Hubble Legacy Archive

http://hla.stsci.edu/

Time awarded for Hubble Space TElescope

http://www.stsci.edu/hst/proposing/#results

NSF Fellowships

https://www.fastlane.nsf.gov/grfp/Login.do

For next year

Pierre Auger Observatory, Chicago

http://www.auger.org/

KEEP THIS IN MIND- 2001 ASTRONOMY JOB REPORT

 http://xxx.lanl.gov/PS_cache/astro-ph/pdf/0301/0301061v1.pdf
48% of the positions
were targeting ‘theory’, 32% were targeting ‘observation’, and 20% were tar-
geting ‘instrumentation’. In terms of research areas, 56% were looking for
cosmologists of one sort or another, 25% were looking for planetary scientists,
11% were looking for high energy astrophysicists, and 8% were looking for
stellar astronomers.

On-Line solar physics book

http://www.springerlink.com/content/q61644/#section=427585&page=1&locus=13

National virtual observatory

http://www.us-vo.org/

Galaxy Zoo-Cool way to get invovled with astronomy

http://www.galaxyzoo.org/

astronomy background in looking up UW research

quasars- faint, point source, very active AGN

Routine for checking for viruses

README


Written by Mason Keck, 12-28-2011


GENERAL INFO:


The System Fix virus moved links to the TEMP folder, which is located at

C:/Users/Mason/AppData/Local/Temp










1. use most updated security software


2. automatically run:

Windows Update (it appears auto.)

securia patch updater (it automatically set itself to do it once a week)

microsoft software essentials (once a month? see recommendation of program)

kapersky labs scan (once every 3 months? it takes 4 hours)

microsoft safety scan (download and run most recent http://www.microsoft.com/security/scanner/en-us/default.aspx)


2. BACKUP

-every 3 months, backup all windows and linux files
-Save files in folder named "BACKUP (insert month, year)"


   A. Windows
      1. Run Microsoft Backup

   B. Linux
      2.  Save Mason Folder to external hardrive



3. if suspected virus:


   a. if system fix:

Rkill (named iExplore and uSeRiNiT)



in general:


TDSS killer

Microsoft Malicious software search

interesting: 'Welcome to the MSDN Library, an essential source of information for developers using Microsoft® tools, products'

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms123401.aspx

http://www.osnews.com/story/22691/Activate_Windows_7_s_Hidden_God_Mode_

look into iCloud

http://www.apple.com/icloud/.

System Fix Removal Log 12-28

The Kaspersky scan of the C drive gave one trojan virus, located in AppData.  I thought I would be able to save the log, but this did not happen.

The Malwarebytes scan gave 4 threats, but they all seem legitimate, so I did not delete them. Keep this in mind if the computer still has problems. 

See the virus_log directory on the C: drive for a report on this scan.

My computer still does not let the TDSS killer software run.


I finally got TDSS killer to work, though due to a link from the site mentioned in the 'very helpful...' post from yesterday.




Things seem pretty clean, but

http://forum.kaspersky.com/index.php?showtopic=212719http://forum.kaspersky.com/index.php?showtopic=212719 

It found no rootkits, so the kapersky antivirus software I ran must have done the job.

NOTE: I searched for  FBapqcwc1aEov8 at HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run, but I could not find it, so hopefully it is completely gone.

I ran SECURIA and it found 5 insecure programs: adobe flash player, adobe reader, java, itunes, and something else. I updated them all, although 2 programs are not indicating this yet.

I installed Microsoft Security Essentials

Here is the microsoft security website, it looks like it has good links to free malware and virus removal programs

http://www.microsoft.com/security/default.aspx

Create an automatic virus scan routine, with 

Rkill (if necessary)
TDSS killer (if necessary)
Microsoft Security Essentials
Malwarebytes
Securia

So I can do this more quickly, and regularly.

Information about system registry

System configuration information is stored centrally in a hierarchical database called the registry. You can use Registry Editor to add and edit registry keys and values, restore the registry from a backup or to default values, and to import or export keys for reference or backup.
You can also print the registry and control which accounts have permission to edit the registry.
For more information about the registry, including registry concepts and securing the registry, go to the Windows Server TechCenter (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=53495).

Microsoft releases a malicious software tool every month:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=9905

I ran a quick scan with a microsoft malicious software remover; it foundn othing.

TDSS killer still only runs for the last version I downloaded, which seems suspicious

12:34pm My computer, control panels, and other options still do not come up on the start menu. Only noticeable difference right now. Computer seems to be running  better.

6:21 pm

Microsoft Security Essentials found nothing after a full scan of 1.5 million things, so I am going to run the backup process tonight. I probably won't reinstall windows because I don't know what the implications on the Linux side this would have.

TODO:
I still need to get the links to my computer, control panels, etc. back. This link may help
http://www.2-viruses.com/remove-system-fix

System Fix Removal Log 12-27

10:45 pm

These instructions seem reliable from the website, I am following them:

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/virus-removal/remove-system-fix

I have run the following processes twice:

rkill
malware bytes anti-malware

but system fix is not gone yet.

I attempted to remove system fix by registering the software, following these instructions:

http://deletemalware.blogspot.com/2011/11/remove-system-fix-uninstall-guide.html

It did not seem to help, and I read bad things about spy doctor, so I did not continue these instructions.

Windows Defender found and quarantined a Trojan virus, I believe it was FBapqcwc1aEov8, which is located at HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

and has a command located at
C:\ProgramData\FBapqcwc1aEov8.exe. I deleted this command.

Looking at msconfig, this started at startup, but I disabled it. I deleted the command. The startup item still shows up on the start menu. 

DLXCATS, in startup, is for dell computers http://www.winvistatips.com/dlcxcats-process-p2949.php

You can access the Hot Keys (HK) by typing 'regedit' into 'run' from the 'start mode'




4:06 AM

I ran kaspersky virus removal software, which found 1 malicious software file:

Rootkit.Boot.SST.a

It was located at \Device\Harddisk0\DR0
Kaspersky disinfected this file.

The Kapersky scan did not look at the C, D, or Q drives before, so I will scan those with it.

TO DO:

1step 22 of  http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/virus-removal/remove-system-fix
2See if step 2 on this website http://www.pcrisk.com/removal-guides/6575-remove-system-fix is worth following

Kaspersky says it will finish in 6 hours...

Very helpful post on kaspersky forum for my situation

http://forum.kaspersky.com/index.php?showtopic=221843

Instructions followed to remove system fix

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/virus-removal/remove-system-fix

the website seems pretty trustworthy

free antivirus removal tool at kapersky labs

http://www.kaspersky.com/antivirus-removal-tool-register

microsoft malware software

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/products/security-essentials

AGN-Starburst Galaxy Conference

http://www.sciops.esa.int/index.php?project=ESACFACULTY&page=workshop_starburstAGN2011

good link from boingboing

http://www.iftf.org/futureofscience

Interesting people to work with at UW

 http://www.astro.washington.edu/users/anderson/

http://www.astro.washington.edu/users/bbinder/research.html

http://www.astro.washington.edu/users/ben/

helped me avoid a potentially very annoying problem

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word-help/hide-text-HP005189458.aspx

finding what areas of research I want to specialize in

http://www.cs.indiana.edu/how.2b/how.2b.before.html

"
It helps to have a good idea of what area you want to specialize in, and preferably a couple of particular research projects you might like to work on. Look for books and current journals and conference proceedings in your area, and read through them to get an idea of who's doing what where. (You'll be doing a *lot* of reading once you start graduate school, so you might as well get used to it.) This is where advisors first enter the scene: faculty members ought to be willing to talk to undergraduates and help them find out more about research areas and graduate schools. Try to get involved in research: ask professors and TAs whether they need someone to work on an ongoing project, or start an independent research project, with guidance from a faculty member.
"

Getting financial support in Grad school (from 'How to be a Good Grad Student')

Most graduate students (at least in the natural sciences) have a source of financial support that pays their tuition and a small living stipend. Although nobody ever got rich being a graduate student, you probably won't starve either. Sources of funding include fellowships (from NSF, universities, foundations, government agencies, and industry), employer support, research assistantships (i.e., money from a faculty member's research grant) and teaching assistantships.
Start looking for money early. Many schools arrange support in the form of an RA or TA position in the first year, but after that, you're on your own. Deadlines for applications vary, and if you miss one, you'll probably have to wait another year. After you apply, it can take six months or so to review the applications and several more months to actually start receiving money.
Ask faculty members (especially your advisor, who should be helping you to find support or providing support out of his or her grant money), department administrators, and fellow graduate students about available funding. Go to your university's fellowship office or its equivalent, and look through the listings in "The Annual Register of Grant Support", "The Grant Register", "The Chronicle of Higher Education", and "Foundation Grants to Individuals". Look into NSF grants (there are several different programs). Take advantage of your status as a woman or minority if you are one (this may be the only time when it actually is an advantage). Most universities have fellowship programs that may be administered through individual departments or may be campus-wide.
If you haven't yet begun actively doing research, getting an RA position from a faculty member may be a good way to become involved in a research project. Working on an existing research project by maintaining or developing hardware or software, writing reports, and running experiments will give you a feel for what it's like to do research -- and you may even find a thesis topic. Ask around to see what's available, and go talk to professors whose work you find interesting.
For a research grant or fellowship, you will probably have to write a proposal, so the more you've thought about potential thesis topics, the better off you'll be. You may need to tailor your proposal to the interests and needs of the particular funding agency or program you're applying to, but stick to something you know about and are sincerely interested in.
Write for a general audience, since the people reviewing your application may not be in the same field. Emphasize your goals and why the project you propose to work on is important. Talk as much as you can about how you're going to solve the problem, and be sure that your proposed solution will satisfy the goals you've set forth. Follow the rules for format, page layout and length, or your application may not even be reviewed.

What every grad student should now, how to be a good grad student

http://www.cs.indiana.edu/docproject/grad.stuff.html
http://www.cs.indiana.edu/how.2b/how.2b.html

financial aid UCLA

http://academics.physics.ucla.edu/misc/fin_sup.php

UCLA residence info and tuition information

http://www.registrar.ucla.edu/FAQ/residencefaq.htm


http://www.gdnet.ucla.edu/gasaa/admissions/antexp.htm

important to note
 """
Please note that you should not expect any financial support from UCLA unless you have been officially notified, in writing, of such an award by the department or by the Graduate Division. Teaching Assistantships, Graduate Student Researcher appointments, fellowships, and stipends, as well as tuition fellowships, are not guaranteed for the full academic year or for subsequent years of study, unless stated in writing.
It is extremely difficult for non-immigrant visa holders to find off-campus employment and to obtain permission for such employment. Spouses of F-1 visa holders, who hold F-2 visas, are not permitted to work under any circumstances.
At certain times of the year, you must have large sums of money available to cover payment of required expenses: Upon arrival, plan to spend US $13,000.00 — 15,000.00 on initial rental deposits, your first month's living expenses and the first term's tuition and fees. Tuition and fees for each term must be paid during the registration period prior to the beginning of the term, so you should plan your budget accordingly.
 """

I NEED TO LOOK UP FINANCIAL SUPPORT INFO

UCLA crime statistics

http://map.ais.ucla.edu/go/1000958

Expected physics and math background for Harvard

http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/ast/acad/gradcourse.html


I need more background in Complex analysis,  PDE's, ODE's, Fourier Transforms than I have

R language, Astrostatistics

http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~astorer/cfa.pdf
http://hea-www.cfa.harvard.edu/AstroStat/SolStat2012/#oneB

SciGPU- future of solutions to astronomical problems according to this guy

 
https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~lincoln/-

solar physics reu

http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/opportunities/solar_reu/

Survey telescopes Jim uses

2MASS, Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), WISE

2MASS- http://www.ipac.caltech.edu/2mass/

2MASS is an infrared survey of the sky. 

"
2MASS used two highly-automated 1.3-m telescopes, one at Mt. Hopkins, AZ, and one at CTIO, Chile. Each telescope was equipped with a three-channel camera, each channel consisting of a 256×256 array of HgCdTe detectors, capable of observing the sky simultaneously at J (1.25 microns), H (1.65 microns), and K_s (2.17 microns).
"

--SDSS


It looks like SDSS is an optical survey. It has created color maps of the sky.
"
The SDSS used a dedicated 2.5-meter telescope at Apache Point Observatory, New Mexico, equipped with two powerful special-purpose instruments.
"
"
SDSS-III will continue operating and releasing data through 2014.
Data Release 8 contains all images from the SDSS telescope - the largest color image of the sky ever made. It also includes measurements for nearly 500 million stars and galaxies, and spectra of nearly two million. All the images, measurements, and spectra are available free online. You can browse through sky images, look up data for individual objects, or search for objects anywhere in the sky based on any criteria.

"

-WISE

WISE is a near-infrared survey.
"Infrared data with WISE allows you to search for asteroids, comets, cool planets, cool stars, origin of stellar and planetary systems, and most luminous galaxies in the universe." not perfect quote

opportunities at NASA GSFC astrophysics divison

http://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/student_opps/student_opps.html

good astro links

http://peggysue.as.utexas.edu/sf/links.html

We are stardust

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBqodL2OJ1A

This is my graduate school guide

http://www.as.utexas.edu/astronomy/education/applytips.html


The UT-Austin site is very good base for getting information and advice on grad school

Reading: Tomorrow's professors

http://oregonstate.summon.serialssolutions.com/search/results?q=tomorrow%27s+professor&x=0&y=0

Photometry

Aperture photometry sounds exactly like what Andy was describing with determining the X-ray counts from a region

photometry wiki

Jim's website and CV; CV, cover letter guide from University of Virginia

http://www.astro.washington.edu/users/jrad/James_R._A._Davenport.html
http://www.astro.washington.edu/users/jrad/davenport.cv.pdf

http://www.virginia.edu/vpr/postdoc/docs/CVCoverLetters.pdf

Curriculum Vitae tips-purdue owl

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/641/01/

Key ideas:

"

a good CV is one that emphasizes the points that are considered to be most important in your discipline and conforms to standard conventions within your discipline."

"Gapping is the use of incomplete sentences in order to present your information as clearly and concisely as possibly. For example, instead of writing, "I taught composition for four years, during which time I planned classes and activities, graded papers, and constructed exams. I also met with students regularly for conferences," you might write, "Composition Instructor (2000-2004). Planned course activities. Graded all assignments. Held regular conferences with students.""By using incomplete sentences here, you cut out unnecessary words and allow your reader to see quickly what you have been doing.

 

"Parallelism is also very important to a strong CV Generally, you will want to keep the structure of your phrases and/or sentences consistent throughout your document. "

"Remember that the principles guiding any decision you make should be conciseness and ease of readability."

Grad student profiles

John Barentine, 5th year grad student at Texas-Austin

http://www.as.utexas.edu/~jcb/

"""

In a previous life, I was employed as a 3.5m Telescope Observing Specialist (2001-5) for the Astrophysical Research Consortium (ARC) and an Observer (2004-6) for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) at Apache Point Observatory in Sunspot, NM.

"""

Majored in physics, minor in astronomy at University of Arizona

Member of AAS since 2002

-------------

Sarah Ballard, 5th year grad student at Harvard

Very good website

https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~sballard/CfA/Welcome.html

She produces a lot of research papers

-Advertises all her publications on her website AND CV

very impressive CV (style and content): https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~sballard/documents/Ballard_CV.pdf

Undergrad at UC Berkeley with highest distinction, 

Also does a lot of outreach, particularly with women in science

----

https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~iczekala/index.html

University of Virignia grad in astronomy and aerospace

-----

Courtney Dressing

https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~cdressing/

Princeton University

I also did work related to Mars research in high school...

----

Maria Drout, 1st year grad at Harvard

https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~mdrout/Welcome.html

Undergrad at Iowa, Masters at Cambridge in Applied Math

She advertises the template program she uses for her research very openly The template light- and "color-curves produced in Drout & Soderberg et al. (2011), “The First Systematic Survey of Type Ibc Supernova Light-Curves,” are available here for download.  "

-------

Christopher Hayward, 6th year grad student at Harvard

https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~chayward/

https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~chayward/CV_pub_2010-11-01.pdf

Note the style of CV's when I make my own

REU at CERN

UMichigan undergrad, Master's at Cambridge

New model for gamma ray bursts

http://mcdonaldobservatory.org/news/releases/2011/1130.html

Gauge theory, gauge fixing (coulomb gauge), action

check them out on wiki!

Outlook on astronomy field

http://xxx.lanl.gov/pdf/astro-ph/0301061v1

Key excerpts

"""

The breakdown makes for interesting reading and should be
brought to the attention of prospective PhD students: 48% of the positions
were targeting ‘theory’, 32% were targeting ‘observation’, and 20% were targeting ‘instrumentation’. In terms of research areas, 56% were looking for
cosmologists of one sort or another, 25% were looking for planetary scientists,
11% were looking for high energy astrophysicists, and 8% were looking for
stellar astronomers.

"""


"""
In terms of a so-called “recipe for success” for prospective astronomy
PhD students, the following was suggested: (1) investigate the past history
of both the school and supervisor who interests you (e.g. how have their past
students fared? What is their grant history like? What are the opportunities
for external & international collaborative links?); (2) know what’s hot (both
in the near- and long-term - e.g. computational and/or theory, cosmology,
instrumentation, planetary, astrobiology); (3) get experience writing grants;
(4) be sure to network; (5) avoid excessive observing; (6) be wary of undertaking PhDs within very large teams; (7) for Australian students, move
institutes for your PhD and PDF, and be prepared to emigrate; (8) be aware
of the competition (most folks have ∼10 papers by the end of their first PDF
position)
"""

UCSD groups of interest

http://cass.ucsd.edu/heag/
http://casswww.ucsd.edu/index.php/research:Groups

Useful blog post about statement of purpose

http://www.physicsgre.com/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=3607

Harvard

http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/ast/research/ism.html

Texas research of interest

http://www.as.utexas.edu/~alh/vixens.html
http://www.as.utexas.edu/~sj/#Res

UCLA faculty of interest

• Michael Rich is a member of the Galaxy Evolution Explorer science team, a UV sky survey satellite. Rich's research on GALEX addresses the study of star formation in the 0<1 range, as well as the UV properties of early-type galaxies. Rich also works on the kinematics and composition of stars in the bulge and halo of M31, and on the search for black holes in globular clusters.
• Shoko Sakai's research focuses on two areas: (1) determining the star formation rate in the current universe and examining the star formation properties of various morphological types of galaxies by imaging nearby clusters of galaxies, and (2) investigating the three-dimentional structure of the local universe by measuring accurate distances to galaxies, in order to find out how much dark matter exists on scales of a few Mpcs.
• Alice Shapley uses optical and infrared imaging and spectroscopic observations of high-redshift galaxies to understand how galaxies form, evolve, and affect their intergalactic environments. Specifically of interest are the star-formation and metal-enrichment histories of galaxies, the development of galaxy structure, and the important process of "feedback."
• Jean Turner uses the Keck, the VLA, infrared, millimeter, and sub-millimeter telescopes to study star formation in starbursts, especially super star cluster formation.

UCSD

http://casswww.ucsd.edu/index.php/students:Main

university of chicago- Giant Magellan Telesscope

http://www.gmto.org/

http://pisgm.ucolick.org/

intergalactic medium studies

X-ray background studies at Carnegie Mellon

http://astrophysics.phys.cmu.edu/potm/#012002

Cool website

http://www.as.utexas.edu/gcet/

Astronomy interests

I would currently most like to study spectral studies related to the origin and the dispersion of elements, including starburst galaxies.


http://ixo.gsfc.nasa.gov/science/goalsOriginDispersionElements.html#pageTop 

LSST- keep a check up on its data

Plans for sharing the data from LSST with the public are as ambitious as the telescope itself. Anyone with a computer will be able to fly through the Universe, zooming past objects a hundred million times fainter than can be observed with the unaided eye. The LSST project will provide analysis tools to enable both students and the public to participate in the process of scientific discovery. The work on the project is broken down into three main areas: The Camera, Telescope & Site, and Data Management. We invite you to learn more about the science of LSST.

Astronomy teaching tools (lab, hw, activites, lectures..., videos, animations...)

http://www.astro.washington.edu/courses/labs/clearinghouse/

positive outlook on astronomy

http://www.sdss.jhu.edu/~budavari/tamas/

notice the '!'

Interesting blog to check out on the study of waves

http://glafreniere.com/matter.htm

electromagnetic plane of polarization

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave_equation

numerical methods book

http://www.nr.com/

VERY GOOD GRAD SCHOOL REFERENCE

http://www.as.utexas.edu/astronomy/education/applytips.html#prepare

Astronomy Program rankings from princeton website

https://www-dept-edit.princeton.edu/astro/news-events/AST-Program-Rankings.pdf

Grad School advice

http://www.cs.indiana.edu/docproject/grad.stuff.html

UMD Dept of Astronomy Wiki

http://www.astro.umd.edu/twiki/bin/view/AstroUMD

Accretion of Cygnus X-1 described as a Damped Harmonic Oscillator

http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/0803/0803.0238v2.pdf

NRAO Internship

https://science.nrao.edu/opportunities/student-programs/summerstudents

Astronomy questions

http://www.astro.uu.nl/~strous/AA/en/antwoorden/zwaartekracht.html

Astronomy questions

http://www.astro.uu.nl/~strous/AA/en/antwoorden/zwaartekracht.html

best places to work rankings

http://bestplacestowork.org/BPTW/rankings/

ssh info on transferring files

http://vikashazrati.wordpress.com/2008/02/03/quicktip-transferring-files-between-two-ubuntu-systems/

I got this one to work
http://hintsforums.macworld.com/archive/index.php/t-29244.html

matplotlib tips

http://physics.nmt.edu/~raymond/software/python_notes/paper004.html

Vi Cheat Sheet

http://www.lagmonster.org/docs/vi.html

manual for entering formulas into open office

http://documentation.openoffice.org/HOW_TO/formula/Formula_HowTo_1_0.pdf

for example, to enter greek letters, type %name, like %mu, %MU  (lower case and capital mu, respectively)

Poster Advertising

http://www.entrepreneurs-journey.com/101/marketing-to-students-poster-advertising-101/

http://www.squidoo.com/poster-advertising

http://www.math.okstate.edu/~ullrich/PyPlug/

python tips. Note working with Matricies in particular

science writing tips

http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/id.877,y.0,no.,content.true,page.1,css.print/issue.aspx

Latex guide

http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/Wiki/index.php/LaTeX:Symbols

Cool website with Elemental abundances

http://periodictable.com/Properties/A/UniverseAbundance.v.log.html

Black Holes, Warped Space, and Magnetic Fields- space.com

Author: Charles Q. Choi, Space.com contributor
 Date Written:  March 24, 2011
 Title: Famous black Hole Sheds New Light on Warped Space, Magnetic Fields
 Subject Area:   Black Holes, Astroph.
 Source Website: http://www.space.com/11222-black-holes-cygnus-warped-space.html
 ---Summary---

Polarized light reveals evidence of strong magnetic fields near black holes, which have been theorized but not seen.  Emission from the first discovered black hole, Cygnus X-1 includes thermal emisson from the 120 million degree C corona as well as another source, identified in this article as synchrotron radiation. Synchrotron radiation is produced by strong magnetic fields. Polarized light is light which vibrates in one direction...

 ---My Reaction---

This 'sheds some light' on how polarimetry is used, although I did not investigate closely why exactly polarimetry showed this vs. a CCD.




 ---Questions---

What does it mean for light ot vibrate in one direction?

International X-Ray Observatory! X-Ray Astophysics!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMBtabl4a9M&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v891AIB6lik&NR=1


IXO http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5T2lcwrSXI&NR=1

Solar Flare    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ys9xL3mw8tI&feature=related

Vneutr=2.9980e+08?

http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110922/full/news.2011.554.html

3 sigma is 99%, correct? So 6 sigma is pretty confident in statistic speak

This guy left a comment about his paper postulating some particles that could travel faster than the speed of light, but I am sure he is not the only one

http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/9505117

mathematical statistics textbook

http://books.google.com.nf/books?id=ZvPKTemPsY4C&printsec=frontcover&dq=mathematical+statistics+wackerly&hl=en&ei=UNp4TtLNG-iIsQLXvp2sDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false

Friday parody

http://boingboing.net/2011/09/08/braaiday-south-african-barbecue-parody-of-rebecca-blacks-friday.html

U.S. vs. Canada

http://www.ussoccer.com/Schedule-Tickets/2011/110922-US-Women-vs-Canada.aspx

cheap p-chem book

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0395918480/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&seller=

Potential Gift Idea

Pen Tablet

http://www.amazon.com/Wacom-CTL460-Bamboo-Pen-Tablet/dp/B002OOWC3I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1315529154&sr=8-1

hiding text, paragraphs, sections with open office; code folding with vim

Good link for hiding text or paragraphs in open office, see specifically the sample text the guy wrote up, about 3/5 the way down the page.

http://user.services.openoffice.org/en/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=19331&start=0


To be able to hide a section of text,

1. Create a variable, 'variable',
ctrl-f2
variables>set variable
insert variable name, and value
for example, variable name=Show, value=1

2. Create a section

highlight a section of text, by dragging your mouse over the text
insert> Section...
click on the hide option
In the with condition box, write

Show EQ "0"


Then, if you set the variable Show to 0 later on, it will hide that section



Also, code folding in vim, if it ever seems useful

http://smartic.us/2009/04/06/code-folding-in-vim/


Here is a tutorial for sections in open office, they weren't quite working how I wanted them to
http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Documentation/OOoAuthors_User_Manual/Writer_Guide/Using_sections_for_page_layout#Introduction_to_sections

psychology book

Here is a link to a psychology book Natalie showed me, which seems to shed reality on the true behavior of humans in comparison to how humans perceive themselves. It definitely is interesting to see some insight into 'the reality' of human behavior, but obviously with a paper that is trying to show 'the reality', I have to be skeptical. But the papers I have read so far have been pretty interesting.
        One talks about how people to tend to form groups and discriminate naturally rather than be accepting of others, referencing a study in which two groups of boys were staying in a state park in Oklahoma and allowed to do what they wanted. A critical part of the study was that each group did not know the existence of the other and that they were nearby. Within days, both groups established leaders, and when the groups learned of each others exsitence, they turned on each other, in a way similar to Lord of the Flies, as Natalie mentioned. This is kind of intense.
          Also, there is a paper on how buttons that we press in our daily lives may not actually perform the action we think they do, such as the close-door button on elevators, which by law do not work. This shows that we are conidtioned to believe that our action of pressing the button made the door shut, even though it did not. They said this was no different than a mouse pressing a lever to get cheese.
            Finally, there was a paper on the backfire effect, in which people, with a certain belief, when presented with contradictory evidence to there belief, start to believe even more strongly in their belief. The paper points out the effect of the internet, which I read to say that  the availability of information with the internet has allowed people to become stronger in there biases, rather than made it so people get the real information. This is interesting becaause it seems that people would want to accept the truth, but human nature may not work that way. This seems like it could be a true effect.
          

Notes on creating a scientific poster

http://www.the-aps.org/careers/careers1/GradProf/glas.htm

World of Illusion Mickey Mouse Genesis Game

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_of_Illusion_Starring_Mickey_Mouse_and_Donald_Duck



This is definitely the game I played as a kid with Mickey Mouse! This game was awesome

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AM_broadcasting

AM Radio is in the frequency range of 500 kHz to 1 MHz

Explanation for how radio signals are detected "An AM receiver detects amplitude variations in the radio waves at a particular frequency. It then amplifies changes in the signal voltage to drive a loudspeaker or earphones. The earliest crystal radio receivers used a crystal diode detector with no amplification."

I don't think radio waves have a voltage...maybe power differences?









Author: Date Written: Title: Subject Area: Source Website: ---Summary--- ---My Reaction--- ---Questions---

learning html, css

Here is a link to a website for learning html, css

http://www.w3schools.com/

Daren recommending css and mentioned how it makes it easier to redo operations, such as style changes to a page. He said that once you make a style change to one page, you can apply that to any other page.

Lightning is Cool

Except if it makes the power go out. I should look up the properties of lightning, what makes it so bright, and why it crease thunder. Looking up lightning on wikipedia...

from http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/electric/lightning2.html,

In a lightning bolt can have a peak current around 30,000 A. For some perspective, a washing machine (http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_much_amperage_does_a_washing_machine_draw) draws about 10 A, so this is 3,000 more current than a washing machine draws. Also, a lightning bolt jumps a potential difference on the order of 100 million volts.

P= I*V, so the power dissipated by a lightning bolt can be on the order of a trillion watts, although this website says that this value is on the order of 100 million watts. I do not know where this calculation came from, but this is a lot.
Okay, I was looking to compare the power output of a lightning bolt, and I found just what I was looking for

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orders_of_magnitude_%28power%29

The peak power output of a lightning bolt can be up to 1 terawatt, which is roughly 1000 times the power output of the hoover dam, and 10 times the power consumption of Great Britain in 2008. The peak power output of a lightning bolt occurs during a stroke which lasts only for several microseconds. Thus, the total energy transferred in this process is on the order of a Giga Joule, which, interestingly enough, according to

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orders_of_magnitude_%28energy%29

is equal to the amount of energy expanded by a human heart over an 80 year time frame.
According to
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/electric/lightning2.html
again, a lightning strike lasts about 0.2 seconds, but is composed of several, much shorter flashes (on the order of 1 ms) called strokes.

Also, the leader of a lightning bolt can reach speeds of 220,000 km/h, or about 60,000 m/s, which is pretty fast. The leader of a lightning bolt also reaches temperatures around 30,000 degrees Celsius. The surface temperature of the Sun (look up Sun on wikipedia) is about 5500 degrees C. I don't quite know what this tells you, other than that 30,000 degrees C is very hot.

Okay, I got distracted into looking up what absolute luminosity is for a star. BY THE WAY, IF I DON'T MENTION A LINK, I am just reading the wikipedia article. Absolute luminosity is the luminosity a star would have if it were 10 parsecs away, with a parsec being about 3 light-years.
A question I have had on my mind that I should have known the answer to is how astronomers find the distance to stars. They find it by using parallax! Which, is a method in which a telescope on Earth looks at an object, and notes its relationship to the background stars to the object. Then, astronomers wait 6 months later, when the Earth is on the opposite side of its orbit, and measure the relationship of the object with the background stars again. Being close, the object should have a slightly different relationship to the background stars. This is the same effect you can see when driving by an open-field, when a nearby sign appears to move by much more quickly than a hillside off in the distance.


Anyway, I also wanted to look up how thunder is generated

The large increase in pressure and temperature caused by the lightning strike causes air around the lightning strike to expand very quickly. This creates a sonic shock wave, which is thunder. Sonic booms arise do to objects travelling at or faster than the speed of sound. What happens is that the pressure wave, or sound wave, created by the object moving faster than sound is all compressed into one large, intense wave front, as the object is continuously pressing new wavefronts together. Animations on this website are quite good for showing how a shock wave forms

http://www.kettering.edu/physics/drussell/Demos/doppler/doppler.html

Anyway, I have been at this for a long time. Adios




there is a cool link to Ball Lightning, which reportedly is a ball of lightning that propagates slowly through the sky, like some wondering orb. It does not sound like there have been any certain events in which ball lightning has been witnessed, but there have been cases reported of it in several places, including a lighthouse in Australia, a religious building in India, and a region in the Netherlands. Here is an excerpt of the story on ball lightning from the lighthouse in Australia


"All this happened a few years ago at Cape Naturaliste lighthouse, which stands high on the hill, the ocean all round, on three sides. The three cottages are at the bottom of the hill below the lighthouse.

It was July 1907 when we experienced the impact of the fire ball. Father was the only one on duty, the time was 9.00am one of the Assistant Lightkeepers had gone 25 miles to the small town of Busselton, for supplies and food for the three families. The second Assistant had gone to Yallingup Cave House to collect all the postal mail, papers etc. for the lighthouse which was collected once a week.

It was 8.30am, a storm had been raging for 5 days, then it turned into a severe electric storm with terrible flashes of lightning and thunder which was deafening, then everything went quiet all of a sudden. We were standing looking out of the window facing North East, wondering if we could now go outside. It became very dark, then a large red ball of fire slowly appeared on the horizon. We watched it as it slowly moved towards us, the air became very warm. We were very frightened and then as it came closer, Mother quickly pushed we children under the beds. She got under a heavy dining room table, only just in time an the fire ball struck our house, breaking windows, the telephone rang violently, then it burst from the wall with a loud explosion, the noise was terrible. Mother became worried as Father was on duty up at the lighthouse. She put a coat on and rushed out leaving us screaming under the beds, to see if Father was safe. The pathway was all ripped up, to a depth of approximately 4' along the underground phone line from our house to the lighthouse. The wind was so strong that it almost knocked Mother over.

When she reached the lighthouse and went upstairs, on to the first landing, things were in a mess. Father said later that he put his hand on the phone to put through a weather report, and it blew up and out from the wall, knocking my Father unconscious. A long large cupboard, which was strongly bolted with long bolts to the wall, was blown from the wall. It had a lightning conductor running up the wall behind the cupboard from the ground to the top of the lighthouse dome and outside. This was twisted and torn. Everything was tossed and smashed up, that had been in the, path of the fire ball. It was terrible.

After the fire ball struck, there was loud thunder and lightning, like hell let loose for about an hour. Then the severity of the storm subsided and it became very quiet. Very heavy rain came down and lasted for a few hours, slowly stopping. Then everything cleared, the sun shone through and it looked so peaceful with raindrops glistening on trees and flowers.

The absence of the two keepers placed a heavy burden on Mother. We two children were her only helpers at the time. so she sent us two miles to ask the Farmer, Mr. Curtis, for help. He had to ride horseback twelve miles to Caves House, Yallingup, to the nearest 'phone, for help from Busselton

A doctor had to be brought 25 miles to the lighthouse. We were cut off with no 'phones. Father was ill and had a long cut on his head which had to be sutured up (stitched). Mother was also suffering from shock. Father was ill for eight weeks and off duty.

It's surprising the amount of damage a fire ball causes, when it strikes its terror and I never want to see another one. It left us all in a highly nervous condition for come time and every time there was a bad storm we were all terrified an to what would happen next. In the years to follow, we had many severe storms in the winter, but we never saw another fire ball, which seems to be something that rarely happens.

It takes years to overcome the fear of storms. "

Time Zone clock

http://everytimezone.com/

Nice presentation, a little confusing. Could be useful

Resonance

Looks like a useful explanation of resonance frequency, but I am too tired to understand

http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_2/chpt_14/6.html


Author: Date Written: Title: Subject Area: Source Website: ---Summary--- ---My Reaction--- ---Questions---

Prometheus Plumes on Io (Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD))

Author: NASA APOD (Astronomy Picture of the Day)
Date Written: May 22, 2011
Title: Io: The Prometheus Plume
Subject Area: Planet Geology
Source Website: APOD
---Summary---

Images of Jupiter's moon Io show two large blue, sulfuric, volcanic plumes rising from the surface of Io. These are color composite images taken by the Galileo satellite in 1997. The volcanic plumes rise 75 km and 140 km into the air. These volcanoes occur over calderas, which are depressions in the ground that form from ground filling in the empty space left by the escaping smoke and magma. The plume in the middle of the image has been present in every image taken of Io, dating back to the 1970's, which shows that the plume has been continuously flowing for at least 18 years. Scientists have recently shown evidence that a magma ocean exists underneath Io's surface.

Here is the link to this article
http://www.universetoday.com/85615/magma-ocean-flows-beneath-ios-surface/


The orientation of Jupiter's magnetic field lines change with respect to Io (see the video on this link), as Jupiter has a rotational period of about 13 hours. As the orientation of Jupiter's magnetic field lines change, the strength of lines increases and decreases. Io's magnetic field lines remain the same, while Jupiter's magnetic field lines vary. By analyzing the change in the external magnetic field lines on Io, scientists were able to learn about Io's interior.



Here is a link to a description of Caldera's, which uses Crater Lake as an example
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caldera

---My Reaction---

That seems pretty crazy that the plume has been continuous for at least 18 years. With the presence of a magma ocean underneath Io's surface, I suppose the volcano has plenty of supply for expelling into the atmosphere. Would it be possible for Io to create it's own atmosphere from this process?




---Questions---

Why does Io's magma ocean have a high electrical conductivity? What does it mean to have high electrical conductivity?

Why do planetary bodies have magnetic fields? For the Earth, isn't it caused by the flow of magma in the interior?

IXO Mission

SEE links on this page for RESEARCH FOR PREPARING FOR INTERNSHIP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://constellation.gsfc.nasa.gov/science/index.html

Magellanic Clouds, Very Large Telescope Array

-Magellanic Clouds

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magellanic_Clouds

The Magellanic Clouds are a part of the local group of galaxies. The local group of galaxies includes the Milky Way and is made up of over 30 galaxies. The gravitational center of the local group is in between the Milky Way and Andromeda.

- Very Large Telescopes

The very large telescope is, according to its site, the "world's most advanced optical instrument." Among its technology, it uses underground tunnels of mirrors to combine the light beams. The telescope could tell the difference between the "two headlights of a car at the distance of the Moon." That is pretty crazy.
The VLT have an incredibly high angular resolution due to the combination of light collected by the 4 main telescopes and 4 other "auxiliary" telescopes. The main telescopes are 8.2 m in diameter, and the auxiliary telescopes are 1.8 m in diameter.

Steps for becoming an amateur astronomer

Title: Get to Know the Night Sky
Subject Area: Amateur Astronomy
Source Website:

http://www.astronomy.com/en/News-Observing/Intro%20Sky/Get%20to%20Know%20the%20Night%20Sky.aspx


This will be a really good source for actually learning how to use a telescope. I should follow this closely.

links, delicious links

Link to Intro to Astronomical Data Analysis class at UW,


http://www.astro.washington.edu/courses/astro480/

which has links to weather forecasts, databases, and other things, including

-tutorial into IRAF, (Image Reduction and Analysis Facility) which is astronomy specific
-assignments and final projects for an actual astronomy class

format for scientific readings

For every post on a reading, especially for research papers at the top I should put

Author:
Title:
Date Written:
Subject Area: (specific as possible)
Source Website

I wonder if there is a way to automatically do this?


try to write about the following:

-Summary of significant ideas
-My reaction to study, research
-Questions I have

Sprial Galaxy, Messier 101, with right ascension, declination explanations

http://www.seds.org/messier/m/m101.html

Right Ascension	14 : 03.2 (h:m)
Declination	+54 : 21 (deg:m)
Distance	27000 (kly)
Visual Brightness	7.9 (mag)
Apparent Dimension	22.0 (arc min)

Right Ascension --> Longitude
Declination--> Latitude

• An object on the celestial equator has a declination of 0°.
• An object at the celestial north pole has a declination of +90°.
• An object at the celestial south pole has a declination of −90°.

For "right ascension, the zero point is known as the first point of Aries, which is the place in the sky where the Sun crosses the celestial equator at the March equinox."

"Since a complete circle has 360 degrees, an hour of right ascension is equal to ¹⁄₂₄ of this, or 15 degrees of arc, a single minute of right ascension equal to 15 minutes of arc, and a second of right ascension equal to 15 seconds of arc.

Earth's equator, as shown below

Research into Radio Telescope Project Proposal

Cygnus A is one of the main targets for the Radio Telescope. Cygnus A is one of the strongest radio wave emitters in the sky. It produces two jets of electromagnetic waves moving in opposite directions from the center of the galaxy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cygnus_A

















Astronomy Facts to know

coordinates of celestial objects on the celestial sphere
Hubbles Equation of Expansion of Universe


http://iopscience.iop.org/1538-3881/127/6/3587/pdf/1538-3881_127_6_3587.pdf

Above is a link to a paper that is somewhat interesting. It talks about the system of coordinates used to designate locations of astronomical objects. It is called the International Celestial Reference Frame, and is based on the location of some 200 objects that have stable positions in the sky.
Here are some comments on the International Celestial Reference Frame,
"The ICRF has accomplished its primary goal of providing
an accurate and stable frame conceptually independent of the
motion of Earth in space. However, from its inception, it has
been known that the ICRF has a less than desirable density of
sources (Ma et al. 1998), with an average of only about one
object per 8 square degrees on the sky (Charlot et al. 2000).
In addition, the distribution of the ICRF sources on the sky
is largely nonuniform. The deficit of sources is particularly
pronounced in the southern hemisphere"
It makes sense that the Southern Hemisphere does not have a lot of source stars.


http://metaresearch.org/cosmology/gps-relativity.asp

Above is a link that seems to question special relativity. It discusses and compares Lorentzian Relativity with Special Relativity. One of the key differences with Lorentzian Relativity is that there is a preferred frame. This article also seems to indicate that general and special relativistic corrections have not been proven for satelites. I don't have much background to dispute this either way.

http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1991ApJ...383..554C

Above is a link to a research paper written about Cygnus A. Apparaently, a Jet Model has been developed for powerful Radio Galaxies, and Cygnus A fits into this category. These jets are caused by particle acceleration at hot spots and outflow into radio lobes. Energy is lost due to synchrotron radiation,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synchrotron_radiation

which is something that Jeff has talked a lot about, I believe with Jupiter. Synchrotron_Radiation is essentially radiation that is emitted when charged particles are accelerated to incredibly high speeds, close to the speed of light.
This paper talks about synchrotron spectral aging theory, which lead me to the spectral index.
"the spectral index of a source is a measure of the dependence of radiative flux density on frequency" ("spectral index" Wikipedia) I should practice with citing sources, because I have gotten really out of practice.
From the below abstract,
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1985ApJ...291...52M,

It appears that synchrotron aging is the loss of energy due to synchrotron radiation. This article says that the particles reach speeds of 10,000-30,000 km/s, which 1/3c- c. That is definitely fast.

http://reylab.bidmc.harvard.edu/pubs/1990/circulation-1990-81-1803.pdf

Here is an article I ran into, which, in its intro, talks about how fourier analysis is done on heart rates, to determine sympathetic and vagal influences. I do not know what these are, but I have not thought about using fourier analysis on heart beats.



THIS PROJECT represents what we are shooting for with the project:
http://www.signalone.com/radioastronomy/telescope/
It has example data for free hydrogen scans.



Here is another cool website. This could be a cool thing to center an astronomy club on, with the SID project, mentioned here

http://www.radio-astronomy.org/node/142

The Stanford Solar Website is also interesting

http://solar-center.stanford.edu/SID/sidmonitor/


Well, this is an epic post, and it continues. 21 cm radiation, via wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_line

Here is another cool website, with pictures of different solar system objects

http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/index.html

And so it ends.

Rainbows

Wikipedia article is really good, shows exactly the picture I was trying to think about when we saw rainbows forming more than half a circle in glacier. You know where wikipedia is.

Space Shuttle on a Cart,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eyvy9E0rRVI&feature=related

Interesting video of the space shuttle being carted around. It looks like they hold some media conference in the middle of it. I wonder what the support is actually made of. It looks just like a little dolley for moving furniture.

http://www.naoj.org/Pressrelease/2011/02/17/index.html
http://www.naoj.org/Pressrelease/2011/02/17/supplement.html

This tells about the Subaru Telescope, lead by the National Astronomy Observatory of Japan. I did not know Japan did much astronomy research, but then there is no reason for them not to. The NAOJ released significant findings from the Subaru Telescope. They have very sharp images of protoplanetary disks around young stars. According to the website, these represent the most detailed image of protoplanetary disks ever seen. These protoplanetary disks are made up of dust and gas, and eventually coalesce into planets.
Stars first form from the collapse of material in molecular clouds due to the gravity of a dense region in the cloud. When the material collapses inward, it heats up. The material from the planets is made from the same cloud material that went to form the star. Molecular cloud molecules fall in to the protostar, or newborn star, and form together in a disk around the star. The article does not explain why it forms in this disk rather than falling into the star.
The molecules pulled by gravity into the disk heat up as they fall inward, releasing light at infrared and sub-millimeter wavelengths. A star in this stage is less then 100,000 years old.
When a star reaches an age of 1,000,000 years, most of the material surrounding it has been swept away by stellar winds and other occurences. Only a dense disk of material surrounds a star at this stage. In this stage of its life, a star is called a T Tauri Star. A star has officially "grown up" at an age of about 100 million years, when it is primarily kept stable from nuclear fusion in its core. By this time, almost all of the surrounding disk has disappeared, leaving mostly planets and larger particles. Collisions of comets or meteors at this time could lead to the formation of belts of dust in solar systems, such as the asteroid belt, or dust around the star Beta Pictoris--> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_Pictoris

"NGC 6914 with Calar Alto Observatory: Processing Notes "

http://pixinsight.com/examples/NGC6914-CAHA/en.html


This article traces how a astronomical picture is developed to overcome the effect of saturation of pixels from stars, dust grains, and other problems. It is cool that they laid this out, as I have not read about the process before.
The first problem that arises with imaging the NGC 6914 nebular complex is that the bright stars quickly saturate the pixels in the ccd. This is called blooming. Their method for reducing this is simple and seems to make intuitive sense. It seems like they have to make additional changes afterward, called "cloning." I wonder what this is.
The issues that arise with this images sounds very similar to problems with electronics, thus, the huge importance of understanding electronics well. I noticed that signal to noise ratio is mentioned often.
I also wonder what astronomers are actually representing when they create images like this. Are they trying to represent what they human eye would actually see? Are they trying to make the coolest looking picture possible? Are they trying to mix making the picture realistic and making the image look cool? I think they pictures are pretty effected.
I can see the importance of understanding waves and quantum mechanics in developing these pictures. I am not sure what the pixel layers are in the section about dust grains. Is it 4 pixels deep, or 4 pixels wide? For the superflat correction, I did not notice much of a difference.
I could see having a strong math background helping in this process, as it involves mapping difference images onto other images. I am looking into analysis or p-chem. Ah, their are normalization factors...they don't go away... The DBE correction seems to have more of a definite effect. Wow, the HDR wavelet transformation does quite a bit.
This also has some star generator databases that you can download. I will definitely check this out. Anyway, this is the end of this post. I should try and make this more informative and less of running commentary. At least, I should try and quite what I comment on.

Ideas for format of blog posts (for which having a format is optional also)


1. Title
2. Link
3. Summary
4. Reaction/Things I specifically want to remember

Purpose of this blog

This blog will be the place where I report on my astronomy reading of the day, which might just be about NASA's picture of the day, a research paper I come across, astronomy current events, NASA research projects, etc. I just want this to be a place where I can get more fluent in the language of astronomers, and stay up to date with astronomy. If this ever becomes something that people read, I could keep people up to date on astronomy.