Star Stryder

Archive for the 'Technology' Category

Mar 31st, 2008
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IYA taking shape

About a year ago I got a random email from Doug Isbell asking me if I’d be interested in being part of the International Year of Astronomy (IYA). I’d previously heard about this project, but having gotten a good last out of the non-event that was the World Year of Physics, I have to admit […]

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Mar 4th, 2008
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In Search of Organization

Everyday, life seems to get a snert more complicated. As IYA gets closer and Astronomy Cast grows, the number of projects I’m involved in is increasing and the projects are increasing in complexity. For the past year one of my colleagues has been trying to sell me on Microsoft Project, but I’m a Mac girl, […]

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Feb 13th, 2008
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Wheeee - It’s a Wii Remote in Physics!

The following is a guest blog post written by Dr. Lenore Horner of SIUE (a physics professor who works down the hall from me and who has the best toys in the department.)
In late October or early November of last year, eons in academic life, one of our graduate students introduced me to something that […]

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Feb 7th, 2008
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Your Place in Space

It is very difficult to get a three dimensional perspective on our galaxy. Stuck as we are inside it, it took us a long long time to figure out how far we are from the center, and how far we are from the outer edge. It is hard to figure out which is up and […]

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Jan 29th, 2008
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Not your (academic) Papa’s Laser Pointer

One of the cool things about my life is that I occasionally get asked to review things. Mostly, I get to read books I otherwise couldn’t afford, but sometimes some really cool technology crosses my desk too. Most recently, techlasers sent me an Infiniti 125mW Green (532nm) laser. (For reference the Federal Laser Product Performance […]

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Jan 22nd, 2008
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Building a wall free Digital Tomorrow

I live a strange life. There is no way around it. My husband works for an office in San Jose, I have contracts to do work with a university in Sonoma, I teach for universities in Arizona, Australia, and Illinois, and I also do a bit of contract work for an association in D.C. (and […]

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Dec 24th, 2007
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T’was the Astronomer’s Sys Admin’s Night Before Christmas

‘Twas the night before Christmas, and clouds filled the sky
Not an object was twinkling, not even Iota Tri;
The telescope was parked in its dome with great care,
In hopes of spying a star on which it could stare;
My students were nested all snug in their beds
While visions of data danced in their heads
And I in my […]

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Nov 20th, 2007
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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, with the help of […]

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Nov 7th, 2007
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Looking for Questioning (HS) Teachers

Some of the coolest moments in teaching only occur when your students realize they can safely ask anything. On random days, at random times, (during some unpredictable moment) one student will suddenly raise their hand and ask a question along the lines of “What you just said reminds me of something on TV.” They will […]

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Nov 4th, 2007
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AAVSO: Day 2 closes with Jordan Raddick

Long day. Tired day. Great ending.
Jordan Raddick is currently talking about using the internet to advance science. He is addressing how we are moving into a new paradigm for doing science as our data is reaching the point of petabyte data sets. The old paradigm has an observer downloading their data, analyzing it, and doing […]

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