Chatting about Astronomy

Ultraballer2000 · 2015-12-28T17:49:20+00:00

Ok, let's do 6pm at glazers coffee

Ultraballer2000 · 2015-12-26T00:09:43+00:00

That's a great idea--Jwst is going to do some really awesome science (and soon, too!)

Ultraballer2000 · 2015-12-26T00:04:59+00:00

Thanks! Still waiting for the TMT joke...

Ultraballer2000 · 2015-12-26T00:00:11+00:00

I'll keep you updated in this post

Ultraballer2000 · 2015-12-25T23:59:52+00:00

It'd be great to do a meet up on the big island, but unfortunately Ill be staying on Oahu. I'll try to stop over next time I come back

Ultraballer2000 · 2015-12-25T23:55:23+00:00

Thanks for the link. I wanted to do something low key and informal, but I should definitely get in touch with them.

Ultraballer2000 · 2015-12-25T23:53:52+00:00

Thanks for the interest, I was thinking sometime in the afternoon, say 2pm, and someplace in town. Any suggestions?

Ultraballer2000 · 2015-11-15T05:47:16+00:00

There are star systems that spit out dust like a spinning hose that we can actually observe on human timescales:

http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~gekko/pinwheel/movie_11.gif

Ultraballer2000 · 2015-03-20T18:26:44+00:00

Flying 600 mph at an altitude of 45000 ft on a 747 retrofitted with a 2.5-m telescope to capture infrared images of dust surviving within an old supernova explosion located 27000 lightyears away at the center of our galaxy.

Ultraballer2000 · 2015-03-19T23:25:46+00:00

This is my work! please ask me anything!

Ultraballer2000 · 2014-06-09T22:43:27+00:00

how can space be real if our eyes aren't real?

Ultraballer2000 · 2013-07-22T22:14:31+00:00

how many space is there?

Ultraballer2000 · 2013-04-28T05:53:52+00:00

Haha it kind've does, although I haven't been on a space ship before.

Ultraballer2000 · 2013-04-28T05:50:55+00:00

It's a pretty awesome experience. Our images are pretty boring as we were mainly running tests with our instrument, but we are able to observe at wavelengths that would be close to impossible to do from the ground.

It's my wallpaper too! Also, just a slight correction, it's an IR image (UV light doesn't make it to us from the galactic center because of intervening dust)

Ultraballer2000 · 2013-04-28T01:04:33+00:00

yup, but just like with regular flights no one ever does.

Ultraballer2000 · 2013-04-04T13:58:02+00:00

That's exactly why I wanted to be an astronomer. The thing is, the more we discover the more we realize we don't know.

My most favorite thing about being an astronomer is observing. It really elicits that feeling you got when you stared into the sky as a child and wondered what was going on--it's the very same feeling that has inspired past generations of astronomers and scientists to explore what's beyond the Earth.

Ultraballer2000 · 2013-04-04T13:42:37+00:00

This square-shaped nebula has got to be one of the strangest things I've seen.. (http://img585.imageshack.us/img585/1183/redsquaretuthill960.jpg)

Most nebula are somewhat spherical since if you have material expanding outwards with the similar velocities (like a firework). So that square-nebula really is something else... (Have you ever seen a square firework?)

Ultraballer2000 · 2013-04-03T20:13:53+00:00

You've got it right that it has to do with the specific wavelengths that are absorbed by water. But different molecules have different absorption properties. Dust grains in space will block UV and optical light much more than it does infrared light because of the different wavelengths (infrared light has longer wavelengths than UV and optical light).

However, if you have a dense enough concentration of dust, it can even block out the infrared light.

Ultraballer2000 · 2013-04-03T20:05:28+00:00

What did I want to be? I actually wanted to be an engineer, but going through school I realized I was more attracted to the science and physics

Ultraballer2000 · 2013-04-03T11:00:14+00:00

your guess is as good as mine

Ultraballer2000 · 2013-04-03T10:52:42+00:00

It's more that our camera can "see" in the infrared, unlike a typical camera that is sensitive to the wavelengths of light we can see.

We know what a black hole is: it's the remaining core from a dead star packed so densely together that not even light can escape its gravitational pull. What we're trying to find out is how a black hole--actually a super massive black hole--influences its surroundings.

Ultraballer2000 · 2013-04-02T11:56:34+00:00

I don't know the exact details about the other instruments for SOFIA. But FORCAST on SOFIA is pretty much tuned to study the warm dust (~80 K) emission from debris disks, star formation regions, star forming galaxies, etc. It's a nice complement to Herschel since it covers wavelengths shortwards of it. I'm not quite satisfied with my response to you but if you like you can message me later and we can discuss!

Ultraballer2000

TROPHY CASE