András Gáspár
@andrasgaspar
Associate Astronomer at the University of Arizona. JWST/MIRI Instrument Team. Debris disk aficionado. Classic car enthusiast. Opinions my own. He/him
I've been at Steward Observatory for 20 years and I have never looked through or used our 21" telescope on campus. Preparing to teach students this semester, I tried it out yesterday. Students will take Saturn images like this with it. Not great seeing, but hey, it's Saturn with its rings.
Ok, the final product does look cool on the outside. I do wish the educational part were better.
Aaaand, I have to revert back to the incorrect design, because, get this, there are lots of things built in front of the mirror. Lol.
Well, I forced it in the other way. Luckily the inner rod holds it in with friction
It seems to have the current generation of instruments included (even NICMOS!), so aberrations are corrected within each instrument. Didn't check primary and how spherical it is. @bmacastro.bsky.social
Will be doing a lab with students where they measure the solar intensity with mini solar panels. Needed a resistance board for each kit and they are quite expensive. I designed and 3D printed a simple board and pulled in resistances. Remarkably, you can get within 5% of the actual Solar value.
I am not going to do the math that others have, but it seems like a really difficult technical challenge, close to - if not - impossible. How hot do they really want to run those chips? www.weforum.org/stories/2026...
Remember the days when you would get those emails about "tired light" theory and other groundbreaking new ideas? Well, today I received such a contact in SNAIL MAIL. That's a first. To my HOME address. My dude ran out of space and hand wrote on the back of the envelope. I am not in radio or SETI. 🤷
At the Tucson Automotive Museum. Giddy as a kid to see one of these in person. They had quite a few way more (20-30x) expensive cars, but this slow stainless steel car got my attention the most. What a treat.
Found an injured/immobile hummingbird on our doorstep. Hive mind: what to do?
Got a shirt for the final four game tomorrow. Notice the JWST mirror behind the Bball and the JWST PSFs in the Arizona logo
The rising full Moon is gorgeous! Imagine the view that crew will have up there!
Mind you, at the same time, we are giving out more and more degrees in astronomy!
Looking at the AAS jobregister lately, it seemed to me that there are less positions available in all categories than in previous years. Wanting to quantify, I used the wayback machine to check on the number of postings in the January-March window and it is quite depressing.
It's fun to have a friend with you at work. He's been sad without his brother at home so joined me today.
What a privilege it has been to be your friend for almost 11 years. Best dog ever.