Tag Archives: phdinleuven

My second “first-author” paper is accepted!

Last week my second paper got accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics! This is basically what I have been working on for the last year (among some other smaller things, and observing). I like it much better than my first paper, as the star investigated here turned out to be incomparably much more interesting than the subject of that one, and because I have used a very wide range of scientific tools to unravel all the possible details. I am really happy about these results, even if they do not mean much for the public, and even if there are only a few people getting excited about what I have accomplished. The manuscript is already in the hands of the publisher, but as usual, you can find the paper on arxiv.org already. From now on (OK, already since I have finished the paper in January) I am working on data from the Kepler satellite. As far as I am allowed to tell you, things are looking very interesting ;)

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Mercator 3D

While two weeks ago I was waiting for the comments from my co-authors before I resubmitted my second paper, I finally got enough motivation to finish my 3D model of the Mercator Telescope, which I started 1.5 years ago… I did it using Goole SketchUp, which is a very easy to learn and use, but still powerful modelling tool. When I abandoned the model back in 2010, I was a bit stuck with the texturing of the dome, and I basically lost interest, as most of the work was already done, and I did not feel challenged enough anymore to keep doing it. I had drawn the model based on the original blueprints of the observatory, I had taken all the high-resolution pictures on site which I needed for the texturing, but then there were still lots of time-consuming details left, which is – I can easily admit it – a bit of boring to do… But some of my colleagues started nagging me recently, so I thought, if I do not finish it now, I will never finish it. So then approximately another 30 work hours later (growing the sum to something around a 150 hours) the model was done :) I am having trouble uploading it to the servers of Google to make it available from within Google Earth itself, but until I succeed with that, you can download the model directly from here (and open it with your copy of Google Earth). I have also prepared a set of sample pictures, which can be found on Flickr. But here is a quick peek:

February

Let me give a quick summary of my February. I have been sleeping, training, working and eating (plus watching TV series, usually during eating or training). And this covers probably 99% of my activities. My second first-author paper is basically accepted (I got only minor comments from the referee, and the report was very positive), and I worked some days on another topic for Steven’s paper, which also got accepted in the meantime. In general, I was very motivated this month.

You can see my training log for February above. 1188 km, 38.5 hours, 27500 Calories. For a winter month, this is kind of amazing for me. I had a training every day, except for Mondays, which are my highly anticipated and appreciated rest days now (with an extra day of rest on Thursdays, if needed). The goal (and challenge) is to keep up with this throughout the cycling season (and maybe raise the mileage as the days get longer and the temperatures rise), with let’s say a minimum of 250 km per week (and a maximum of whatever I can manage). Of course this is tiring (but in a satisfying way), but as a positive side effect, I have no problems anymore with going to sleep before midnight, which means I can finally get up at 8, and be at work at 9. (In practice, I have replaced a lot of useless internet surfing time with the extra trainings :D) This means that as soon as we switch to summer time (which is now less than a month away), I can have my two hour outside rides still after work, in a much more convenient way (because now it is not so easy to arrange outside rides during the week – for the indoor trainer, it does not matter if it’s already dark outside). Of course I already feel the benefits of the extra training, for example I felt much stronger during the last Velodrome session (staying with the fastest group all the time, even jumping into some sprints with other guys), and yesterday when I went on a training ride with the KU Leuven team, I could follow the first guys on the climbs, and it was me who had to say to two of the other guys after the last climb, that we have to wait a bit, as we had lost the other half of the group… I do not want to be a champion or anything (the other guys do triathlon and/or real cycling races – I was the only one who was not riding in a team outfit -, so they asked me if I was also racing, and they were a bit surprised to hear a negative answer), because cycling is “only a hobby” for me (and because I have started too late for that), but I want to be able to keep up with the best non-professionals, and I want to enjoy group rides, and I definitely do not want to be dropped… I want to feel strong on the bike, this is my main motivation. And a good training can give me a satisfying feeling every day, while it is much harder to get the same feeling after a day of work.

Central Library, KU Leuven (HDR)

After the snowfall on Friday (and an evening session on the indoor trainer) I wanted to go and take pictures of the Library with the fresh white blanket, but unluckily by the time I arrived the square was fully occupied by students and buses preparing to leave for skiing holidays :S So I went back on Sunday evening after sunset, to take high dynamic range (HDR) pictures in the blue hour (when the sky is still dark blue deep into the evening twilight). Now I was successful, I think these pictures are close to perfect :)

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27, and some minor thoughts

There is no problem with 27. I prefer odd numbers anyway, so this should be better that 26 :) And until my average speed on the racing bike (on a one hour time trial effort on a flat course) – in kilometres per hour – is above my age – in terrestrial years – there should be no problem. So I do not have any problems with my age yet. This is good.

My motivation levels are still high, so work is good, cycling is good. I have trained more than twice as much this January than during the same period last year (bit more than 500 km and 17 hours)! In 2010, only May was a better month than January, 2012. Unluckily my indoor trainer broke down, so I had to send it in for repair, and thus I was forced to go and ride outside in much lower temperatures than I am used to. But a new wind-stopper base layer (making it a total of two layers on my legs, and four layers on my upper body) solved the problem, and I managed to stay warm and comfortable even in 0°C. And since then the temperature only got lower, seriously lower, so I have to be very grateful to Tijl, who let me use his old trainer as a backup while mine is gone. And I have to place the weather forecast here, because now it is freezing since last Monday. And as you can see, positive temperatures are off the chart…

Wednesday was already so cold, that I had to wear knee warmers and the upper base layer while cycling to work… Everything is frozen. Luckily it is sunny, so at least it looks nice, so with some good music (and I mean the new Lana del Rey album here) it is easy to fell good about the situation. On one hand I miss the snow (and now I see that Hungary will get loads of it on the weekend), because winter should be snowy, but on the other hand I really don’t mind that I don’t have to clean my bike every evening after riding home from work…

For my birthday – although I do not need occasions to validate a purchase – I had already bought a new lens (Canon EF 70-200mm f/4.0 L IS USM) and a pair of cycling shoes (SIDI Genius 5.5 Carbon Composite, white), but I will not stop here. I am just about to order a new wheel set for my racing bike… To be honest, I do not need anything else (what can be bought). Oh, and we have booked our flight to Mallorca and also the “villa” where we will stay for a week in May (it will be a great week of – finally not lonely – cycling). This year started well, and I have a feeling that it will turn out to be a very nice year. I hope :)

Update (from a day later): we have got the snow too. A bit more than forecasted, something like 5-7 cm… (Image source: NASA/GSFC, Rapid Response) The ice age is real…