How to Attend your First Conference

How to Attend your First Conference

Last month I attended my first conference as a graduate student — I went to Extreme Solar Systems II (joined by my fellow Astrobites authors Courtney, Ellie, Lauren, and Sukrit). I learned a lot about what to do (and what not to do!) from my experiences during the conference.

Crowd-sourcing Science: Planet Hunters find two new planet candidates

Crowd-sourcing Science: Planet Hunters find two new planet candidates

Planet Hunters is a Citizen Science project, aiming to analyze the slew of data from the Kepler Space Telescope. Planet Hunters look for transit signals in the data, which cause the light from the star to dim periodically.This project is designed to complement the efforts of other scientists to analyze the data using computer algorithms. This paper presents results of the first two planet candidates to be identified using this method, demonstrating that this type of citizen science project is a valuable tool for exoplanet detection.

The Rise of the ArXiv: 20 years later

The Rise of the ArXiv: 20 years later

Instead of looking at a paper of recent scientific results published on the arXiv, we’re going to talk about the arXiv itself. Sunday was the twentieth anniversary of the first submission to the predecessor of arXiv.org, the preprint server that all use so often today. Paul Ginsparg, the developer of the arXiv, wrote a fascinating article recognizing how the way that scientists share information and publications has changed incredibly over his lifetime.

14 New Kuiper Belt Objects in the Southern Sky

14 New Kuiper Belt Objects in the Southern Sky

A paper published on the archive this week reveals fourteen newly discovered Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) found using ground-based imaging in the Southern part of the sky. Three of these could be big enough to be dwarf planets! By learning about the population, orbital structures, and compositions of the largest objects in the Kuiper Belt, we can learn about the solar system formation and evolution.

Vesta: The Last Remaining Planetary Embryo

Vesta: The Last Remaining Planetary Embryo

Vesta is a particularly interesting object for learning about the early solar system. It is the second biggest asteroid in the asteroid belt (after Ceres) and is believed to be the sole surviving intact member of a class of objects called planetary embryos. The rest of these embryos either assembled into the planets in the solar system today or were broken apart into smaller asteroids and dust by collisions. By studying Vesta, we can learn about how protoplanets formed and evolved.