posted by: krueff
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/08/diamond-planet/
A diamond composed planet, traveling every 2 hours around its star, that star being a super-fast pulsar… it’s a cosmic jumble of scientific awesome!
Head over to http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/08/diamond-planet/ to read the full article!
posted by: krueff
(Click for HD view!) View from the top floor of the PUC-Rio building, looking out over a small, but beautiful, part of Rio at sunset…. Last evening we took our final coffee/snack break on the 12th floor of the PUC building and we were all blown away by the incredible view. Last night was the 1st night I got to see the constellations in the Southern Hemisphere… not the clearest night, but I got to see the Southern Cross (Crux) and Centaurus for the 1st time in my life 
Today, (Friday) I presented my talk at The Evolving Universe Workshop on Star Formation in Thick Disks of Spiral Galaxies. We have a few more talks before the workshop closes and we have the final words. After which a group of the students and myself plan to head to visit Sugarloaf, Cristo Redentor, and Copacabana for the rest of the afternoon.
I head home from Rio late Saturday night ~ 10:30pm, flying back 10hrs to Charlotte, then to Chicago and then back to South Bend.
posted by: krueff
I can now say that I have hiked through a rainforest…
This is at the top of Pedra Bonita in Rio de Janeiro, about 2200′ elevation, within the Tijuca Forest National Park.
(Click on pic for HD view) This is the view towards Rio de Janeiro… our hostel is beyond the two large mountain peaks in the distance. It took about 4 hours total for our trip, the trail was intense at times, but it was unforgettable experience. After the hike, we all came back, got our suits and headed to the beach, where swimming and beach volleyball consumed the rest of the time before we had to head back to the hostel to shower, change, and get gussied up for dinner.
(Pic Above: Sandra from CUA and me outside our hostel before dinner). The Conference Dinner was at “a mineira humaita”, which was an all-you-can-eat Brazilian buffet. It was also an all-you-can-drink for different traditional Brazilian liquors. Dinner was spectacular, I ate entirely too much (as did EVERYONE), and ate some things I wasn’t aware I was eating (i.e. Chicken hearts, very standard in Brazil, which was in a soup I tried last night).
We had a great evening having all of the conference astronomers together at long group tables, laughing, sharing stories, and occasionally talking science
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Today (Thursday) we have a full day of talks and conference work and then plan to head out to the beaches tonight.
Tomorrow (Friday) I give my talk at the conference presenting my research from Notre Dame!
posted by: krueff
Prof Chris Howk giving his invited talk at PUC-Rio this morning on “Light Elements and the Chemical Evolution of Gas is the Universe”!
At lunch we went to visit the Botanical Gardens in the middle of Rio, which was phenomenal!
Tonight we ended the Workshop at the Planetarium at PUC-Rio, were we attended the “History of Astronomy in Brazil” lecture, which was a great experience and full of incredibly neat info about Brazil… the most memorable of which was learning that the Brazilian flag has specific constellations based on a specific day when Brazil was founded and that astronomy has played a major role in the life of Brazil as a country:
Tomorrow (Wed) we go hiking with all the astronomers in the Tijuca Rain Forest… we’re hiking to the top of a huge plateau rock and then having a picnic
Lots of great pictures to come, but for now, the Wifi in the hostel will not let me manage all the awesome images I want to upload! Stay Tuned!
posted by: krueff
As I attempt to upload picture from my phone to the wifi at Che Lagarto… so far no luck.
Today was the 1st day of The Evolving Universe Workshop at PUC-Rio. We have participants from Brazil, Chile, USA, and a few other countries working with different affliations.
Today the early morning part of the conference focused on the VISTA Variables in the Vía Láctea (VVV) Survey, moved into stellar evolution, and then ended with some Milky Way stellar research.
Tomorrow my advisor, Chris Howk, from Notre Dame, will be giving his invited talk on Chemical Evolution.
Im having a great time with the new students, especially the ones from Chile and CUA, they are GREAT! The hostel could be “better”, meaning having hot water, but for the most part, its a great experience and I couldnt be having more fun!
More pictures, info, and ADVENTURES tomorrow!
