Musings of an Aspiring Astronomer

24 year old astronomy PhD student. part astronomy blog, part studyblr, 100% space nerdiness @me and/or tag #bistronomer

[frederick-the-great]

 I swear to God, when people here talk about academia they’re honestly thinking Harvard or Oxford in the 50s. Guys, I’m sorry to break it to you but academia is PhDs students who don’t even get a desk to work in their university and overworked lecturers who are forced to do tons of unpaid work to “get ahead”. i’m begging you all to educate yourselves.

i’m also imploring you to do some research on the importance of universities as cultural and political hubs that bring actual, concrete change to underdeveloped communities, by providing poor and marginalized kids with an education and by actually conducting vital research meant to improve people’s lives. Please remember that there are places in the world where people do not pay thousands of dollars for an university degree and that for many people Universities ARE institutions that considerably improve their lives and not just a place you go after high school because that’s what you’re supposed to do.

[bi-stronomer]

Are you applying to graduate school this year (or maybe in the future)?

I went to a grad school application workshop last week, and they recommended that we make a master spreadsheet to help keep track of app deadlines, as well as completion of all the various parts!  This one is based off of the one they gave us at the workshop & the one I used when I was applying to undergrad. If you think that sounds like a good idea, I made a blank one you can download below! I partially filled in some cells so you have an idea of how it’s designed (though obviously, you do what works best for you).

Download as Excel file (.xlsx)

Download as Google Spreadsheet (.ods)

The idea is you keep a cell red until you complete it, then you fill in the date of completion (in case you need to check when you turned something in) and change the background color to green!  That way, it’s easy to tell at a glance what you still need to do for each school.  If a school doesn’t need that part at all, I recommend you write something like “not required” when you turn that cell green so you know for sure you didn’t miss something.

The extra nice thing about this spreadsheet is you can share it with your advisor &/or letter writers!  Then, your letter writers can see exactly what schools you’re applying to, what the app deadline is (and potentially a different deadline for the letters), and what letters they still have to submit, which is much easier for them  to keep track of.  As they submit their letters, they can add the date and turn the cell green themselves, so you don’t need to go hunting them down constantly to remind them of upcoming deadlines or to ask what they’ve submitted so far (or at least, not quite as much).  Everyone wins!

Further details below the cut:

Keep reading

[vacuously-true]

Definitely gonna use this this year…

[vacuously-true]

Okay so I reblogged this a while ago but since Tumblr hides posts with links in searches it doesn’t show up when I search for it. It’s getting to be crunch time regarding grad school applications so I’m reblogging this again, with the following additions

An endorsement: yo this is so good I’m using the spreadsheet and it’s great and my advisor likes being able to check up on my progress too

A suggestion: if you wanna use this, save the spreadsheet now or email it to yourself or something because just reblogging won’t help much, you won’t be able to search for it once you want it

[aspaceinthecosmos]

the new composite james webb image is so beautiful ive been staring at it for 10 minutes straight

featuring jupiters rings, europa (along with a bunch of other moons), the northern and southern auroras, and the great red spot

[tiredclementine]

*relatable caption about the woes of university*

[nasa]

See the Universe in a New Way with the Webb Space Telescope's First Images

Are you ready to see unprecedented, detailed views of the universe from the James Webb Space Telescope, the largest and most powerful space observatory ever made? Scroll down to see the first full-color images and data from Webb. Unfold the universe with us. ✨

Carina Nebula

This landscape of “mountains” and “valleys” speckled with glittering stars, called the Cosmic Cliffs, is the edge of the star-birthing Carina Nebula. Usually, the early phases of star formation are difficult to capture, but Webb can peer through cosmic dust—thanks to its extreme sensitivity, spatial resolution, and imaging capability. Protostellar jets clearly shoot out from some of these young stars in this new image.

Southern Ring Nebula

The Southern Ring Nebula is a planetary nebula: it’s an expanding cloud of gas and dust surrounding a dying star. In this new image, the nebula’s second, dimmer star is brought into full view, as well as the gas and dust it’s throwing out around it. (The brighter star is in its own stage of stellar evolution and will probably eject its own planetary nebula in the future.) These kinds of details will help us better understand how stars evolve and transform their environments. Finally, you might notice points of light in the background. Those aren’t stars—they’re distant galaxies.

Stephan’s Quintet

Stephan’s Quintet, a visual grouping of five galaxies near each other, was discovered in 1877 and is best known for being prominently featured in the holiday classic, “It’s a Wonderful Life.” This new image brings the galaxy group from the silver screen to your screen in an enormous mosaic that is Webb’s largest image to date. The mosaic covers about one-fifth of the Moon’s diameter; it contains over 150 million pixels and is constructed from almost 1,000 separate image files. Never-before-seen details are on display: sparkling clusters of millions of young stars, fresh star births, sweeping tails of gas, dust and stars, and huge shock waves paint a dramatic picture of galactic interactions.

WASP-96 b

WASP-96 b is a giant, mostly gas planet outside our solar system, discovered in 2014. Webb’s Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS) measured light from the WASP-96 system as the planet moved across the star. The light curve confirmed previous observations, but the transmission spectrum revealed new properties of the planet: an unambiguous signature of water, indications of haze, and evidence of clouds in the atmosphere. This discovery marks a giant leap forward in the quest to find potentially habitable planets beyond Earth.

Webb's First Deep Field

This image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723, known as Webb’s First Deep Field, looks 4.6 billion years into the past. Looking at infrared wavelengths beyond Hubble’s deepest fields, Webb’s sharp near-infrared view reveals thousands of galaxies—including the faintest objects ever observed in the infrared—in the most detailed view of the early universe to date. We can now see tiny, faint structures we’ve never seen before, like star clusters and diffuse features and soon, we’ll begin to learn more about the galaxies’ masses, ages, histories, and compositions.

These images and data are just the beginning of what the observatory will find. It will study every phase in the history of our Universe, ranging from the first luminous glows after the Big Bang, to the formation of solar systems capable of supporting life on planets like Earth, to the evolution of our own Solar System.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space—and for milestones like this!

Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI

[james-webb-space-telescope]

This first image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe to date. Known as Webb’s First Deep Field, this image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 is overflowing with detail. Thousands of galaxies – including the faintest objects ever observed in the infrared – have appeared in Webb’s view for the first time. This slice of the vast universe covers a patch of sky approximately the size of a grain of sand held at arm’s length by someone on the ground.

[mathematical-cheese]

Shoutout to all the queer folk in STEM. I doubt this is news to anyone but there's always a lot about theatre gays™ or how 'all' queer people's favourite subject at school was English. Here's to all the gays who CAN do maths, to all the queer scientists. I love been a queer in stem!

[girl-please-study]

it's me and my bisexual playlist against the world

[sadcypher]

uni started 4 weeks ago and i already feel like i am months behind, the math is not mathin’.

[gabiestudies]

january 24th 2022, 19:49

new bookshelf, who this? in other news i also saw my first owl in the wild last week (!!) and finished knitting my first sock. oh and i suppose i also did some schoolwork lol

listening to: song for zula - phosphorescent

[hamletthedane]

Want to learn something new in 2022??

Absolute beginner adult ballet series (fabulous beginning teacher)

40 piano lessons for beginners (some of the best explanations for piano I’ve ever seen)

Excellent basic crochet video series

Basic knitting (probably the best how to knit video out there)

Pre-Free Figure Skate Levels A-D guides and practice activities (each video builds up with exercises to the actual moves!)

How to draw character faces video (very funny, surprisingly instructive?)

Another drawing character faces video

Literally my favorite art pose hack

Tutorial of how to make a whole ass Stardew Valley esque farming game in Gamemaker Studios 2??

Introduction to flying small aircrafts

French/Dutch/Fishtail braiding

Playing the guitar for beginners (well paced and excellent instructor)

Playing the violin for beginners (really good practical tips mixed in)

Color theory in digital art (not of the children’s hospital variety)

Retake classes you hated but now there’s zero stakes:

Calculus 1 (full semester class)

Learn basic statistics (free textbook)

Introduction to college physics (free textbook)

Introduction to accounting (free textbook)

Learn a language:

Ancient Greek

Latin

Spanish

German

Japanese (grammar guide) (for dummies)

French

Russian (pretty good cyrillic guide!)

[andromeda1023]

NASA’s Webb Reaches Alignment Milestone, Optics Working Successfully

Following the completion of critical mirror alignment steps, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope team expects that Webb’s optical performance

[the-wolf-and-moon]

Arp 273, Galaxy Rose

[wuggen]

[thefutureacademic]

I've been studying non stop this past few days because exam season is coming for me and I'm not ready (like at all).

[kristynstudies]

[20/100 days of productivity]

2.9.21

happy first day of the fall semester to me! unfortunately there is a faculty strike at my university, so i have to do my work from home today. i’m getting started on the course introduction and first chapter of my physics class. NOT looking forward to that course :/

[selfhelpforstudents]

1. Organize your study space

Organizing your study space is really important. Avoid starting to study before that because getting up to get things you don’t have at hand will distract you. I have my own “desk organization list”. Laptop, iPad, Apple Pencil, earphones, water, fruits, my pencil case, my folders, paper, etc.

2.     Make a plan and get control of your calendar

Make a "to do list" and plan everything out. When exactly are your exams?  How many days do you want to study for each subject? Which subject needs more time? Etc., etc.

3.     Mistakes are good

When studying we do make mistakes sometimes. I hate it. You hate it. Yes, it’s awful. But they are GOOD. You learn from them. A short anecdote of my life: If I didn’t make the mistake of dating a complete idiot, I probably would not have learned that bad boys really aren’t that great haha.

4.     Find examples

To really understand something, you should find examples. E. g. if you are learning about some kind of criminal law, look up cases. If you are studying about the business cycle, look up examples of different countries. Is the US in a boom? Or a depression? Has it been in a depression before? What was that like?

5.     Test yourself

Quizz yourself. This is the most important thing when studying something by heart or learning a language. Get your flashcards out of your pocket!  And quizz yourself every single day!

6.     Take regular breaks and sleep for 8 hours

I know, studying is important. But what is even more important is your health. Don’t drain yourself. You got this. Don’t worry! Take a short break after 25 minutes every time. Just a short one. Allow yourself to breath and close your eyes. Your brain needs sleep and breaks to function!

7.     Study before going to sleep

A numerous amount of studies have found out that the brain processes a lot of things while sleeping. This can be very beneficial to us! Study for a few minutes before going to bed or revise what you have studied that day. It will help you remember it better.

8.     Eat good foods

I know you don’t want to hear this… A pizza is quite nice. But is it good for you? Probably not. Food is fuel. But we need good fuel to function properly. Eat nutritious foods and be good to your body. It really needs a healthy diet to maintain your health and stay happy. Also: Your brain needs calories. Don’t starve yourself. Aaaand, remember to drink enough water. I recommend watching “The Game Changers” on Netflix.

9.     Exercise

Working out can be extremely beneficial to you. Not just for your physical strength but also for your mental health and productivity, studies have found. Going for a run or going to the gym can increase your overall well-being! So let’s go! I’m getting ripped tonight, RIP that… umm sorry.

10.  Be kind to yourself

Last but not least, please be kind to yourself. Don’t beat yourself up. Everything is going to be fine. You are not alone. You are loved. You are worthy. Please remember that! I love you.

Feel free to join my #selfhelpforstudents100Days challenge (aka me doing the 100 Days of Productivity Challenge and motivating y'all haha).

Also feel free to join our study/mental health server on Discord. We’re doing self help “group therapy” calls, studying together and much more. We’re stronger together!

We are currently working on a website to help students with studying and mental health issues. My post about it.

Love, Sophia