Year 3...in a nutshell

So I have finally completed my third year at Cardiff, but I still have one year to go as I am enrolled on an integrated masters (MPhys). I would definitely say that this year has been the hardest yet - especially when it came to balancing project work, modules and extra curricular activities like netball and being on committees.

Instead of boring anyone who reads this with tons of text, I am going to summarise this past year with pictures and teen bits of text (for when I don't have pictures).

The academic year kicked off around September, and as I was voted onto the Chaos committee, it was time to recruit some new members.

By October, it was time to visit the Peak District for the Peak Star Party 2014! This year, it was decided that I would give a short talk about "my journey" as it would give an insight to how I ended up studying Astrophysics. I think it was okay.

November arrived and by this point my third year project had really started to take off. I spent days aligning a spatial/spectral interferometer and it was starting to pay off. Without spending too much time worrying about Physics, a spatial /spectral interferometer allows me to indirectly image objects whilst gaining an understanding of their spectral composition i.e for a star, I could work out what elements it contained.

December and January were a write off due to Christmas and exams, and I don't really remember anything interesting happening until the Easter holidays in April - that is when I visited Amsterdam!

By this point in the year, I had helped organised the most successful Annual Physics Ball ever! It was held at the Radisson Blu Hotel in May.

Then exams happened again and removed the joy from life, but it was okay because Oxford University accepted my application for a summer internship...so goodbye Wales!

and hello Oxford!

Peak Star Party 2012

My prolonged period of absence, from this blog, is probably due to my insane workload (and lack of interesting things to say). As I tend to avoid doing work at the weekend, I can't really complain about my lack of free time in the week. However, I think I have a good enough excuse for not completing any homework the other weekend (which was several months ago...) - PSP2012!

That's right folks, after spending the majority of the last star party - without sensation in my toes - I decided to go back for more. I think it was one of my better choices, as I have had the best weekend. 

After two lectures and an exercise class, I was most certainly ready for a fun-filled weekend. Before this could occur, I had to somehow travel to Chelmorton in about six hours – which was almost impossible on public transport, but I managed it in less than seven.

Upon arrival, I was finally reunited with the lovely Angela. She then proceeded to give me a hard hat, for protection after last year’s unfortunate occurrence (see my previous blog post). Missing the welcome talks was unfortunate, but it was already rather dark (and cloudy) by 20:00; so putting up my tiny two man tent had to be prioritised.

Eventually I was greeted by the welcoming sight of sta...more clouds. It was a tad frustrating, as I had travelled for hours. Luckily enough, everyone was in a fantastic mood, so several hours of socialising commenced, which was then followed by a relatively (midnight) early night. 

At about 1am, one of my fellow campers started trying to wake me up, as the stars were coming out. That was it; I threw on around 8 layers, in the space of 3 minutes, and left my tent. The sight that I was greeted by was immense. Orion, Jupiter and Taurus were the only visible areas, but I was not disappointed. I have never seen the belts of Jupiter so clearly through my own telescope before, and it was simply wonderful.  Once I had woken up several neighbouring tents, and my database of about 10 easy-to-find objects was exhausted, I started doing my usual thing. For those of you who haven't witnessed my behaviour at a star party, I tend to just find the nearest gathering of people, and ask what they're looking at. This often leads to me being shown brilliant objects, and this year was no exception. 

One of my observing highlights, of that night, was probably M81 & M82. If you're rubbish with Messier catalogue numbers, like myself, then a more familiar name would be Bode's Galaxy and the Cigar Galaxy (I think). It was astounding to see such beautiful galaxies in the same field of view. Either those, or the Owl Cluster - which definitely looks more like E.T than an owl. I really can't decide, as I really did see a lot that night, including: the triplet in Auriga, the Crab Nebula, the Andromeda Galaxy, Caroline's Rose, the Double Cluster and so many more! I really am grateful for being shown such wonderful objects. 

Staying up until 4:20am was probably a bad idea, but it was difficult to drag myself away from the night sky. 

Apparently this is as far as I got with my blog post - which is embarrassing as Peak Star Party 2013 has already passed, and I am now looking forward to PSP14.

Busybusybusy

I am almost ashamed of how little I have blogged since moving to Cardiff. This is probably one of the most exciting times of my life so far, and I have nothing to look back on. I'm a little disappointed, but I really have been a busy bee. 

The workload for a Physics degree is insane. I have work due in everyday, and most of it takes 2-3 hours to complete - sometimes more! Although it is paying off, as my marks have been improving, and I do feel like I have absorbed most of the nonsense I have had thrown at me. As much as I moan about it on twitter, I do love my degree. I learn new things everyday and I have started to become actively involved in some fascinating projects. 

For example, I have recently become a STEM ambassador! I am yet to actually do anything for the programme, but I have agreed to help out at an Astronomy evening, at a local primary school. It's not until the second half of the Spring term, so I have plenty of time to brush up on the Spring sky. I'm also a student rep! Which has proved to be a lot of fun so far - as I generally just listen to first years moan about 9am lectures -but I have helped to improve homework feedback (a bit) and I did get a lecturer to explain a physics topic better. 

I would love to catch my blog up with current events, but I am extremely tired, so I will try again soon - I promise. 

Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about the Peak Star Party!

UCAS, star parties and a flight to remember!

Yes. It's officially been two months since my last post. I'm a bit embarrassed, but if I said it had been the busiest two months of my life so far, then I wouldn't be lying.

Main updates include:

• UCAS offers
• S197 module results
• An aurora flight
• Work experience
• Star Party

So, I should probably start with the most interesting. UCAS offers. For any of you that actually read this, my last blog post stated (I think) that I had sent off my UCAS. 2 months on and I have received all 5 offers. I'm sorry, but if someone had told me on the last results day that getting a C in maths was not the end of my university aspirations, I wouldn't have believed them. Now I'm holding 5 offers, 4 of those offers are at 1994/Russell Group universities, and I don't know where to go. Who knew I'd be so spoilt for choice? Leeds, Cardiff and Sussex all want AAB (with an AB in maths and physics). Aberystwyth and Kent have made me a lower offer, one that I can't remember right now - oops! I think my top two choices are Cardiff and Leeds. I've got until the 9th of May to make a decision, so I'm trying to push it to the back of my mind until after the January exams.

Now for some really happy news. Mid December was an approximation of when I should have received my S197 module results by. I am very pleased to announce that I PASSED! This morning I received a letter stating how well I had done on Section A, which was 20 multiple choice questions. I only got 4 wrong, so I am quite happy with that. On Section B, which involved longer written answers, I scored:  3 'Well Achieved', 4 'Achieved' and 1 'Just Achieved'. This is on a scale of 5 levels, with 'Well Achieved 'being the best and 'Not Achieved' being the worst. There is another level between 'Just Achieved' and 'Not Achieved' but I can't remember. A normal pass is 'Just Achieved'. The Open University has such a complex grading system.

Next on the list of news was my aurora flight. To give a rough idea of the sights I got to see on this flight, see some of the pictures taken by the famous Astrophotographer and Sky at Night Presenter Pete Lawrence here. It was genuinely once of the best experiences of my life. For anyone wanting to go see the Northern Lights, a flight is a fantastic way. Even if the aurora puts on a poor show, the clarity of the night sky and millions of stars on view is enough to amaze anyone. I would not get away with posting about the aurora flight without mentioning Nigel Bradbury. The combination of his passion and knowledge of the sky made sure that the in-flight commentary was brilliant. I would give anything to be back on that flight.

I should quickly mention that it would have made more sense to mention the star party before the aurora flight, but I'm not a fan of putting things in chronological order. To quickly summarise what a star party is (you wouldn't believe the amount of times I have been asked 'what is a star party?'), it's where lots of astronomers gather in some form of fields/farm/outdoor area. They camp, bring astronomical gear and geek out all weekend. For my first star party, I wanted to attend a smaller one - just to get me used to it. I decided to attend the Peak Star Party held at Shallow Grange Farm. It exceeded all of my expectations.

It all kicked off Friday night. My friends (Matt, Hannah and Bryn) and I arrived about an hour before it got dark. Consequently, this led to the 10 man tent being partially set up in the dark. By the time we had eventually set everything up, we were greeted by beautiful night sky in all its glory. I'M JOKING. After staying up until 12am, I decided to let the clouds win and my poor tired self rest. The skies cleared early on Saturday morning and I was most definitely asleep.

Saturday lunch indicated the start of the lectures. This was of course after I decided to bang my head on a very expensive telescope and caused it to bleed (my head, not the telescope). If my memory serves me correct; we had a Dark Skies presentation by John Tanner, a Astronomy in the Peaks style lecture by Dr Daniel Brown of Nottingham University and the day was finished off by a spectacular lecture by Prof. Ian Morrison. After cooking a poor meal, I decided to get out and be social with the many pleasant people who decided to attend the Star Party. If I started to list all the spectacular sights I was treated to through the kindness of many astronomers letting me look through their equipment, I would be here all day. My favourite sights were finally being able to see the Sun and all its wonderful sunspots, M13 a globular cluster and locating M31 for the first time. It's not even hard to locate, I'm just a bit useless.

I spent the majority of Sunday morning putting down Marquees, not that I minded helping of course. It did however cause me to miss the first lecture! It was okay though, because I think I managed to make a lasting impression on several main hosts of the star party. Once I actually managed to attend the Sunday lectures, it was lovely. The first (well, second of the day) presentation was given by Nigel Bradbury on aurora flights. It was really interesting and I really enjoyed it, even if I was late (once again, sorry). The final lecture of the Star Party was on Pulsars, not quasars, and was given by Prof. Andrew Lyne. I dragged along my fellow campers and found it inspiring.

Not that they will read it, but I really would like to thank James Pels and many other people who organised such a fantastic event for making my first star party so special. The Peak Star Party 2012 has been confirmed according to here, so I expect everyone reading to attend if they can!

I did intend to write about my work experience, but there simply isn't enough time. I've got to go get ready for the busiest weekend in retail of the year (apparently). GOGOGO!

M31 - The Andromeda Galaxy. Image Credits to NASA.

My deepest apologies to Sarah...

lI just want to apologies to Sarah, one of the few to actually read my feeble blogging attempts.

GOALS OF THE MONTH:

• Blog more
• Revise more
• Smile more

Once these goals are obtained, my life should be improved. That is the main plan.

So since my last blog, I really haven't done much interesting apart from sat and probably barely passed some exams. It's not that I don't revise, it's just that I get into the exam and panic. These momentary moments of panic cause the brain to go blank and cost me valuable time! I really wish I didn't have them!
I will try and eradicate them but they're just part of my exam routine I guess.

Enough about exams...
I AM REALLY EXCITED ABOUT OCTOBER!
I'm off to the Peak District to a star party. It's basically a gathering of astronomers where they observe and share wisdom about cool stuff in the sky. I cannot wait! Although I currently have no one else to go with...I need to find someone by October otherwise I'll have to be extra social to avoid becoming an outcast. I'm only an amateur astronomer really, but I suppose this will give me an opportunity to ask lots of questions.

I really need/want it to be summer also.
37 days to go!

I'm not entirely sure where this blog is going, I have left it so long since the last post that I just have to much to catch up on!

My image of the blog is once again from APOD and is just what I hope and imagine the Peak Star Party will be like.