@nab26@astrodon.social
@nab26@astrodon.social avatar

nab26

@nab26@astrodon.social

Research in astronomical adaptive optics.
Amateur connoiseur of biscuits.
All opinions my own but in good faith!

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elizabethtasker, to vr
@elizabethtasker@mastodon.online avatar

(Europlanet Science Congress) is being held hybrid this year, and has an exciting program that includes a session on using new tools such as in planetary science outreach.

But... it's 50 Euro per abstract submission, with no guarantee of acceptance. That's a fairly big punch when the Japanese yen is super weak.

nab26,
@nab26@astrodon.social avatar

@elizabethtasker @YetAnotherGeekGuy Usually those reviews are free right? Done out of the goodness of researchers hearts and so funded by their own funding (implicitly). So a good question is: what is this €50 actually for? To prevent junk abstracts? (In the age of A.I. that's borderline plausible...in other fields.) To get the whole thing off the ground?

elizabethtasker, to vr
@elizabethtasker@mastodon.online avatar

This week, we're hitting the shop floor for a big design that (I hope) will ultimately become a space for a conference.

So far... it's a doughnut.

Is this to remind attendees that they better getting running around this track to burn off eating too many pastries? We shall see...

nab26,
@nab26@astrodon.social avatar

@knud @elizabethtasker I look forward to reading this. I work in instrumentation and I am attending our main meeting (every two years) this year and it would be interesting how our sub-field (astronomical adaptive optics) fits into the bigger picture.

Right now I am about to transition to being the chair of Durham University Physics Dept's sustainability committee so would like to invite anyone on any topic connected to sustainability (VR conferences, impacts of astro research) to talk to me.

nab26,
@nab26@astrodon.social avatar

@elizabethtasker @knud 😆 Definitely then! (I will actually be in Tōkyō...well Yokohama then Tōkyō in mid-June so happy to meet for a coffee and chat if that can work then.) I think many people here aren't very familiar with V.R. potential...I am 100% not!...and it could be valuable for our work (often 3D with instruments) with remote participants.

vicgrinberg, to random
@vicgrinberg@mastodon.social avatar

If your hotel room does not have a fridge to keep your breakfast fresh over night... 😇

nab26,
@nab26@astrodon.social avatar

@vicgrinberg Ah, the UK or Ireland...sash windows are great for this, set back so space outside. Don't let the birds find it though!

nab26, to animals
@nab26@astrodon.social avatar

Been a hard Christmas with visitors so it's nice to finally unwind

vicgrinberg, to random
@vicgrinberg@mastodon.social avatar

At @FAIR_GSI_de / @FAIR_GSI_en

nab26,
@nab26@astrodon.social avatar

@vicgrinberg @FAIR_GSI_de @FAIR_GSI_en Literally something I have seen in a scifi movie. I hope that it is not only functionally useful but also a great inspiration for why students should learn engineering and science, and why kids should get excited about it. (Note: adults are allowed to get excited, kids are expected to.)

JohnBarentine, to space
@JohnBarentine@astrodon.social avatar

New research on the potential for radiative forcing of the climate from satellite re-entry debris: "We find that reentry-ablated alumina particles have ... a cooling radiative forcing of approximately -0.378mW/m2."

https://essopenarchive.org/doi/full/10.22541/essoar.170110669.90121203

nab26,
@nab26@astrodon.social avatar

@JohnBarentine That is a very small number. The TOA solar flux is (if I remember right) about 1.0x10^6 mW/m^2 at a maximum in the visible.

inquiline, (edited ) to Bloomscrolling
@inquiline@union.place avatar

Aloe doing their thing

nab26,
@nab26@astrodon.social avatar

@inquiline They are cute and a lovely plumage too. Where is this? I am guessing much closer to the equator than my 55 deg N! Where the remnants of our fennel looks like this now.

astro_jcm, to chile
@astro_jcm@mastodon.online avatar

Happy to be back at ESO in for a couple of weeks, for the first time since I left in 2020! Always nice to reconnect with old friends.

Pictured here is a mock version of one of the 798 hexagonal segments that will make up the 39 m mirror of the Extremely Large . And —very appropriately— we can see a pic of its sibling, the Very Large Telescope, reflected on it 🙂

nab26,
@nab26@astrodon.social avatar

@astro_jcm Nice. Is it powered or flat?

sundogplanets, to random
@sundogplanets@mastodon.social avatar

I'm going to try to do all my morning email/lecture prep stuff from home before driving to campus in hopes that maybe if I wait an hour or two the road won't be quite as spectacularly terrible?

It continues to amaze me how bad Saskatchewan is at plowing...especially in Regina! I guess all the rich people can afford snow tires and giant trucks so snow-clearing isn't a priority?

nab26,
@nab26@astrodon.social avatar

@sundogplanets Wait. You mean folk your way drive without snow tyres in winter? Wow.

nab26,
@nab26@astrodon.social avatar

@sundogplanets Lot of family in Sweden and they have a really good system because it is mandatory to switch so people have spare wheels (not just tyres) and wheel hotels for your other season's rubber. Big opportunity for companies if your province dared...

vicgrinberg, to random
@vicgrinberg@mastodon.social avatar

Caution! X-ray Mirrors have sharp edges.

nab26,
@nab26@astrodon.social avatar

@vicgrinberg For an optical/near-IR person
... how unusual! Also look great for making cookies when they are no longer needed 🤣

Gargron, to random
@Gargron@mastodon.social avatar

I’ve found my new favorite ringtone

nab26,
@nab26@astrodon.social avatar

@christianp @Gargron If I remember right Ringtons still have a stall in the covered market in Newcastle? Good range of tea and coffee, which is getting harder and harder to find.

nab26,
@nab26@astrodon.social avatar

@christianp @Gargron Probably conflating memories... been 10+ years since we left Gosforth. That's a lovely bit of the toon since we could walk north and escape the smoke or south via the dene.

vicgrinberg, to random
@vicgrinberg@mastodon.social avatar

ESTEC to Birmingham by train: go!

Step 1: Bus from ESTEC to Leiden Centraal.

#AboutToday

nab26,
@nab26@astrodon.social avatar

@vicgrinberg Onr question....I have found the wifi on the Eurostar to be awful (slow and lots of drop outs)...same for you? On the French, Belgian, or British sides, totally fine. Just their trains I am guessing.

nab26,
@nab26@astrodon.social avatar

@vicgrinberg Also, have a boring and predictable journey 😎

nab26,
@nab26@astrodon.social avatar

@vicgrinberg Also rereading my toot suggests the problem is only when not in Fr, Be, or GB...i.e. under the sea. (Although even there, it is possible to provide network connectivity.) I meant national trains have no problems with Wifi...it is the to/from London #Eurostar that is awful.

astro_jcm, to cooking
@astro_jcm@mastodon.online avatar

Must try this !

nab26,
@nab26@astrodon.social avatar

@astro_jcm Good old @tomgauld and his excellent cartoons that make reading @guardian on a Saturday a particular joy.

vicgrinberg, to random
@vicgrinberg@mastodon.social avatar

New pan!

( recipe recs welcome. Especially vegetarian + vegan one!)

nab26,
@nab26@astrodon.social avatar

@vicgrinberg @CloudyMrs And pens! Please!

vicgrinberg, to random
@vicgrinberg@mastodon.social avatar

Morning fog...

nab26,
@nab26@astrodon.social avatar

@vicgrinberg Like something from Blade Runner...which was inspired by a city across the North Sea, namely Middlesbrough.

sundogplanets, to random
@sundogplanets@mastodon.social avatar

Someone at CBC deserves an award for the music they edited in to the footage of the bear stealing candy from the convenience store: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/black-bear-gummy-bears-lake-cowichan-vancouver-island-bc-1.6993278

nab26,
@nab26@astrodon.social avatar

@sundogplanets Quite! Although the article's explanation of why (drought => few fruit => brazen bears => can't rehabilitate => <gulp>) left me disappointed in us since I presume the rears its ugly mug again. (Although it might just be a bad year for berries... 🤞)

vicgrinberg, to random
@vicgrinberg@mastodon.social avatar

I think I'll be posting photos, recipes and fun volcano/geology facts for a while and nothing more substancial. I just can't do anything else, between another war and the (expected but still shocking and implying even worse things for the coming ones) German elections.

💔

nab26,
@nab26@astrodon.social avatar

@vicgrinberg Wish I could just bail like the cat from the complexities of the world. He got some treats today, enjoyed the crazy warm weather, wasn't affected by the flooding, and got his bed washed. Life looking good for Bramble...

sundogplanets, to random
@sundogplanets@mastodon.social avatar

Oh NO it's SNOWING I'm not ready for winter....

nab26,
@nab26@astrodon.social avatar

@sundogplanets Meanwhile we just had a homegrown strawberry and the apples are flowering again. 56N 0W.

vicgrinberg, to random
@vicgrinberg@mastodon.social avatar

I think this is the closest I will ever get to a Nobel prize 😜

nab26,
@nab26@astrodon.social avatar

@vicgrinberg I have to admit no bad Nobel winner stories (have met 3 in-person). I think the importance of the memory is it is hard for ECRs to discuss their work publicly and being kind is the best help us older folk can give! Exactly as you described ♥️.

(Also we remember embarrassing moments everyone else didn't even realise happened 🙃. And always always ask questions...for every dumb attempt, we'll make lots that are okay and some which are really good...so keep practicing everybody!)

nab26,
@nab26@astrodon.social avatar

@vicgrinberg I think my favourite was sending a short, direct group email for someone to claim old papers left in my office otherwise rapid movement to the trash can (extremely dusty but including photographs about thirty years old) and very quickly Nobel prize winner comes, apologies, and disappears again trailing dust (metaphorically).

Some some stories were kinda fun!

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