Related papers: On the links between Astronomy, Astronomers, and S…
The road to becoming an astronomer is exciting, but often fraught with danger and conflicting messages. A PhD student is inundated with catch-phrases such as "publish or perish" and "it's not about the quantity, but the quality of work".…
Observational astronomy is plagued with selection effects that must be taken into account when interpreting data from astronomical surveys. Because of the physical limitations of observing time and instrument sensitivity, datasets are…
To-date, all human economic activity has depended on the resources of a single planet, and it has long been recognized that developments in space exploration could in principle open our closed planetary economy to external resources of…
Particles have tremendous potential as astronomical messengers, and conversely, studying the universe as a whole also teaches us about particle physics. This thesis encompasses both of these research directions. Many models predict a…
I review here some of the physics we are learning and expect to learn in the near future through the observation of cosmic rays. The study of cosmic rays involves a combination of data from accelerators, ground arrays, atmospheric…
The last two decades have seen the number of known exoplanets increase from a small handful to nearly 2000 known exoplanets, thousands more planet candidates, and several upcoming missions that are expected to further increase the…
An overview of the 2001 astronomy job market is presented, highlighting the recent hiring trends which prospective PhD students and postdocs might like to be aware of. Cosmology and extragalactic astronomy continue to dominate the market,…
The universe is permeated by a network of filaments, sheets, and knots collectively forming a "cosmic web.'' The discovery of the cosmic web, especially through its signature of absorption of light from distant sources by neutral hydrogen…
In this paper we present a number of metrics for usage of the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS). Since the ADS is used by the entire astronomical community, these are indicative of how the astronomical literature is used. We will show…
X-ray observations of galaxies have grown from a curiosity into a full-fledged field of astronomy. These observations provide unique information on black holes, binary stars, and the hot phase of the ISM, which can be used to constrain the…
Sky surveys represent a fundamental data basis for astronomy. We use them to map in a systematic way the universe and its constituents, and to discover new types of objects or phenomena. We review the subject, with an emphasis on the…
Motivated by an intention to remedy current complications with Dutch terminology concerning informatics, the term informaticology is positioned to denote an academic counterpart of informatics where informatics is conceived of as a…
Due to their short lifetimes but their enormous energy release in all stages of their lives massive stars are the major engines for the comic matter circuit. They affect not only their close environment but are also responsible to drive…
In the past two years, the environment within which astronomers conduct their data analysis and management has rapidly changed. Working Groups associated with international societies and Big Data projects have emerged to support and…
Astronomical observations already produce vast amounts of data through a new generation of telescopes that cannot be analyzed manually. Next-generation telescopes such as the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope and the Square Kilometer Array…
This essay is a nontechnical primer for a broader audience, in which I paint a broad-brush picture of modern cosmology. I begin by reviewing the evidence for the big bang, including the expansion of our Universe, the cosmic microwave…
We demonstrate how interactive, three-dimensional (3-d) scientific visualizations can be efficiently interchanged between a variety of mediums. Through the use of an appropriate interchange format, and a unified interaction interface, we…
For centuries, the rich nocturnal environment of the starry sky could be modelled only by analogue tools such as paper planispheres, atlases, globes and numerical tables. The immersive sky simulator of the twentieth century, the…
Galaxy formation simulations are an essential part of the modern toolkit of astrophysicists and cosmologists alike. Astrophysicists use the simulations to study the emergence of galaxy populations from the Big Bang, as well as problems…
Fictional languages have become increasingly popular over the recent years appearing in novels, movies, TV shows, comics, and video games. While some of these fictional languages have a complete vocabulary, most do not. We propose a deep…