November 28, 2011

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving weekend. I know I did and I'm still eating left over turkey. A couple of great talks happening this week and long with a research opportunity for those interested in radio astronomy.

Undergraduate Course Assistants needed for Winter 2012: The Department of Astronomy is hiring additional course assistants for winter quarter. Assistants will be mostly grading for introductory level classes but also assisting with lab setup, photocopying and a variety of other tasks that support instructors and teaching assistants. No teaching duties will be assigned. The position has the possibility of renewal for spring quarter based upon course needs, funding and job performance.

Minimum qualification: Completion of Astronomy 321, 322 and 323. Preference will be given to applicants with a minimum 3.5 grade in each course.



Course assistants will be paid $10/hour for up to 5-10 hours/week during the quarter.


To apply: Submit your resume and unofficial transcript to Sarah Garner in Phys/Astr C319 or in her mailbox by December 1 (Thursday).


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

This message is to invite Astronomy majors to work with the Student Radio Telescope (a 7-ft-diameter dish on the roof of a nearby building). 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

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Possible projects 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 Orion A (Orion nebula), and the Moon

- develop some standard software for data analysis

- work on Web pages for the SRT

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

2012 Summer Internships for Undergraduate Students: 10 week research experience; $5000 stipend plus travel expenses. Areas of research: Engineering, computer science, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biological/life sciences, environmental science, emergency and incident management, social sciences. Projects offered at: National research laboratories: Argonne, Idaho, Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos, Oak Ridge, Pacific Northwest, Sandia, Savannah River. DHS laboratories: Transportation Security Laboratory. Other research facilities, including Air Force research Laboratory, Homeland Security Studies and Analysis Institute, National Institute of Standards and Technology. Locations include: CA, CO, ID, IL, MD, NM, NJ, OH, SC, TN, WA & VA. US citizenship required. Application deadline: January 5, 2012 www.orau.gov/dhsinternships Administered by Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education

AstroLunch: This week we have TWO astro lunch talks. Tuesday at Noon, Renbin Yan (NYU) will give a talk on "The Puzzle of LINERs and the Warm Ionized Gas in Early-type Galaxies" then on Wednesday at 12:30 Andrew Youdin (Harvard CfA) will give a talk on "Planet Formation Near and Far". Feel free to bring your own lunch to these informal lunch-time talks. All talks take place in the Reading Room, PAB B356A.

Astrobiology Seminar: Tuesday at 3pm in PAA A118, Aomawa Shields (UW Grad) will give an overview discussion on her summer research rotation at NASA. Coffee, tea and cookies served at 2:30pm in the lobby.

Colloquium: Thursday at 4pm in PAA A102, Ben Brown (Univ. of Wisconsin- Madison) will give a talk on "How Stars like the Sun get their Spots". Join us at 3:45pm in the foyer for coffee, tea, cookies and conversation!

Page O'Announcements: Updated with some interesting looking winter quarter classes for those of you still looking: http://pageoannouncements.blogspot.com/

Have a great week!