Steinn Sigurðsson
Professor of Astrophysics at Pennsylvania State University. Science Editor at Astrophysical Journal. Icelandic. Herder of Cats.
catdynamics
Posts by this author
March 22, 2009
ever wondered what age the universe is at redshift 6.7?
or how many nanoJanskys there are coming in the R band from a 23rd magnitude star?
well, a couple of web based calculators will tell you, rapidly and precisely
in cosmology, it is easy to get a crude estimate of time lapsed since the Big Bang…
March 20, 2009
the root cause of the failure of AIG FP is that they were off by an order of magnitude as to what the risk was they were betting against
"The Seed Of Ruin Is Planted
- That year, JP Morgan approached AIG, proposing that, for a fee, AIG insure JP Morgan's complex corporate debt, in case of default…
March 20, 2009
here is something that ought to keep you awake screaming in terror
From St Louis Fed (pdf)
click to embiggen
Aargh!
h/t CR
March 20, 2009
I am in an all day meeting with bio/geo types, as one does, and as I sit here a random thought struck me, since us astronomers will insist on asteroids as the universal explanation for all things
we have a nice medium sized impact structure in Chesapeake Bay,
the ripples seem to have come as far…
March 19, 2009
Bit behind with KITP program events, mostly due to my deplorable inability to be in two or more places at the same time.
Bit on multiple populations, and then gravitational radiation sources.
Franca d'Antona's talk on multiple stellar populations is here - thought we knew simple main sequence…
March 19, 2009
Nice article over at Universe Today on
The Sun As A White Dwarf Star and why it might become a DAZ.
Good stuff.
Even though I say it meself.
March 18, 2009
there has been a lot going on in the world in recent year, and people are outraged,
sort of
actually, given the sheer outrageousness of the various finanicial and political misdeeds of the last few years, the level of outrage is surprisingly low
people are jaded, and this is reflected in many…
March 18, 2009
A couple of years ago I received a copy of Chris Mooney's "Storm World" and packed it in my carry-on to read on travel.
This month I finally read it, and about time too.
Storm World
Hurricanes, Politics and the Battle Over Global Warming
by Chris Mooney
Harcourt Inc
ISBN 978-0-15-101287-9
Storm…
March 17, 2009
New York Attorney General Cuomo writes a letter to Congress.
He is not amused at American International Group.
Cuomo, in his capacity as overseer on NY insurance companies has been making enquiries, and kindly asked AIG not to distribute bonuses to its finance group last year out of the deferred…
March 17, 2009
stars do turn, sometimes fast enough to be noticeably flattened
this may have consequences
Like So
there are two issues related to stellar rotation contemplated this morning:
Altair
now, way flatter than that...
self-enrichment - back to the good old O/Na anti-correlation
evidence for H…
March 17, 2009
I now know who to blame for this science blogging thing
I was a little bit bemused when I arrived at KITP and was told, by the way, that the program needed an official blogger, and that I, for my sins and in recompense, was it.
It is all Jennifer's fault,
she thinks it is all parties and cocktails…
March 16, 2009
the bear went down the cliff
the bear went down the cliff
to find what he could find
to find what he could find
to find what he could find
the bear went down the cliff
to find what he could find
and what do you think he found
and what do you think he found
and what do you think he found
he found…
March 16, 2009
here is an idle thought:
there was much conjecture back in sep '01 that people with "inside knowledge" had shorted certain stocks likely to be affected by the events of that month and made significant short term gains by subsequent events
the market, of course, paid up, and there have been claims…
March 16, 2009
I think, that every large spectroscopic bucket telescope really ought to have a colocated wide field imaging telescope
like a 4m spotter telescope
seriously
March 16, 2009
lovely day, here at the beach
we have a busy week, the start of a busy month
we'll be doing multiple populations in depth, again,
and yet more on IMBH
this morning we contemplate, via Mario, whether globulars occupy a fundamental plane like galaxies, maybe even the same plane
log(Re) = 1.24 log(σ…
March 15, 2009
AIG released its counterparty list
AIG Moving Forward - list of counterparties and amounts.
So all this was really just to save Goldman Sachs...
They got $12.9 billion from the "Maiden Lane" funds the US set up to launder channel funds rapidly to vulnerable financial institutions.
'course Barclays…
March 14, 2009
the Greater Munchkin asked me today why kids can't vote
I did my usual blather and then, thinking I was being clever asked her what she would do, if a politician said he'd give her as much free candy as she wanted
she thought for a minute and then said she would not vote for him, because he was a…
March 13, 2009
"Astronomers are just as dumb as economists"
are not!
poopyhead!
and, anyway, at least we know how to spell asteroid... nah, nah.
from Economists Aren't More Stupid than Other Scientists
- wait: "Other Scientists"...?
Tee hee.
h/t CR
Oh, if we're going to be all serious and shit…
March 13, 2009
the harder they fall
continuing lazy friday music blogging
Jimmy Cliff, mon
what the heck, studio version also
March 13, 2009
he's got a degree in economics
maths, physics and bionics
can't do to many Undertones on lazy friday music blogging
March 13, 2009
Fermi Gamma-ray Telescope has results.
We hear about them.
why, yes, that really was 47 Tuc
"Discovery of γ-ray sources from the globular cluster 47 Tuc" or something similar, in preparation, at a glossy journal near you soon
in the mean time, browse the LAT bright source catalog (for high…
March 13, 2009
Theory grad students read this:
Rainer put up a summary of the numerical methods discussion for globular cluster modeling on the program wiki
if you are doing any sort of collisional dynamics, or numerical modeling of collisional self-gravitating systems, you might find this useful
There is also a…
March 12, 2009
USS Chung-Hoon is headed for the South China Sea, where there have been recent minor confrontation between US and Chinese vessels
Chung-Hoon is a Burke class Aegis destroyer - good radar, but curious choice for sea defence, heavy on missiles and a bit slow and heavy to be playing bumping games.…
March 12, 2009
and we continue our lesson on extragalactic globulars, with a trifectaduet of talks and an emphasis on colour: red or blue, it is like South Central here sometimes
remember, red is metal rich or old
blue is metal poor or young...
except the reds are actually probably younger than the blues
so it…
March 12, 2009
Fermi gamma ray telescope has released the all sky image.
Some interesting stuff...
click for big, zoomable
yup, that's 47 Tuc down there at the bottom.
More on that tomorrow, I expect.
Fermi press relase
March 12, 2009
yes, the Photomixers are back!
"...get your motor running
head up Mauna Kea
looking for some spectra..."
"..fire all your lasers at once
and explode into space..."
March 12, 2009
it is extragalactic day here at KITP
this could get exciting, if you like that sort of thing
unsolved problems in dynamical evolution, and why they are interesting...
for the five people who care.
This afternoon we tackle colour: red and blue, again...
All our data belongs to M87
'cause M87 has…
March 12, 2009
we are currently at a solar minimum, and the next cycle is starting,
but the numbers are down and the
Sun is unusually quiet
Like so:
yup, still no spots
Ok, should we be worried?
Is this the start of a new Maunder Minimum?
Will the Thames freeze?
Will there be knee deep snow in New England…
March 11, 2009
PZ mocks the elves - he has doomed himself.
The elves will not be mocked.
Elf festival for summer solstice
Ok folks, so Iceland adopted christianity from Europe, peacfully, by democratic vote, intellectual debate, possibly a touch of bribery, and the threat of invasion and conversion by force;…