Doing a Ph.D has really changed my life. Doing it in Astronomy has changed it for the better. Only a tiny percentage of people in the world get to spend their days working with data from outer space and thinking about how objects billions of times the mass of the Earth are formed. So, seeing as I'm having a super-astronomy oriented day, I'm going to walk you through this day in the life of an astronomer.
About a month ago my supervisor suggested that I attend a STFC funded workshop in Edinburgh - entitled 'Future of UK Submillimetre Astronomy Workshop'. I looked up the program, got permission from the Head of my department and registered for the workshop.
I set my alarm to wake me up at 6.30 this morning, but for some reason I awoke at 5am and couldn't get back to sleep. My taxi picked me up at 7.30 and hey presto!! 3 hours later I was in Edinburgh. A taxi took me to the Royal Observatory (ROE) and I arrived, two minutes before the start, with just enough time to register, grab my nametag and plonk myself down in the only remaining space in the front row.
The talks varied on the common theme of Sub-mm astronomy, focussing on telescopes and surveys in the field. Now I won't lie to you all - most of it was pretty boring. Lots of chat about resolution and depth, but also some really good info on current science goals in the Sub-mm community. A few praises were sung to Herschel, which is the telescope that provides some of my data. Unfortunately, a lot more praises were sung towards other ground-based telescopes, as ALMA and the JCMT (look 'em up) are all the rage at the moment.
Lunch was a soul-sucking experience. Not knowing anyone, I stuck some food on a plate and ate it in front of my laptop. We then moved onto the splinter sessions, where everyone sat and discussed the hot topics in Extragalactic sub-mm astronomy for three hours. I certainly learnt a lot. I have no idea where everyone came up with the resolution and field depth numbers that they were shouting out, but I did learn that whilst contemporary observing techniques have improved dramatically, a lot of progress needs to be made. There are so many projects which observe the sky in the sub-mm, but have different pros and cons that cause problems. If only we could make just ONE super telescope, capable of observing at high resolution and deep enough in redshift in multiple wavebands to truly give us all the data we want.
Anyway, that's enough astronomy chat. I eventually got bored and buggered off to my hotel. There's nothing better than sinking down on your soft hotel bed with a biscuit and a cup of tea after a long day. However, I did have the Workshop dinner to attend so I brushed my hair and set off through central Edinburgh.
I found the restaurant around 15 minutes away but, being half an hour early, I decided to pop into a pub for some liquid courage. And I found it because not too much later, a couple of guys showed up with clearly the same idea.
Isn't it funny how easy it can be to befriend people? Jamie and Boon, as these two lads were called, are instrument people from Oxford and we had a pretty good chat. So when we arrived at the restaurant 15 minutes later, we sat down and prepared for a night of fun times.
Dinner was interesting. I ordered pigeon breast as the starter, which came with a cabbage and brussel sprout cake that made me want to chunder. This was followed by a mouth-watering twice-roasted pork belly, atop some delectable roasted veggies and taters. The wine was flowing, courtesy of Ian Robson with STFC, and the french waiting staff gave me a good chuckle. All in all, I certainly recommend La Garrigue.
We finished chowing down around 9.30 and decided a pub was an excellent plan of action. We headed to the Bow Bar, which is just around the corner from the Grassmarket and therefore extremely close to my hotel. Always a good plan. I got in line at the bar, where I was surprised to be offered a drink by one of the speakers, who was buying a round. Not one to refuse a drink, I accepted a pint of cider and spent the rest of the evening having banterous chat all round.
I headed back to my hotel just after midnight, setting my alarm for 7am and fell asleep reading my book. So there you have it. Day in the life of an astronomer :D
About a month ago my supervisor suggested that I attend a STFC funded workshop in Edinburgh - entitled 'Future of UK Submillimetre Astronomy Workshop'. I looked up the program, got permission from the Head of my department and registered for the workshop.
I set my alarm to wake me up at 6.30 this morning, but for some reason I awoke at 5am and couldn't get back to sleep. My taxi picked me up at 7.30 and hey presto!! 3 hours later I was in Edinburgh. A taxi took me to the Royal Observatory (ROE) and I arrived, two minutes before the start, with just enough time to register, grab my nametag and plonk myself down in the only remaining space in the front row.
The talks varied on the common theme of Sub-mm astronomy, focussing on telescopes and surveys in the field. Now I won't lie to you all - most of it was pretty boring. Lots of chat about resolution and depth, but also some really good info on current science goals in the Sub-mm community. A few praises were sung to Herschel, which is the telescope that provides some of my data. Unfortunately, a lot more praises were sung towards other ground-based telescopes, as ALMA and the JCMT (look 'em up) are all the rage at the moment.
Lunch was a soul-sucking experience. Not knowing anyone, I stuck some food on a plate and ate it in front of my laptop. We then moved onto the splinter sessions, where everyone sat and discussed the hot topics in Extragalactic sub-mm astronomy for three hours. I certainly learnt a lot. I have no idea where everyone came up with the resolution and field depth numbers that they were shouting out, but I did learn that whilst contemporary observing techniques have improved dramatically, a lot of progress needs to be made. There are so many projects which observe the sky in the sub-mm, but have different pros and cons that cause problems. If only we could make just ONE super telescope, capable of observing at high resolution and deep enough in redshift in multiple wavebands to truly give us all the data we want.
Anyway, that's enough astronomy chat. I eventually got bored and buggered off to my hotel. There's nothing better than sinking down on your soft hotel bed with a biscuit and a cup of tea after a long day. However, I did have the Workshop dinner to attend so I brushed my hair and set off through central Edinburgh.
I found the restaurant around 15 minutes away but, being half an hour early, I decided to pop into a pub for some liquid courage. And I found it because not too much later, a couple of guys showed up with clearly the same idea.
Isn't it funny how easy it can be to befriend people? Jamie and Boon, as these two lads were called, are instrument people from Oxford and we had a pretty good chat. So when we arrived at the restaurant 15 minutes later, we sat down and prepared for a night of fun times.
Dinner was interesting. I ordered pigeon breast as the starter, which came with a cabbage and brussel sprout cake that made me want to chunder. This was followed by a mouth-watering twice-roasted pork belly, atop some delectable roasted veggies and taters. The wine was flowing, courtesy of Ian Robson with STFC, and the french waiting staff gave me a good chuckle. All in all, I certainly recommend La Garrigue.
We finished chowing down around 9.30 and decided a pub was an excellent plan of action. We headed to the Bow Bar, which is just around the corner from the Grassmarket and therefore extremely close to my hotel. Always a good plan. I got in line at the bar, where I was surprised to be offered a drink by one of the speakers, who was buying a round. Not one to refuse a drink, I accepted a pint of cider and spent the rest of the evening having banterous chat all round.
I headed back to my hotel just after midnight, setting my alarm for 7am and fell asleep reading my book. So there you have it. Day in the life of an astronomer :D
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