Updates

Back to main = = =first= I hope to research practical and/or theoretical ideas like the M theory, gills, ferrofluids, and d3o. This will depend mainly on who I can get as a mentor and I hope to pursue this research out of high school as well.

=8/30/09= I can't find a local (ND) mentor for any of the previously mentioned subjects. I decided to research Biological structures because I think there is some hope in that area for a mentor in the biological sciences or the mathematical physics. Now I am currently in search of a said professor/mentor.

=9/1/09= I think the AGN is going to be a good research project because it deals with black holes and high-energy galaxies. I like the idea of studying AGN because another I want to study the M theory, maybe in college, and the current theories break down near black holes because black holes are high-density masses but also very small. The theories break down because Newtonian physics and Quantum physics is required in a black hole and they don’t get along very well (to say the least). Overall I would say that AGN is the best candidate for my research.
 * AGN**

This is my second choice in research because I have never been that interested in watching the stars and seemed like a thing I should do. It’s very accessible because it’s in Jordan Hall so I think it will be a good choice.
 * Asteroids**

I really don’t have any other projects I want to work on but I am open to suggestions.
 * Third**

=9/2/09= entered by TL - J, read over and blog about these two resources, beginning with the first document on stellar spectroscopy. These documents and introductory text were copied from the AGN homepage:

Before studying AGN spectroscopy, the easier case of stellar spectroscopy should be considered. This [|Message of Starlight] document is a good introduction. After working through that document, you are prepared for an introduction to spectroscopic identification of red-shifted objects like AGN: [|AGN_Spectroscopy.pdf]

=9/7/09= A little gap but I read the Message of Starlight and got the gist of what I have to learn/do. My understanding of it is that we use the spectra emitted by various stars and outer space objects to determine what they are. This is like the Chem class when we saw the different spectra of elements like hydrogen. I think I will ask Mr.Dolezal about it to get a refresher on it.

Also I have some questions: - Is the flame test of the elements (putting an element on a bunsen burner) anything like the spectroscopy? - How will we know what makes up a black hole/ how can we study black holes if light can't escape? -only gama rays and energy escape and it is not part of the visible spectrum.

Hopefully I'll be able to answer those questions later in the week.


 * 9/17/09**

I've started reading the AGN article and saw the prerequisites so I read about them online on Wikipedia and other sites to I will write a summary of them as I get the ideas organized and/or I get new information on them.

I could not update my logs this week because we are supposed to do a 40min presentation due Monday. One of my group members failed to send me her part and me being the group manager have to do her part as well. Although I did finally find out how to create links and hyperlink them.
 * 10/26/09**

I found out today that AGN spectroscopy is nothing like the chemical spectroscopy and that makes it really hard to find good data for it. However, I did find a pretty good table and I will be uploading it soon.
 * 11/3/09**

I put up questions for everyone and had a look at the other projects. The projects are pretty interesting and hopefully the questions for me will help me progress further as well.
 * 11/8/09**

Swim practice started today so I will not be able to post until late at night.
 * 11/9/09**

I read through a lot of the previous logs and have an idea of what I should do next (kinda). I think I should download the LIGO and try out some calculations on it and see how it works. Before I do that through I think I will try to calculate the average temperature of the galaxy that I pointed out in the Questions area.
 * 11/19/09**

I finally think I finished the Questions area pretty well. I included the stuff that Dr.L mentioned about how to find what kind of star the "average star" is. I think though that I will have to go into more detail on my calculations page especially the luminosity part because the Questions page refers to luminosity. I think I will get started on getting the software and learn how to use it.
 * 11/24/09**

I have tried and tried to find ways to differentiate individual stars from a spectra of a galaxy but I have been fruitless in my search. The only way I see to get individual spectra of stars is to get a bigger telescope. I have tried to find the Vernier Software mentioned in the AGN paper but it's not free. I do have other statistical analysis software but I'm not sure if it will be able to read the spectra graph. I will try to find if it can or not.
 * 11/30/09**

Also I will start to research the other calculations needed or are helpful for AGN spectroscopy like measuring the Ca II break.

I have been swamped with work the last two weeks so I couldn't get a lot of progress. However I did look at PF's and KH's milestone maps and have a good outline of what I need to do. I will post this asap (hopefully by today).
 * 12/08/09**

I have just put up the outline of my milestone map and will start to organize/make links and hopefully will have a "1st draft" milestone map by friday or later in the week.

I did finish the What is AGN part of the milestone this week. I'm hoping that I can work on it more next week as my workload starts to loosen up a little before finals. I will continue working on it today and see how far I get.
 * 12/13/09**

I read what Dr.L suggested to me for my milestone. I have then started to incorporate it into my milestone with different names. Same info but under a different name to make it more friendly.
 * 12/17/09**

I have been getting behind on by posts so I will try and post more in the coming weeks to make up for it.
 * 1/24/10**

I have been looking over the RBSE journals starting with volume 11. I will start to summarize the volume as the table of contents suggests as soon as I finish one section.
 * 1/31/09**

The internet was down for the last couple of days and I couldn't really upload or look at the journals. I have just uploaded a short summary of the first couple of pages for now and will continue to do so as I progress. It looks like it will take a while as some of the stuff are hard to find/look up good images of.
 * 2/08/09**

Finally finished one of the RSBE 2008 articles and I am still going through all of the data we have to categorize into radio or starburst galaxies. I will have the said categories and data up (somehow) soon.
 * 3/8/10**

I finally got through all 148 pieces of spectra and differentiated the radio and starburst galaxies from them. I only got 9 and 5 respectively so my conclusion is in much need of more data.
 * 3/14/10**

I put up the distinguishing features of radio galaxies and the emission lines for them. However, I can't find the Ha and the Hb emission lines.
 * 4/19/10**

I labeled and described why I picked the spectra as a radio galaxy but it seems that there is one perfect match and two good matches. Will look over the data we have again to see if I missed any.
 * 4/20/10**

I have outlined the powerpoint presentation up to the milestone. I don't know how to put a powerpoint on the wiki but I will bring it to the meeting tomorrow. I don't know what to do/how to do the part after the milestone though so I will discuss my options in the meeting as well.
 * 427/10**

I heard in yesterday's meeting that we should write the bare minimum for maximum interaction so I am in the process of cutting out the excess so that it is more reader friendly. I'll tyr to have it up by tomorrow.
 * 4/29/10**

I getting really caught up in a lot of things right now. Ap tests, regular tests, projects, graduation, etc. I will try to get stuff done and post them this week but I'm not sure how much I can do. I just put up the powerpoint on voicethread and shared it with the sjhsrc group.
 * 5/5/10**

I finally found some time to work on it some more and I thinned it out, put up pictures, and started recording on the voicethread. I'll try to update it more but with the APs and projects I'm not sure how often I can do it.
 * 5/11/10**

I finally got the voicethread up. Sorry for not getting it up yesterday but I was having some techincal/internet problems.
 * 5/15/10**

I read the comments on the voice thread and made a list of things to improve on: more images, focus slides, and more specifics without getting too lengthy. I will work on them and see if I can get it up today.
 * 5/18/10**

5/26/10 Uploaded the updated one has 90% of all the work so far will upload the last 10% ASAP.