Velocity field of NGC 1365, obtained with the Rutgers Fabry-Perot,
CTIO
1.5-m telescope; analyzed in
Zanmar Sanchez, Sellwood, Weiner, & Williams (2008) ApJ, 694, 797.
I am an Assistant Astronomer at Steward Observatory in the MIPS team; MIPS is a mid-to-far-infrared instrument on the Spitzer satellite. Prior to moving to Arizona, I was at Maryland working on the Maryland-Magellan Tunable Filter (MMTF) with Prof. Sylvain Veilleux.
I returned to the North American tectonic plate in 2004 after several years on the Pacific plate: I was a postdoc with the DEEP project at UCO/Lick Observatory at the University of California, Santa Cruz and a Carnegie Fellow at the Carnegie Observatories. I studied for a PhD in physics at Rutgers University, alma mater of Mr. Magoo. More tedious biographical details.
NEW:
This is a brief tutorial essay intended to go over some simple optics governing instrumentation for astronomical telescopes, including simplified reimaging cameras and spectrographs. The original motivation for this essay was to provide a non-specialized answer to the question: "Why do instruments for large telescopes have to be large?"
The tutorial covers only basic, idealized material (no actual lens design, aberrations, and so on) that astronomers should know but is paradoxically a bit too basic or astronomy-specific to learn from an optics text. It may be useful for people taking or teaching a class in observational techniques. You can read the essay in HTML form or follow the link within for a PDF to print.
NEW: Template Spectra for Infrared-Luminous Galaxies from G.H. Rieke et al 2008, http://arxiv.org/abs/0810.4150.
Alphabetized links to Science White Papers for the Astro 2010 Decadal Survey. This list is somewhat easier to search than the listings on the NAS web site.
A white paper on the role of astronomical software and its authors submitted to the Astro 2010 Decadal Survey call for papers on the State of the Profession.
This space under construction...
Benjamin Weiner Steward Observatory University of Arizona 933 N. Cherry St. Tucson, AZ 85721 email: bjw -at- as.arizona.edu phone: 520-626-1798
Some photographs.
The Four Steps to Project Completion:
Version control isn't any help if all the versions stink.
P.S. Are you ready in the event of a national emergency?