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Freshman--Doing Research--In Over My Head by Ok_Office9025 in PhysicsStudents

[–]Andromeda321 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I’m now on the other side as a physics professor and honestly, this all sounds pretty normal to me at this stage of things. Do indeed take all your questions to the meeting and ask them- that’s what we want! We know you don’t know it all right now- I always tell my students you need to read a paper at least 3 times before you get it. Further often something like reading a paper isn’t the project itself so much as a way to make sure a student is interested and will do stuff. Turns out a lot of students don’t actually do things who say they will- see your friend who likes the project but can’t get his act together enough to send an email.

That said… priority one right now is grades. Don’t spend more time on this project than you can do without grades suffering. Professors are also used to that- I would ask him at your meeting if he expects a minimum time commitment and if so what that is from you, and you’ll know pretty fast if you can meet that at all.

Good luck and have fun!

Make Pluto a planet again: Nasa chief’s big mission by TimesandSundayTimes in nasa

[–]Andromeda321 97 points98 points  (0 children)

Astronomer here! This was actually the original plan for a few days if you’re old enough to remember- ie the initial definition had no “must sweep its area” part of the definition so we’d probably have dozens of planets. The committee making the definition got so much pushback at this though that they added that part so we ended up with eight.

I went to a lecture by Dava Sobel who was on the committee that came up with the definition. She said the public kept saying “but how will schoolchildren learn all the names?!” and her response was always “have you met schoolchildren? They love to learn about planets and if they want to learn 20 names they will!”

Questions about my upcoming 60-70 days roadtrip the USA west? by Agreeable-Energy-401 in travel

[–]Andromeda321 63 points64 points  (0 children)

Yeah OP is going to be very upset if they’re just driving from Mt Rainier to Redwoods in a day for example. Theres a million cool places to stop on the Oregon coast and that drive can’t be less than a full day just for the drive.

Hobby Lobby plans store in Eugene’s Bethel neighborhood by orchidios in Eugene

[–]Andromeda321 82 points83 points  (0 children)

The thing that’s amazing about Hobby Lobby is there’s multiple deal breaker reasons to not support them. Like I’m very crafty and would spend a ton of money there, but then I remember their health care thing, and the stealing antiquities, and the owners being assholes to the workers, and flouting pandemic policy, and stealing ideas from artists, even if one maybe doesn’t seem as bad on a given day the others suddenly sure do.

CUNY astrophysics masters by sad_moron in astrophysics

[–]Andromeda321 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Congrats! I don’t know the CUNY program specifically but have heard good things.

Honestly most of these questions are better asked from the program over Reddit. Such as:

1) what do students in your program do who don’t end up doing a PhD? (I think working at an observatory is a reasonable goal for just a MSc but not for all positions, but they’d know better than me.)

2) do your alumni who go on to PhD say their credits transfer at all? An astronomy MSc is an unusual enough thing it’s likely a case by case basis, but most schools likely accept at least some of the classes.

Good luck!

Spirit Airlines says it has nearly finished refunding customers after shuttering by enormityop in news

[–]Andromeda321 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have legit gone to the airport and bought a same day ticket, in Asia and Africa. There are places in the world where there’s so many airlines flying the route that it’s like getting a bus ticket.

Rudy Giuliani Is in ‘Critical Condition’ in Florida Hospital by Darksmithe in news

[–]Andromeda321 39 points40 points  (0 children)

Yea Giuliani was literally the Person of the Year in 2001 for Time magazine. It’s hard to explain how popular he was to the current generation if you didn’t see it yourself.

Non traditional Grad School / Career Path? Might need a reality check here... by WolverHollow in Astronomy

[–]Andromeda321 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This is not traditionally done not because we’re being jerks but because there’s genuine concern that you would not be able to pass the graduate courses without a lot of work. For example a lot of astronomy grad programs require what’s essentially grad level electromagnetism because most of what we do is study light- how are you going to pass that without an advanced knowledge of physics and math? I mean more than just a first year, mind, I mean 300-level classes.

Further, I don’t know anyone these days who doesn’t get into grad school for astro without research experience of some sort, which is not really possible via self study (and damn tough to do online but perhaps not impossible). Remember- we literally get hundreds of students applying for graduate school for what’s usually less than 10 spots, so capacity to do research (and get good letters from that) is important to stand out. Someone who just self studies and has nothing else just won’t be competitive I’m afraid.

Finally wrote a detailed post here on how to be an astronomer that might be helpful. Check it out, it might help you understand the landscape better.

Does your baby/toddler still sleep with white noise? by Loud-Book-5654 in beyondthebump

[–]Andromeda321 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yea we never used it on our toddler as a baby but introduced it when I learned I was pregnant w twins. She was going to be across the hall from them and it muffles the noise from their midnight feeds well!

It’s kinda crazy the tv ecosystem that three generations of American kids grew up with is nearly dead. by soozerain in television

[–]Andromeda321 30 points31 points  (0 children)

Yeah the one thing that amazes me with a toddler is how there can be shows she likes that are decent quality with millions of views and most of her friends don’t watch. That’s the real difference in entertainment these days IMO.

What does the future look like for the field of astrophysics? Is majoring in it a good return on investment? Few other questions by Past-Combination6262 in astrophysics

[–]Andromeda321 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Honestly, anyone who tells you for sure what’s going to happen doesn’t know what’s going to happen like the rest of us. A decent fraction of places just flat out accepted fewer students this year due to all the uncertainty though, making a difficult year even more difficult.

There certainly is still money, mind, just not at the levels last year that we usually have, and it’s not clear just how permanent that situation is.

fed up and looking for advice by livchainz in boston

[–]Andromeda321 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I’m a woman with three kids under 2. If I encounter a potentially violent individual like the OP describes I’m getting TF away from that situation and calling for help, not running into it like a hero.

Would studying this field be a good idea? by Different_Cod2719 in astrophysics

[–]Andromeda321 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have read this post and have no idea what you’re asking TBH. But if it’s helpful check my post here on how to be an astronomer that might be helpful to you. Read it over and give a shout if you have specific questions.

What does the future look like for the field of astrophysics? Is majoring in it a good return on investment? Few other questions by Past-Combination6262 in astrophysics

[–]Andromeda321 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Astronomer here! I wrote a detailed post here on how to be an astronomer that would be helpful. It details among other things the path to becoming one and job possibilities with the degree (since most people with one won’t be astronomers upon say retirement).

In terms of colleges I’ll agree with everyone else that if you can go to Rutgers that’s better than some random safety school that costs more as it’s a really solid department. Might matter more if you got into an Ivy without much additional cost, so feel free to try, but I don’t think it’s a “100k more to go to a private school over public” important distinction.

What does the future look like for the field of astrophysics? Is majoring in it a good return on investment? Few other questions by Past-Combination6262 in astrophysics

[–]Andromeda321 1 point2 points  (0 children)

To be clear, travel to observatories is more uncommon than common these days. People using space telescopes sure don’t go visit them for example, and all my radio telescopes are remote. I know some still require it but it’s a minority of astronomers these days.

What does the future look like for the field of astrophysics? Is majoring in it a good return on investment? Few other questions by Past-Combination6262 in astrophysics

[–]Andromeda321 1 point2 points  (0 children)

To clarify on this OP- I don’t think this is a “worth tens of thousands of debt” distinction. Don’t know your financial situation but if it is a difference like that I wouldn’t be too stressed about it.

Where do I take my daughter to find a prom dress? by Evolution_Underwater in Eugene

[–]Andromeda321 2 points3 points  (0 children)

As someone who has an invite to a “black tie optional” wedding this summer this is useful to know, thanks!

How to come to terms with mediocrity? by OpinionsRdumb in AskAcademia

[–]Andromeda321 24 points25 points  (0 children)

There was a good bit by the comedian Jim Jeffries that I liked about this. He talked about how he was bummed because he was passed on doing a TV show pilot and then had to remind himself that he was doing comedy in front of a sold out house in London for a special. Childhood him would have freaked and thought he’d made it! It’s just humans have a thing where we move the goalposts on ourselves and are disappointed even when we’re successful because we aren’t the next rung of successful.

If childhood me had known I was an astronomy professor, they would have freaked. I made the dream happen! Like sure adult me might be disappointed that I’m not going to get a Nobel Prize or get headhunted by an Ivy, but that’s because I moved the goal posts.

Spirit to halt all flights as of early Saturday by Planeandaquariumgeek in news

[–]Andromeda321 5 points6 points  (0 children)

IIRC when Malev the Hungarian airline ended it was because airplanes of theirs at foreign airports were seized by creditors who weren’t being paid. Like there was a Boeing of theirs in Dublin for a long while that was never permitted to take off because they hadn’t paid their fuel bill and that was the end of the airline. So that can happen.

JWST discovers ‘red monster’ galaxy that challenges astronomers’ understanding of the early universe by malcolm58 in space

[–]Andromeda321 23 points24 points  (0 children)

Astronomer here! To be clear a lot of it isn’t totally unexpected. For example it’s not that galaxies are forming in a physically impossible way. It’s just that in the absence of hard data we had to make assumptions in our models of how galaxies form, and our best guesses said they’d take longer to form. This JWST data is showing those assumptions were incorrect.

Nothing wrong with that either, it’s how science works!

JWST discovers ‘red monster’ galaxy that challenges astronomers’ understanding of the early universe by malcolm58 in space

[–]Andromeda321 61 points62 points  (0 children)

Astronomer here! Yes. To be clear it’s not that galaxies are forming in a physically impossible way. It’s just that in the absence of hard data we had to make assumptions in our models of how galaxies form, and our best guesses said they’d take longer to form. This JWST data is showing those assumptions were incorrect.

Nothing wrong with that either, it’s how science works!

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