I agreed to do a film shoot tomorrow for a university promotion thing, where they wanted me to set up a telescope and look "professorial".
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I agreed to do a film shoot tomorrow for a university promotion thing, where they wanted me to set up a telescope and look "professorial". I figured as long as I was setting up a telescope anyway, I might as well do some sidewalk astronomy with a solar filter for whoever walks by.
And then they sent out a university-wide email inviting everyone to come look through a telescope at the sun. I guess I'm going to set up TWO telescopes and hope that someone else will show up who can help me...
@sundogplanets for you to look professorial, wouldn’t it be ideal to have a couple of students helping out?
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I'm extremely glad there are a couple of sunspots right now. This would be way funnier if there weren't any sunspots.
"Come look at.... a circle! Look how circular it is!"
@sundogplanets I have to admit that when I looked at the extremely partial eclipse through my eclipse glasses last week, I was really pleased to be reminded that the sun is a perfect circle and not surrounded by pointy flames like in the emoji
️. It's hard to appreciate its geometry when I don't have the glasses! -
I agreed to do a film shoot tomorrow for a university promotion thing, where they wanted me to set up a telescope and look "professorial". I figured as long as I was setting up a telescope anyway, I might as well do some sidewalk astronomy with a solar filter for whoever walks by.
And then they sent out a university-wide email inviting everyone to come look through a telescope at the sun. I guess I'm going to set up TWO telescopes and hope that someone else will show up who can help me...
A nuisance, but it shows they're proud of you!
An ironic thing I noticed about Universities is the "bandwagon impulse". Many people do good things at (almost any) University, but the recognition they get comes mostly from outside. When the U applauds you, it's usually based on how much money you brought in. But when they see you've gotten so much recognition outside, they want to claim some reflected glory. That's better than if they only applauded the money, isn't it?
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A nuisance, but it shows they're proud of you!
An ironic thing I noticed about Universities is the "bandwagon impulse". Many people do good things at (almost any) University, but the recognition they get comes mostly from outside. When the U applauds you, it's usually based on how much money you brought in. But when they see you've gotten so much recognition outside, they want to claim some reflected glory. That's better than if they only applauded the money, isn't it?
@oldclumsy_nowmad Haha thank you. (Also extra good because the amount of grant money I've actually gotten is hilariously tiny, and none of it went to the university, it all went to paying students and publication fees. Yay NSERC.)
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@sundogplanets I have to admit that when I looked at the extremely partial eclipse through my eclipse glasses last week, I was really pleased to be reminded that the sun is a perfect circle and not surrounded by pointy flames like in the emoji
️. It's hard to appreciate its geometry when I don't have the glasses! -
I'm extremely glad there are a couple of sunspots right now. This would be way funnier if there weren't any sunspots.
"Come look at.... a circle! Look how circular it is!"
@sundogplanets I once showed some very non-scientific friends the sun in H-α, near solar maximum, and they were just stunned by the view. White-light sun is cool (I even built a white-light solar telescope and saw a flare with it long long ago (evidence in sky&tel)) but H-α is the one true way.
Here's a view from another day.
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@sundogplanets I once showed some very non-scientific friends the sun in H-α, near solar maximum, and they were just stunned by the view. White-light sun is cool (I even built a white-light solar telescope and saw a flare with it long long ago (evidence in sky&tel)) but H-α is the one true way.
Here's a view from another day.
@robpike Good point. That's probably the next fancy thing I should scrape together grant money for...
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I'm extremely glad there are a couple of sunspots right now. This would be way funnier if there weren't any sunspots.
"Come look at.... a circle! Look how circular it is!"
@sundogplanets the 4 semesters I was teaching solar system astronomy, none of the planets were up during the semester...
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I agreed to do a film shoot tomorrow for a university promotion thing, where they wanted me to set up a telescope and look "professorial". I figured as long as I was setting up a telescope anyway, I might as well do some sidewalk astronomy with a solar filter for whoever walks by.
And then they sent out a university-wide email inviting everyone to come look through a telescope at the sun. I guess I'm going to set up TWO telescopes and hope that someone else will show up who can help me...
@sundogplanets I hope you have a tweed jacket with elbow pads for the occasion.
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@sundogplanets I once showed some very non-scientific friends the sun in H-α, near solar maximum, and they were just stunned by the view. White-light sun is cool (I even built a white-light solar telescope and saw a flare with it long long ago (evidence in sky&tel)) but H-α is the one true way.
Here's a view from another day.
Sun not impressed - why take picture when breaking out
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I agreed to do a film shoot tomorrow for a university promotion thing, where they wanted me to set up a telescope and look "professorial". I figured as long as I was setting up a telescope anyway, I might as well do some sidewalk astronomy with a solar filter for whoever walks by.
And then they sent out a university-wide email inviting everyone to come look through a telescope at the sun. I guess I'm going to set up TWO telescopes and hope that someone else will show up who can help me...
@sundogplanets i love how you’re making astronomy cool again to a whole generation of folks who were made to suspect it by techbros. it’s a great problem to have
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@oldclumsy_nowmad Haha thank you. (Also extra good because the amount of grant money I've actually gotten is hilariously tiny, and none of it went to the university, it all went to paying students and publication fees. Yay NSERC.)
A mathematician friend once said to me, "I'll never get any respect from the Admin. A big grant for me is a box of pencils and a stack of legal pads."
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> and look "professorial"
Is this their indirect way of saying "please leave your goats at home for this one"?!
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@sundogplanets i love how you’re making astronomy cool again to a whole generation of folks who were made to suspect it by techbros. it’s a great problem to have
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> and look "professorial"
Is this their indirect way of saying "please leave your goats at home for this one"?!
Surely not, having the goats present would make for an epic shoot. You can't top that.
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I agreed to do a film shoot tomorrow for a university promotion thing, where they wanted me to set up a telescope and look "professorial". I figured as long as I was setting up a telescope anyway, I might as well do some sidewalk astronomy with a solar filter for whoever walks by.
And then they sent out a university-wide email inviting everyone to come look through a telescope at the sun. I guess I'm going to set up TWO telescopes and hope that someone else will show up who can help me...
That would need special filters I suppose. I converted an old telephoto lens into an 'eclipse observatory' by putting a lid on the lens with just a very small hole and then projecting the image of the sun (minus what was covered by the moon) on a piece of paper.
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> and look "professorial"
Is this their indirect way of saying "please leave your goats at home for this one"?!
@neil Dang it would be SO MUCH FUN to have my goats on campus!
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@neil Dang it would be SO MUCH FUN to have my goats on campus!
@sundogplanets @neil do they not have a „bring your kids to work“ day?
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@sundogplanets @neil do they not have a „bring your kids to work“ day?
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@sundogplanets @neil do they not have a „bring your kids to work“ day?
This is an exceptionally good joke. Bravo.
