planets and life beyond our own Solar System. Yet is has only been the last decade that we been able to find evidence that extrasolar planets, planets found around stars other than our Sun, do exist. This course will cover extrasolar planet detection techniques, characteristics of the known population, and how studies of extrasolar planets have changed our views of planetary system formation and evolution. This course will also focus on the science behind the planned searches for Earth-like planets and life beyond our Solar System. The course meets MW 1:30-2:50 (sln 10550).

Call for students who want to work with the Student Radio Telescope

The Student Radio Telescope is now working well, and this message is to invite Astronomy majors to join in. It is best if you have had the ASTR 321-22-23 sequence (esp. 322) and an EM course (but you do not have to know electronics). If you are interested in learning about the basics of radio astronomy and doing any of the projects below, please sign up for 1 hr of ASTR 499 - Sarah can give you an entry code. If you're interested in more than 1 hr credit, then we should talk beforehand. It is not absolutely necessary to sign up for 499, but it helps the Dept. if you do so.

We will meet once weekly (exact time chosen to fit everyone's schedules) to discuss data, etc. from the previous week, as well as plans for the following week. For one hour credit, you will be expected to attend this meeting, observe at the SRT for at least 1.5 hrs per week, and analyze your data as needed.

- Woody Sullivan (woody@astro.washington.edu)

Possible Winter Quarter projects / goals with the Student Radio Telescope (SRT)

- monitor the 1400 MHz flux of the sun (we are at the start of the next cycle of the 11-yr sunspot cycle, and the radio intensity varies a lot, too)

- map the galactic plane in continuum radiation

- study the distribution of atomic hydrogen by measuring the 21 cm line at various locations

- study the rotation of the Milky Way by measuring shifts in the velocities of the 21 cm line

- detect very weak sources such as the Crab Nebula (Tau A), the supernova remnant Cas A, the galactic center Sgr A, the H II region Ori A, and the Moon

- develop some standard software for data analysis

- help produce an Operator's Manual for the SRT that can be handed to SRT newbies

- work on Web pages for the SRT

- work on write-ups of standard projects (such as those above) for future students to use


Have a fantastic break!

Sarah

December 6, 2010

Hi everyone,

You've made it to the last week of classes! There are a couple of announcements I want to make before you head out for winter break.

Meet with John Mather: This Thursday, the Department is hosting John Mather, a Nobel Prize winner in Physics (2006) and the Project Scientist for the James Webb Space Telescope. There will be a special undergraduate meeting with Dr. Mather on Thursday, December 9 at 2:30pm in Phys/Astr C520. Snacks will be provided and you are all encouraged to attend!

Grad School inquiries: The Department occasionally gets requests from other graduate programs to provide a list of students interested in hearing from someone at their Department. Due to confidentiality we do not give out student information, however if you would like to be added to a list that is given out after such requests please send me a quick note saying it's OK.

2011 Undergraduate Pacific Physics and Astronomy Conference: The UPPAC this year is the first week of March. UPPAC is grounded in beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada at Simon Fraser University. It will feature talks from some of the provinces top physicists in conjunction with talks from students like you. UPPAC presents a great opportunity to meet other physics students, share your research, and learn about other universities in the Pacific region. What's more, You can expect that registration will be less than $30 for a full two days of physics phun (travel and accommodation not included).

If you're interested in attending you should check out our website at www.sfupsa.com/uppac (which is still under construction) and join the facebook event at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=167231903300915.

Please let me know if you are interested in attending this conference. If there is enough interest we may be able to pull together some Departmental funding to rent a van!

Astro Lunch: Tuesday at Noon in Phys/Astr B356A, Evan Kirby (Hubble Fellow at Caltech) will give a talk on "The Chemical Evolution of Dwarf Satellite Galaxies from Keck/DEIMOS Multi-Element Abundance Measurements ". Feel free to bring your lunch!

Astrobiology Seminar: This Tuesday at 2:30pm in Phys/Astr A118, Mark Skidmore (Montana State) will give a talk on "The (sub)glacial biosphere, microbial activity at zero degrees Celsius and below."

Astronomy Colloquium: Please join us on Thursday at 4pm in Phys/Astr A102 for John Mather's talk on the "Capabilities of JWST". Coffee, tea and cookies are served at 3:45pm in the foyer. Attend the last colloquium of the quarter!

Have a great last week of the quarter!

Sarah