telescoper.wordpress.com 2021-12-31 22:02 A Citation Landmark Just over a week ago I posted an item about the citations garnered by papers in the Open Journal of Astrophysics in the course of which I... telescoper.wordpress.com 2021-12-31 03:29 Another Covid New Year I’ve had a very quiet Christmas break. Apart from regular trips into the garden to feed the birds, and putting out and bringing in the... telescoper.wordpress.com 2021-12-29 21:13 R.I.P. Willy Kley (1958-2021) Once again it is my sad task to pass on news of the death of a colleague from the field of astrophysics. Prof. Dr. Wilhelm (“Willy”)... telescoper.wordpress.com 2021-12-29 01:22 The Ghosts of Christmas Past For the second year running I’ve spent Christmas at home in Ireland. It seems... telescoper.wordpress.com 2021-12-28 01:24 The Future of Extragalactic Observations from the Past The launch of the James Webb Space Telescope on Christmas Day triggered a...
telescoper.wordpress.com 2021-12-27 00:53 On Nominal Yesterday’s launch of the James Webb Space Telescope reminded me of something I blogged about many years ago. At regular intervals during the launch we heard staff at Mission Control in Kourou saying that everything...
telescoper.wordpress.com 2021-12-25 17:38 Merry JWSTmas! Well it’s 10.20am on Christmas Day and I’ve got up specially early in order to be ready for the launch at 12.20pm today (Irish Time) of the James Webb Space Telescope from Kourou in French Guiana. The JWST project...
telescoper.wordpress.com 2021-12-25 00:59 Reasons to be cheerful? We’ve all been bracing for the arrival of the omicron storm here in Ireland. I has been like waiting for a tsunami know is coming and praying that the flood defences are strong enough to hold. The wave now seems to be...
telescoper.wordpress.com 2021-12-24 18:57 A Christmas Scene There were disturbing scenes in Maynooth today as concerned passers-by and farm animals gathered around a small child mysteriously injured by being hit on the head by a gold Frisbee. Follow @telescoper
telescoper.wordpress.com 2021-12-23 22:42 Bird Life This morning, while I was waiting for my extra special Christmas veggie box to arrive, I was watching the birds in the garden through my kitchen window. For the last several days I’ve been putting out several full...
telescoper.wordpress.com 2021-12-23 04:54 R.I.P. Thomas Kinsella The renowned Irish Poet Thomas Kinsella has passed away at the age of 93. By way of a small tribute I thought I would post again a poem by him that I first posted about 7 years ago when I had no inkling that I would...
telescoper.wordpress.com 2021-12-22 18:56 The Future of Publishing Citations to papers in the Open Journal of Astrophysics I’ve long thought that The Open Journal of Astrophysics is ahead of its time, but when I checked the citation record via NASA/ADS the other day I found...
telescoper.wordpress.com 2021-12-21 18:43 The Winter Solstice 2021 So it comes around again. The winter solstice in the Northern hemisphere happens today, Tuesday 21st December, at 15.59 Irish Time. Among other things, this means that tomorrow is the shortest day of the year in the...
telescoper.wordpress.com 2021-12-20 01:20 Il Mio Tesoro – John McCormack The aria Il Mio Tesoro Intanto from Act II of Mozart’s great Opera Don Giovanni is widely regarded as a test piece for Operatic tenors because of its demanding mix of long flowing lines, big leaps and florid...
telescoper.wordpress.com 2021-12-18 21:44 End of Term Blog Yesterday was the last day of teaching at Maynooth University for 2021 and, although I didn’t have any teaching to do, I walked to the Department partly to get a bit of fresh air having been stuck at home on Thursday...
telescoper.wordpress.com 2021-12-17 23:16 New Publication at the Open Journal of Astrophysics It’s nice to be able to announce another publication in the Open Journal of Astrophysics before the Christmas break. This one was published yesterday, actually, but I didn’t get time to post about it until just now....
telescoper.wordpress.com 2021-12-17 02:27 Professor of Climate Change at Maynooth University I’ve been indisposed for most of today thanks to the after-effects of my booster jab, so I’ve just got time to pass on a bit of news about a job opportunity at Maynooth. You may recall that I announced recently...
telescoper.wordpress.com 2021-12-15 21:10 Boosted! This morning I duly made my way for the third time this year to City West vaccination Centre to get a booster shot of the Moderna vaccine. Given reports of lengthy queues I was prepared for a long wait but that...
telescoper.wordpress.com 2021-12-14 17:38 Art Attack Untitled, by Peter Coles (2021), 2m by 1.2m, chalk dust and oil on panel, Castlebridge Art Museum. Follow @telescoper
telescoper.wordpress.com 2021-12-13 23:38 Yet another Hubble Constant Update The latest contribution to the ongoing debate about the Hubble constant is a new paper by Adam Riess and collaborators which you can find on the arXiv here. The abstract reads: As you can see, this group is doubling...
telescoper.wordpress.com 2021-12-13 00:38 The Coronavirus Vaccine Effect When I was updating my Covid-19 page today I thought I would try something a bit different. Here are the cases and deaths (in the form of 7-day rolling averages) as I usually plot them: You can see a slight recent...
telescoper.wordpress.com 2021-12-12 18:25 Last Week Ahead We’re approaching the end of term here at Maynooth University; the forthcoming week is the last week of teaching, after which we have the luxury of a full week without lectures or tutorials before Christmas itself....
telescoper.wordpress.com 2021-12-11 19:14 Rum & Coca Cola – The Christie Brother Stompers And now for something completely different in the form of a lovely bit of British revivalist Jazz from 70 years ago. Once upon a time I had a 7″ EP record with this track on it, but I’m afraid I lost it along the...
telescoper.wordpress.com 2021-12-11 00:04 Irony Alert! Having just started working from home yesterday, this afternoon I received the above message, via the Covid-19 tracker app, saying that I have been a close contact of someone who has tested positive for Covid-19. I...
telescoper.wordpress.com 2021-12-10 18:30 New Publication at the Open Journal of Astrophysics Time to announce yet another publication in the Open Journal of Astrophysics. This one was published yesterday, actually, but I didn’t get time to post about it until just now. It is the 16th paper in Volume 4 (2021)...