not much to do

today I had to wait until Chris got me the data for the oxygen raw, fit , and continuum lines. So then I subtracted continuum and fit from raw data and sent that back to Chris. Then I waited for the rest of the data to finish it all up, but he decided he was going to do it over the weekend. Also, the date for the abstract was moved to monday so Dr. Robinson, Chris, and I will look over it then.

yesterday

I forgot to do the blog for yesterday, so here it is. I had more data to put through IDL and subtract the continuum and fit data from the raw data to get oxygen lines. I also copied more data onto excel for Hydrogen (Halpha), sulfur, and oxygen lines that gave better fits for the raw data. Some line fits had many different coefficients and values so it took quite a long time for me to put all the data onto excel. But I managed to finish at 3:30, so I decided to help the other research group with their collect.

efficient day

today I finished copying the data from the plain text files onto excel and then finished taking more objects' oxygen data, subtracting iron and sulfur data from the raw to get what is supposed to be the iron data. I could have done more, but Chris M.'s program was having some trouble loading the data into columns. I also asked Chris what the overall goal of the project was, and now I understand exactly what it is I am doing, and how all the data and numbers relate to active galactic nuclei (AGN) and the supermassive black hole in the center. Now, I feel more informed and understanding of what I am doing.

today

i got lots more work today because chris made better fits for the gaussions and so I have to copy them onto excel, it is much longer and I will have to finish them tomorrow.

Help with IDL

today Chris F. helped me with the IDL program to set up my data. He wrote in a program that will not only be able to paste data from IDL onto a plain text file, but also write the data into 2 columns like it should be. This was extremely helpful, and I was able to finish all my work in just a few minutes, instead of hours. After I finished my work, I was not given anything else to do because the undergraduate student I am working with was not in. Now I know how to use IDL so if there is more data, I will be able to quickly finish it without problems.

IDL problems

today I had to transfer more data from a plain text file into IDL, manipulate the data, and put it back out into a plain text file into two columns. The problem was trying to take the data from IDL to a plain text file. Everytime I tried to put it back into plain text, it turned up blank. The undergraduate student I work with proposed that I put the data into excel and then recopy it into a plain text file as 2 columns. I hope this will work on monday.

IDL again

today I had to take an array(matrix) of data from Chris and put it through IDL program and subtract certain parts. It actually turned out much more confusing than I thought it would be and I asked someone else for help. After he showed me how to do it, i had to rearrange all the data because it did not show up as two columns. At the end of the day I was given more data, but when I tried to put it through IDL, it stopped so that was frustrating. Tomorrow I will try and figure out what to do with IDL and how to fix it.

field trip and rain

I tried to get as much as i could before the field trip with typing in the oxygen lines, but I finished after our field trip to the U of R. During the field trip we went to visit the biomedical engineering part. We first had a presentation about RIT and biomedical engineering, and then we went into 3 different groups and see what each group does. It was interesting to see all the different experiments and attempts the groups were making to advance and push the field of biomedical engineering further. We saw one group trying to make cells connect blood vessels so that in the end it could produce an artificial liver. That was really cool. Con: it started to rain really badly and we had to cancel the weekly volleyball game.

calculations

today I used data from yesterday for some calculations today. I found the half width full max values of gaussions on excel. I used the width values, divided them by square root of 2. Then I multiplied it by by 2(sqrt(2ln2)). Then I also used that value of the full width half max to find the velocity dispersion.

I also found out that I will be presenting me and my undergraduate student's research for the undergraduate research symposium on August 13. this is going to be interesting.

The scrambled word on the board today was, I thought, intrapreneurship. they put this word up on the board to encourage us to push ourselves and continue studying and learning.

more plugging in data

today I copied more data onto excel. This became boring, but the concept of all the data was interesting. Then, Chris taught me different equations and plugging them into excel. That was interesting. Then we had to check over some numbers because some turned out negative(when they shouldn't have). Looking over numbers became a little tedious, but I finally finished it.

getting data

This post is actually for Friday. On Friday, Chris gave me data of different gaussions and I had to plug that information in excel. There were 58 gaussions and about 11 pieces of data for each. So, that took a long time to make. The worst part was when the computers started freezing and I couldn't send Chris the excel plot. It got really frustrating so we finally used my USB to transfer the data.

Finally meet with grad student

Today I finally met with a grad student that works with Dr. Robinson. Chris (the grad student) told me all about what he does with trying to look at the different wavelengths and energy in the center of galaxies. Tomorrow I will get my data and start plugging it in equations to help with his project. So, today I found out what I will be doing for the next couple of days (or weeks). I am finally starting my project. Yay.

field trip

we went to visit JML Optical today and saw how they made lenses. We saw all the processes that go into making a lens and the difficulties that need to be overcomed while making a lens. It was very interesting to see all the machines and their different jobs. Then all the kids from the internship played volleyball at the end of the day.
My advisor guy that has to give me my project still hasn't come back and so I had to work more with IDL.

Project guy not here yet

my advisor for the project is still not here yet, so I can't start working yet. I played around more with IDL and tried to plot different equations. Currently, I am just waiting until I can get my work so I can start. We also went to visit other interns in other groups. We visited the other astro interns in the scube. We saw what they were working on and it sounded more interactive because they create 3-D replicas of Mars.

Basically, I am still waiting until I get some work to do.

project ideas

today we tried to work more on IDL and we suffered through lots of annoyances with the computers. But, later we had a meeting where the three of us doing astronomical research met with our advisors to decide on projects for the internship. The advisors explained to us about four different types of projects that they had in mind. Some of the projects were explained way beyond our understanding, but we understood the basics of each. I will have time to think about which project I want to do over the weekend. Next week we will probably use IDL to help us out on our projects.

IDL

today we were introduced to IDL, a computer program that is widely used in the intern program. We read the users guide and tried to understand how to use it. Sometimes it was really frustrating, and others it was quite easy. I'm just wondering how we will get to use it for our projects. There is still some things I have to look at in IDL and try and understand, but it will take some time until I get used to using IDL.

2nd day, actual work begins

Today we were orientated in our morning staff meeting. We had to get our passwords for the computer and get access to different rooms that we will need for our internship throughout the summer. After the meeting, we went off into our groups, but for the astronomy group, Jake wasn't there. So, Chris (one of the students there) walked us around to all the rooms where people work for the astronomy lab. I also met some of the other guys who were working in the lab, and they told our group what they did. It was really interesting seeing what kind of projects other students were working on. Then Chris gave our group a mini project to work on. I researched radio galaxies and some of their properties. It was cool.

1st day

today was the first day of the internship. Joe and Bob talked to us about all the specifics of the program. Then we were separated in groups for a scavenger hunt around RIT campus. It was soooo hot today, everytime I went in the sun it hurt!!! Our group went around most of the campus to try and find the different landmarks on the campus. After we were done, we had to make a video of what we found. The most frustrating part was trying to use the Mac computers. It was impossible to save the video to the desktop on the Mac. In the end, 2 of the 3 groups could not put the video on a DVD, so we took clips of the video and made them into one video. We watched the videos, and it was funny. We got free shirts , but we ended early because the guy for astro imaging was not there.

So, basically we did nothing, and it was extremely hot.