Student Life – Astronomy 2009

Giving life to a telescope

Thu, 11 Feb 2016 15:57:32 +0000

So I’m finally back at Surrey after spending a wonderful 8 months working with radio telescopes. After what I may call an “educational break” it is nice to be back in the classroom. But there is another reason why I am so glad to be back at school again.

My favorite place in all of campus is on top of the Earth and Ocean sciences building, where the UBC astronomy club’s 12 inch (diameter) telescope is housed. And this isn’t any ordinary 12″ scope that you might find on telescope shops these days. How the astronomy club came to own such a unique instrument is a mystery to me. At least I am sure that it was way before my time.

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The hunt for the 8th Planet!

Wed, 10 Feb 2016 16:08:26 +0000

BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ! My phone alarm went off and I barely opened my eyes, still asleep. Unable to getup from bed I thought to myself “may be I should try this tmr”, but somehow I knew if I didn’t get up then I’ll regret it later. I removed the curtains from the nearest window and saw several stars (clear sky), and that was enough to get me up from bed. I got my stuff together in the next half hour, hopped in the car and drove to DRAO. Wow! it’s the earliest I’ve ever been to work! I got off the car and saw the Big Dish (26m radio telescope at DRAO) slowly moving along the meridian faithfully carrying out the scans I scheduled last day. Just to the side of the dish in the southern sky I saw the gibbous Moon, and Huh! the object I wanted to see, which would lead me to the object that I really wanted to see.

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My First Light Curve

Fri, 05 Feb 2016 16:12:56 +0000

Well, after the first couple of weeks, I have my first light curve. Most people think that we astronomers spend much of our time at telescopes. Not really. One run at a telescope can create enough data to keep a scientist busy for a whole year.

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