Happy Thanksgiving

This blog started to slowly blossom into existence (admittedly on another URL) about this time last year. It was a staggered start, and I didn’t really start to pay regular attention to it until January. Still, a year into this personal experiment in public writing I find myself thankful that a group...

Another Close Binary, Another Big Planet

At this point we’ve found planets in a enough places that I shouldn’t still be surprised when a neat new world is found in a neat new place. Nevertheless, I found myself awed by a new discovery of a new planet with a 3.69 year period orbiting in a close binary. This particular discovery caught my...

Psychiatry by Adjective?

Some areas of astronomy are way more competitive than others. Variable stars, the sub-field of astronomy I’m most comfortable in, is a very friendly group. There is amiable collaboration between professional and amateur astronomers, and I’ve never met a variable star astronomer who isn’t...

Making Research

One of the joys, frustrations, most loved, and most hated parts of being a professor is attempting to do research. I say attempting because sometimes the data just doesn’t want to produce anything useful. There are good times. For instance, in about three months this summer and fall Fraser Cain and I,...

Sunday evening muse seeking

I have to admit that I’ve been struggling to write for the past week. I had some family stuff come up with my extended family and it triggered a frustrating case of writer’s block. At the end of each day, I’ve looked at my computer, contemplated that I should write, and...