Hi everyone,
Hope you had a nice long weekend! Lots of events going on and opportunities, please read below!
Computer Lab & Observing Deck Clean up: On Thursday, May 30 at 4pm meet us in the computer lab for an annual clean up party. We'll then move to the observing deck to do some spring cleaning out there. Snacks and supplies will be provided! Please help keep our research and study areas clean.
Hope you had a nice long weekend! Lots of events going on and opportunities, please read below!
Computer Lab & Observing Deck Clean up: On Thursday, May 30 at 4pm meet us in the computer lab for an annual clean up party. We'll then move to the observing deck to do some spring cleaning out there. Snacks and supplies will be provided! Please help keep our research and study areas clean.
Graduation Ceremony Assistance Needed: I am looking
for 2 students to assist on Friday, June 14 with the Department's
graduation ceremony. The exact time is TBD, but will likely start
around Noon and end around 7pm with some downtime in between. You will
be compensated for your time. Please email me or stop by if you're
interested. This is only for students not participating in graduation
since some work will be required during the ceremony.
Student wanted for an ASTR 499 project: Prof.
Woody Sullivan is looking for an undergrad to act as "curator" and
developer for the Webcam and related material for the large sundial on
the wall of the UW Physics/Astronomy Bldg.: http://sunny.astro.
Largely due to the skills of Ian Smith, the student who has worked with me and is graduating in June, we now have almost 2 years of monitoring of the sundial at one-minute intervals all day long, rain or shine. The Webcam is located inside a window in Hitchcock Hall, across the street from the PAA building (see the website for more details).
The core responsibility of the undergrad is to monitor the operation of the webcam and its associated software and website, and fix things as needed. Our setup is now very reliable, but nothing works 100.0% of the time. In addition to this, other possible projects (depending on your interests) are:
- make more time-lapse movies using the archived images already gathered (two examples can be seen on the present website).
- improve the user experience on the website, in particular by allowing them to read the time even when it's cloudy in Seattle! (This would be done by overlaying the live Webcam image with a calculated shadow.)
- Similarly, allow the user to read the time even if the sun is not above the horizon in Seattle! (This is done by calculating the sun's shadow position as if sunlight could penetrate the Earth - consider this a "neutrino sundial"!)
- participate in science projects associated with almost 40,000 images of the "MarsDials," which are on the Mars Rovers Spirit and Opportunity. Two students are already working on this, but there is always room for more talent and good ideas.
Here are the ideal capabilities of the new student - the more you have of these items, the better you're suited!
* Some experience programming; Javascript would be best.
* Knowledge of Linux and feeling comfortable on the command line.
* Strong sense of responsibility, since large amounts of data will be cared for.
* Good mathematical skills in geometry
* Interest (including artistic) in manipulating and processing images
* Knowledge of CSS to make the website look good.
Contact Prof. Sullivan for more details: woody@astro.washington.edu, 206-543-7773, Room PAT C318
Physics GRE Studying for the Summer: There appears to be some interest in trying to form a study group this summer. I encourage anyone interested in studying to sign up for the Physics GRE mailing list. We'll use this to setup times. https://mailman1.u.washington.
Taking ASTR 480 in Spring 2014?? Get your observations done this summer! For those taking ASTR 480 next spring, consider enrolling in ASTR 190 this summer quarter to get your observations done ahead of time while the weather is nice! ASTR 190 this summer is a non-major observing class taught by Dr. Larson. You can save your observations taken from this summer and use them in ASTR 480.
Largely due to the skills of Ian Smith, the student who has worked with me and is graduating in June, we now have almost 2 years of monitoring of the sundial at one-minute intervals all day long, rain or shine. The Webcam is located inside a window in Hitchcock Hall, across the street from the PAA building (see the website for more details).
The core responsibility of the undergrad is to monitor the operation of the webcam and its associated software and website, and fix things as needed. Our setup is now very reliable, but nothing works 100.0% of the time. In addition to this, other possible projects (depending on your interests) are:
- make more time-lapse movies using the archived images already gathered (two examples can be seen on the present website).
- improve the user experience on the website, in particular by allowing them to read the time even when it's cloudy in Seattle! (This would be done by overlaying the live Webcam image with a calculated shadow.)
- Similarly, allow the user to read the time even if the sun is not above the horizon in Seattle! (This is done by calculating the sun's shadow position as if sunlight could penetrate the Earth - consider this a "neutrino sundial"!)
- participate in science projects associated with almost 40,000 images of the "MarsDials," which are on the Mars Rovers Spirit and Opportunity. Two students are already working on this, but there is always room for more talent and good ideas.
Here are the ideal capabilities of the new student - the more you have of these items, the better you're suited!
* Some experience programming; Javascript would be best.
* Knowledge of Linux and feeling comfortable on the command line.
* Strong sense of responsibility, since large amounts of data will be cared for.
* Good mathematical skills in geometry
* Interest (including artistic) in manipulating and processing images
* Knowledge of CSS to make the website look good.
Contact Prof. Sullivan for more details: woody@astro.washington.edu, 206-543-7773, Room PAT C318
Physics GRE Studying for the Summer: There appears to be some interest in trying to form a study group this summer. I encourage anyone interested in studying to sign up for the Physics GRE mailing list. We'll use this to setup times. https://mailman1.u.washington.
Taking ASTR 480 in Spring 2014?? Get your observations done this summer! For those taking ASTR 480 next spring, consider enrolling in ASTR 190 this summer quarter to get your observations done ahead of time while the weather is nice! ASTR 190 this summer is a non-major observing class taught by Dr. Larson. You can save your observations taken from this summer and use them in ASTR 480.
Sarah
