Jekyll2020-12-05T22:40:51+00:00https://www.ifweassume.com/feed.xmlIf We AssumeA website about data, astronomy, and funny questions.James Davenport, PhDLife in 20202020-12-04T00:00:00+00:002020-12-04T00:00:00+00:00https://www.ifweassume.com/blog/hello<p>The most over-used trope of 2020 is saying that <em>“2020 has been such an incredibly unusual year”</em>… but let’s be honest, it’s true!</p>
<p>Since 2020-March-12th I have been “working from home”, along side my superhero wife, and our two young children. For the last few months we’ve been able to have some backup, local family helping watch the kids a couple days per week, to allow us adults to get something closer to a reasonable amount of work done… still, on my best weeks I’m probably only at ~60% work capacity.</p>
<p>That lower productivity <em>hurts</em>, not just for my career (which has somehow managed to progress a bit, even in spite of all this), but also for my sense of direction and self-worth. I <strong>like</strong> my job, am proud of my work, and I miss doing it!</p>
<p>Naturally this means I’ve also been producing less creative stuff - which for me is data visualizations, blog posts, and in the past couple years vlogs. So here is my flash update:</p>
<p>1) A video I posted (TWO MONTHS AGO already?!) talking about <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djH8RG4Z8mg">what I’ve been up to</a> during the pandemic:</p>
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<p>If you’re curious about the (little) astronomy I’ve been working on, here is a 5-min talk about the paper I’m finishing up right now: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhh0m9Xm1Lc">The Rise and Fall of HS Hydra!</a></p>
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<p>I hope you all have a safe, socially distant December. Mask up!</p>James Davenport, PhDThe most over-used trope of 2020 is saying that “2020 has been such an incredibly unusual year”… but let’s be honest, it’s true!My 3 AAS 235 Talks2020-03-25T00:00:00+00:002020-03-25T00:00:00+00:00https://www.ifweassume.com/blog/AAStalks<p>Right now the astronomy world is basically on lock-down due to the coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic. Most observatories are closed, universities have gone to a distance learning mode, and astronomers are spending nearly all our time on Zoom - or as in my case, taking care of my kids and occasionally on Zoom!</p>
<p>Since I recently posted the final video in my <a href="https://www.ifweassume.com/blog/AAS235.html">AAS 235 series</a> on the ‘ol Astro Vlog, and people clearly are in need of things to watch to pass the time during our international social isolation period, here are the videos from <em>all three</em> of the talks I gave at AAS 235 back in January!</p>
<h2 id="stellar-astrophysics-from-the-first-years-of-tess"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfOEtQa8Kg0">Stellar Astrophysics from the First Year(s) of TESS</a></h2>
<p>My all-out favorite of the three, this was a 10-min talk aimed at all astronomers, highlighting the amazing potential for TESS to study (and maybe even revolutionize) our understanding of variable stars!</p>
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<h2 id="seti-in-spatio-temporal-surveys"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lF0G53Ei1tg">SETI in Spatio-Temporal Surveys</a></h2>
<p>A new “Special Session” was organized this year, focused on SETI and technosignature research. I’m <strong>very</strong> excited to see this area of astronomy grow in the next decade, and was pleased that the session was so well attended! My talk was focused on the recent paper I posted about using big data optical surveys in astronomy to develop new methods for technosignature research!</p>
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<p>and as a bonus, if you’re keen on this kind of work I talked more with David Kipping from the Cool Worlds lab (and YouTube channel) about SETI during AAS as well! <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmb1TblqwV0">Video Here!</a></p>
<h2 id="flares-in-kepler-and-tess"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0gmuC0JHwo">Flares in Kepler and TESS</a></h2>
<p>This final video was actually my <em>first</em> presentation at the conference. I held the video back for a while because the audio is terrible! But that’s not (only) because I’m not a professional videographer, the audio was horrid even in person! It was early in the conference, and we had some A/V troubles… Now, this happens from time to time, and to be honest I’m always impressed with how <em>smoothly</em> the AAS conferences go. Talks very rarely aren’t available on the presenter laptops, microphones are available, tech support is quick to respond to any issues… Being a professional scientist means sometimes you just have to give your the best you can with a hot mic!</p>
<p>This talk was about the paper (currently under referee review) we wrote on the opportunity to study long-term flare activity using the combination of Kepler and TESS. It’s a unique area for variable star research that I’m hoping we can utilize more in creative ways!</p>
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<p>It means a LOT to me if you <a href="http://youtube.com/james-davenport?sub_confirmation=1">subscribe to my YouTube channel!</a></p>James Davenport, PhDRight now the astronomy world is basically on lock-down due to the coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic. Most observatories are closed, universities have gone to a distance learning mode, and astronomers are spending nearly all our time on Zoom - or as in my case, taking care of my kids and occasionally on Zoom!Checking out the AAAS Meeting2020-02-20T00:00:00+00:002020-02-20T00:00:00+00:00https://www.ifweassume.com/blog/aaas<p>I’ve been going to the <em>AAS</em> meetings for a long time (almost 15 years?!) but this is my first time attending a <strong>AAAS</strong> meeting! It’s a general science meeting, meaning there were scientists, engineers, public policy, outreach professionals…. from all disciplines! The upside of this is that I got to hear talks about drug therapies, climate change, citizen science, building an inclusive mentoring community… and almost NO astronomy for a couple days. It’s great to get some breadth, some perspective about what else is going on in science and academia.</p>
<p>The downside (in my opinion) is that every talk is necessarily at a fairly high level, since your audience isn’t made of specialists. Also, there were very few posters or personal presentations from people. Most of the sessions were talks by bigger names or panel discussions… and I kind of missed getting to chat face-to-face with students and junior people who were proud of their work. My review is: Definitely go to the AAAS meeting if you want to hear about outreach, policy, etc, but if you’re a student looking to get their science out to the world: probably focus on more specialized meetings.</p>
<p>Still, it was a really fun meeting to attend - and I got to see a talk by Bill Gates himself (a first for me!) Check it out in this week’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2hQNrlz51Q">Astro Vlog</a>!</p>
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<p>It means a LOT to me if you <a href="http://youtube.com/james-davenport?sub_confirmation=1">subscribe to my YouTube channel!</a></p>James Davenport, PhDI’ve been going to the AAS meetings for a long time (almost 15 years?!) but this is my first time attending a AAAS meeting! It’s a general science meeting, meaning there were scientists, engineers, public policy, outreach professionals…. from all disciplines! The upside of this is that I got to hear talks about drug therapies, climate change, citizen science, building an inclusive mentoring community… and almost NO astronomy for a couple days. It’s great to get some breadth, some perspective about what else is going on in science and academia.Data or Art2020-02-10T00:00:00+00:002020-02-10T00:00:00+00:00https://www.ifweassume.com/blog/dataart<p>Here’s a fun quiz: can you tell the difference between 4 pieces of art and 4 pieces of data visualization?</p>
<p>Of course I’m being selective and picking pieces that are intentionally difficult, but my hope is to promote the idea that it’s worth our time as scientists to make our data visualization and presentation more attractive. Drawing in the viewer is a key step in communicating your ideas, especially when they’re subtle and technical!</p>
<p>The biggest lesson I got in this was from <a href="https://ifweassume.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-dimensions-of-art.html">a blog</a> post a few years back, visualizing the metadata from 65k pieces held in the Tate Modern art gallery. My original graph was fascinating, and a flop - nobody on social media seemed to care about it! My recreation did much better, despite it being a “worse” graph - it was itself art!</p>
<p>Check out this story, and my Data vs Art quiz <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1W-C4NIyTVc">in this short video</a>!</p>
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<p>It means a LOT to me if you <a href="http://youtube.com/james-davenport?sub_confirmation=1">subscribe to my YouTube channel!</a></p>James Davenport, PhDHere’s a fun quiz: can you tell the difference between 4 pieces of art and 4 pieces of data visualization?First Light for DKIST2020-02-05T00:00:00+00:002020-02-05T00:00:00+00:00https://www.ifweassume.com/blog/dkist<p>It is a GREAT time to be studying our nearest star, the Sun! NASA’s <a href="https://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/mission/">Solar Dynamics Observatory</a> (SDO) is almost 10 years old, the <a href="http://parkersolarprobe.jhuapl.edu">Parker Solar Probe</a> is currently <strong>inside Mercury’s orbit</strong> working to directly study the solar wind, and <em>now</em> the incredible <a href="https://www.nso.edu/telescopes/dki-solar-telescope">Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope</a> (DKIST) has achieved its <a href="https://www.nso.edu/inouye-solar-telescope-first-light/">“first light”</a>.</p>
<p>The first data from DKIST is seriously amazing. It’s about 10 minutes of images, put into one incredible video that shows enormous, Texas-sized boils of gas rolling and convecting. There’s also tiny features, little magnetically-generated hot spots that dance around between the big convective granules… it’s really quite mesmerizing!</p>
<p>Take 2 minutes and check out my <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lJhALW-zwg">overview of DKIST</a>!</p>
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<p>It means a LOT to me if you <a href="http://youtube.com/james-davenport?sub_confirmation=1">subscribe to my YouTube channel!</a></p>James Davenport, PhDIt is a GREAT time to be studying our nearest star, the Sun! NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) is almost 10 years old, the Parker Solar Probe is currently inside Mercury’s orbit working to directly study the solar wind, and now the incredible Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST) has achieved its “first light”.TESS Cycle 3 Proposal2020-01-23T00:00:00+00:002020-01-23T00:00:00+00:00https://www.ifweassume.com/blog/tess3<h2 id="how-not-to-write-a-proposal">How NOT to write a proposal</h2>
<p>After 10 days in Hawaii, working hard at AAS (check out my <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qL63VvE_3ck&list=PLWutIaedlwKRT-QE9bFrD6y-sTr1vY6oa">daily Vlogs</a> from the meeting!), giving 3 talks, and taking some family vacation time, I returned home to a very snowy Seattle… and a looming proposal deadline.</p>
<p>Working on short timelines is how we <em>always</em> seem to do things these days, but this was a bit ridiculous: I found myself the morning of the due date with NO proposal, and a deadline at 130pm (local time)… ACK!</p>
<p>So after quick consideration, and digging up the NSF proposal I had written a few months earlier, I wrote the entire (4 page) TESS Cycle 3 proposal in about 3 hours!</p>
<p><strong>Phew</strong></p>
<p>You can enjoy a piece of that “journey” in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Flh3lCNpg3c">my latest video</a>… and please, dear reader, do not try this at home (or work) if you can ever possibly help it. My review: 0/10, do not recommend writing a proposal in one morning.</p>
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<p>It means a LOT to me if you <a href="http://youtube.com/james-davenport?sub_confirmation=1">subscribe to my YouTube channel!</a></p>James Davenport, PhDHow NOT to write a proposalStrange New Worlds2020-01-21T00:00:00+00:002020-01-21T00:00:00+00:00https://www.ifweassume.com/blog/strange<h2 id="recording-a-podcast">Recording a Podcast</h2>
<p>Check out this excerpt from an interview I did with Mike Wong for his <em>awesome</em> podcast, “Strange New Worlds”. We’re talking about my recent paper on using big surveys (like TESS or LSST) to carry out new kinds of SETI research. Mike does an amazing job of connecting our chat to Star Trek, and his production quality is top notch. You can watch a short clip of the interview on my latest YouTube video:</p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueRbCY7ZzE8">Strange New Worlds Interview excerpt</a></p>
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<p>Or (my suggestion!) go check out the whole interview <a href="https://soundcloud.com/strange-new-worlds/episode-87-reimagining-seti">here</a>:</p>
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<p>It means a LOT to me if you <a href="http://youtube.com/james-davenport?sub_confirmation=1">subscribe to my YouTube channel!</a></p>James Davenport, PhDRecording a PodcastAAS 235 and Beyond2020-01-01T00:00:00+00:002020-01-01T00:00:00+00:00https://www.ifweassume.com/blog/AAS235<h2 id="off-to-hawaii">Off to Hawaii</h2>
<p>Next week I’ll be at the <a href="https://aas.org/meetings/aas235">235th meeting of the American Astronomical Society</a>, aka AAS 235. This is the big annual winter conference of (mostly) US-based astronomers, and this will be a near record turnout - over 3400 scientists!</p>
<p>The meeting this year will be held in Honolulu (last year was <a href="https://ifweassume.blogspot.com/2019/01/video-aas-233-homecoming-day-0.html">Seattle</a>), which is a great place to attend a conference. <em>But</em>, it also will have a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirty_Meter_Telescope_protests">backdrop of controversy</a>…</p>
<p>I go to this meeting (almost) every year, and it has become an important part of my annual motivation and working mindset. I’m excited to see many familiar faces, make new friends, and learn a ton of new things. You can follow the meeting via Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23aas235&src=typed_query&f=live">here</a>!</p>
<p>Here’s my pre-meeting video, with a few tips for the conference and being respectful in Hawaii. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qL63VvE_3ck">Tips for AAS 235</a></p>
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<h2 id="and-beyond">And Beyond</h2>
<p>2 years ago I started my YouTube channel series, dubbed <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qL63VvE_3ck&list=PLWutIaedlwKRWLScYr1zG4Ov-gTdf7l69">“Astro Vlog”</a>, at the AAS meeting in DC (you can see the videos from THAT meeting <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nliApj5M59Y&list=PLWutIaedlwKRzEn18GXYp8exnq-7oz1b9">here</a>). Since then I’ve published 88 videos in the Astro Vlog series, with roughly weekly content. It’s been a wonderful project for me, helping me learn new skills (hello video editing basics), go on new adventures, and CREATE new things for the world. Like writing this blog (and especially <a href="https://ifweassume.blogspot.com">the archive</a> that goes back to 2012!), realizing ideas and putting them on the internet in video form has been incredibly rewarding.</p>
<p>Going forward in 2020, I’ll probably dial back the Astro Vlog some. I hope to keep posting cool videos throughout the year, including travel, talks I’m giving, and maybe even some new data visualization. Similarly, I’ll keep posting to this blog as well. I don’t think these long-term projects really come to an end, they just get re-prioritized as my life and creativity changes.</p>
<p><strong>In 2020 I’ll continue to see you here on the internet!</strong></p>
<p>It means a LOT to me if you could <a href="http://youtube.com/james-davenport?sub_confirmation=1">subscribe to my YouTube channel!</a></p>James Davenport, PhDOff to HawaiiClickbait Astronomy2019-11-22T00:00:00+00:002019-11-22T00:00:00+00:00https://www.ifweassume.com/blog/AoT2019<p>Yesterday I gave my third <a href="https://astronomyontap.org/locations/seattle-wa/">Astronomy on Tap Seattle</a> talk, and it was THE MOST FUN I’ve had giving a talk in at least a year! The talk is about clickbait, “fake news”, and exaggerated headlines in astronomy. This is new material for me, as I’m usually presenting talks on specific science topics rather than general commentary. I also did a ton of interesting reading to inform the material shown, so this was a really fun slide deck to prepare!</p>
<p>Performing on stage - in this case by presenting science-related content - is absolutely electrifying. When it goes well for me, it’s like being an actor or standup comedian. You guide the audience through a story, and can feel the control of the room’s attention. The vibe of this talk was very different for me, and I had an absolute blast giving it… and I think it went over pretty well. I hope you enjoy watching it!!</p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmrAQ-VqIGU">Clickbait Astronomy</a></p>
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<p>It means a LOT to me if you could <a href="http://youtube.com/james-davenport?sub_confirmation=1">subscribe to my YouTube channel!</a></p>James Davenport, PhDYesterday I gave my third Astronomy on Tap Seattle talk, and it was THE MOST FUN I’ve had giving a talk in at least a year! The talk is about clickbait, “fake news”, and exaggerated headlines in astronomy. This is new material for me, as I’m usually presenting talks on specific science topics rather than general commentary. I also did a ton of interesting reading to inform the material shown, so this was a really fun slide deck to prepare!Publishing in Astronomy2019-11-13T00:00:00+00:002019-11-13T00:00:00+00:00https://www.ifweassume.com/blog/papers<p>This week I submitted a new NSF proposal, and a new paper! Woo! Writing is going well in November so far.</p>
<p>This inspired me to record two videos this week on the subject of papers in astronomy: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9or7ipwhUE">Brevity is Wit</a> (on my preference towards short papers), and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkXPgLsuK6A">How to Publish</a> (a 10-step <a href="https://jradavenport.github.io/2014/05/01/babypapers.html">outline</a> of how we publish papers). My hope with these videos, as with my YouTube channel in general, is to share what it’s like to be an active, publishing astronomer.</p>
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<p>It means a LOT to me if you could <a href="http://youtube.com/james-davenport?sub_confirmation=1">subscribe to my YouTube channel!</a></p>James Davenport, PhDThis week I submitted a new NSF proposal, and a new paper! Woo! Writing is going well in November so far.