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There are no good resources that explain the basics of creating color in IDL. Following the IDL manual, I was only able to change to hues of red. Following some help websites not only confused me, but their code didn't work for the most part. I was reduced to copying a short bit of working code off a website. I need to modify this because it only allows me access to four colors (green, red, blue, and black) and I'd like access to more if possible.
Getting postscript to behave correctly with the color was another challenge. I soon learned that saving my plot to a postscript file means that I can only use 8-bit colors, which means I can't use any of the RGB color codes familiar to me from HTML. I'm still not certain how I'm supposed to define colors. I'll need to read and experiment more with this.
I also needed to be able to change the color of the error bars to match the color of the data points, which was easy with the errplot routine (same syntax as IDL's plot function), but impossible with the errplot_x routine at first (which I found strange, because both programs were written by the same person). I experimented with changing errplot_x.pro to match errplot.pro in various ways until I figured it out. As a beginner programmer, I'm proud when I can modify someone else's program to get it to work with what I want to do.
The result looks amazing. It's like everything came together with just a little color. I plot colors the following in chronological order: first blue, then red, then green, then black if I need it. Trends are now so clear. Chryssa and I are really excited with the results. I'm now working on analyzing as many bright and/or interesting GRBs as soon as possible. I've finished half a dozen since Friday. One last touch I should add is a color-coded light curve so that it's absolutely clear which part of the GRB is which color.
I started my third year of graduate school today. I am taking Data Analysis and Statistical Methods for Physics and Astrophysics, which should really help with my research. Even with only one class this semester, it'll be busy.
]]>I've been discovering and conquering bugs in my program when running it for long timescales. It can now run using any user-inputted binsize to bin the data. Once I allowed for the freedom to make the binsize very large, I realized that IDL was crashing due to memory problems. I changed the interval variable type within my loops to long instead of short and I divided the size of my arrays by the binsize so that IDL could allocate enough memory to create them. I'm still getting "divide by zero" and "illegal operand" errors and I have no idea where in my code is causing this trouble, but I don't think it's affecting the output.
I was stumped on a series of attempts to run my program in photon counting mode on Monday. The program kept insisting that there was 0 seconds of exposure time. This morning I noticed that, somehow, my background file was chosen to be identical to my source + background file, so background-subtracting resulted in no counts left. Oops! I fixed that problem easily enough. Some parts of the data really don't have any exposures, which is fine, that's a limitation of the instrument observation. Now I'm just experimenting with the best way to represent the data.
I'm really pleased with how far I've progressed with this project in a short amount of time. It won't be long now until I can run this analysis technique on a whole catalog of GRBs.
GLAST has successfully completed its 60-day check-out period. The GBM team here in Huntsville threw a small party on Friday to celebrate that achievement. I baked cookies for Monday's meeting. Congratulations to the teams involved!
]]>I've already gotten two lectures about creating backups. Lesson learned the hard way, once again.
I've decided to go the route of modifying my color-color diagram program to bin larger time intervals, such as 100 second default with an option of rebinning to 1000 seconds, in order to speed up the analysis of data from later times. This shouldn't be hard to implement.
I've also starting to think about expanding my program to be able to process photon counting (PC) mode data in addition to windowed timing (WT) mode. The sticky point is that the PC mode has a minimum time resolution of 2.5 seconds, which conflicts with my program's default binning of 1 second (1 second binning works for WT mode, since the minimum time resolution is 1.7 milliseconds). The default binning needs to be equal to or greater than the minimum time resolution. I'll need to change that default binning to 2.5 seconds for PC mode data. Eventually I'll also expand the program to allow for BAT data types and GBM data.
As I've been learning about the details of XRT processing in order to attempt to update the processing script, I've starting taking notes for the section of my dissertation which will discuss the Swift instruments and data types. With less than two weeks until the start of the fall semester, it pleases me that I may yet accomplish the summer goal of starting to write my dissertation. Unfortunately, due to lack of time and the loss of the processing script, my catalog of Swift GRBs will remain incomplete.
]]>I had a bit of an unpleasant surprise today when I tried to process some GRB data from Swift XRT observations and discovered that the processing script has disappeared from my computer. I'm not sure what happened to it. Stupidly, I deleted my only back-up a couple of weeks ago when I ran out of disk space. I have a new disk now and plenty of space. I really need to create another back-up.
]]>After the poster session, I was sent a questionnaire by one of the poster session organizers. I enjoy surveys such as these because I'm allowed to express my idealism and enthusiasm through my writing. I've reprinted the questions and my responses below.
Write out your full name, age and hometown:
Laura Seward, 24, Media, Pennsylvania
Where do you currently go to school? What year? Major?
University of Alabama in Huntsville
I am about to begin my 3rd year as a graduate student in the doctoral program. My degree is Physics with a concentration in Astrophysics.
Which summer internship program are you part of (MSGR, GSRP, etc)?
Graduate Student Researchers Program (GSRP)
What compelled you to seek out this internship?
My first MSFC internship was during the summer of 2005 when I was a Research Assistant in the NASA Academy program. Pursuing a career in NASA has aways been my goal, and I had learned from two previous summers of researching at a university that I really enjoyed astrophysics research. I applied to NASA Academy because of the exciting research opportunities and because of the leadership training and "One NASA" experiences unique to NASA Academy. I was not disappointed; NASA Academy was everything I expected and more. The program reshaped my career outlook and goals.
I loved my research and mentors that summer so much that I decided to apply to UAH for grad school with the intent of continuing my work in the Gamma-ray Astrophysics Group at MSFC. I received my B.S. in 2006 and moved to Huntsville to continue my research and to start grad school in the fall. The GSRP, one of the top NASA programs available to graduate students, was my first choice over all other graduate fellowship programs. I am dedicated to pursuing a career in NASA, so gaining a GSRP keeps me in the NASA education and training "pipeline."
Has your summer been rewarding? How/why?
My summer has been very rewarding. I am a space enthusiast and NASA geek, and being able to say "I work at NASA" is a great personal achievement. It instills a sense of pride yet is also humbling to know that I'm doing my small part to contribute to the scientific community, NASA's missions and goals, and humanity's understanding of the Universe. The scientists I work with are fantastic and are willing to take time to teach me how to become a scientist. My growth is rewarding not only to me, but to them as well.
At the start of the summer, it became clear that I had hit a roadblock with my research. I did not know how to program, and I could not continue my work without acquiring that skill. I dedicated much of my time this summer working with my mentor and others in our group to learn how to program, and by the end of the summer, I am proud to report that I have overcome that hurdle. To learn something that I thought was impossible for me to learn, to be able to take that skill and create a program that is entirely my own, and to apply my program to produce good scientific results is highly rewarding.
Will you pursue a career with NASA, or in the "STEM" fields?
Absolutely. My passion is space, and I will do whatever it takes to develop a career that benefits the space program and science in general. After I obtain my Ph.D., I intend to gain full-time employment within NASA. My career interests are astrophysics, space policy, manned space-flight, and public outreach. My ideal job is astronaut under the Constellation program.
He gave a brief overview of all the current and future missions, including giving high praise to the GLAST team. The GLAST “first light” press conference will be held during the first week of August, when they'll also be renaming the satellite. It was also pleasing to me to note that the satellite I work with, Swift, was ranked at the top of the list for best future science potential out of all ten active missions at the time of the senior review this year and has been funded through at least 2012.
He noted that the budget will probably be under a continuing resolution for the start of the 2009 fiscal year, and that the budget represents the priorities of the nation.
]]>Out first stop was the Payload Operations Center, which handles all the science payloads for the International Space Station and the Space Shuttle. We were first taken to see the HUNCH training mock-up of the ISS Destiny module. We spent quite bit of time in there playing around. Afterwards, we were taken to see the ISS Payload Operations Integration Center control room. Unfortunately, we were there during one of the regular signal outages, so we didn't see much activity. Our guide explained that once the ISS is completed and the crew is enlarged, more science will be done on the Station.
Next we visited the Flat Floor facility, the flattest floor of its size in the world. We watched an automated rendezvous and docking robot demonstration. The feet of the robot push air down onto the floor, which lifts the structure enough such that there is almost no friction when the robot moves, simulating the frictionless movement in space. We then took turns sitting on a similar bench-like air-lifted structure and being pushed around the floor. It reminded me of bumper cars.
Our next stop was a high bay which contained several very large thermal vacuum chambers. MythBusters recently filmed three episodes there, including two about the Apollo Moon landings, which will be aired starting August 27.
The next stop was a new facility I hadn't seen before, the location of two large welding tools, still under construction. One of them is the largest friction stir welding tool in the world. The machinists there explained to us how stir welding works, which is a pretty neat technique.
Next we drove around to the various rocket test stands. We explored a historic area where an old Saturn I rocket stage and a "mothballed" Saturn I test stand are rusting. It's a shame they're just letting a historic area go to ruins. We were taken to a building where we descended into tunnels that lead to all the test stands. During the Cold War, those tunnels were also designated a nuclear fall-out shelter. Back upstairs, we watched some videos of test firings and wished we could return the following morning to view a firing of a large engine. On the way out, we passed by the Saturn V test stand, but we weren't allowed to climb it because it's undergoing refurbishments for future Ares rocket tests.
We visited another facility where they are manufacturing something, but they didn't clearly explain what. They had a to-scale Ares I rocket stage mock-up made from wood and plastic that we could climb into, but they didn't really explain if it served a purpose other than a tree house for visitors.
The next facility we toured was the National Center for Advanced Manufacturing, where we watched CAD simulations depicting manufacturing of Ares, including the use of the large stir welding tool we had seen earlier. The benefit of modeling the manufacturing process before constructing is to discover and prevent collisions. We then saw examples of small structures made by the very cool rapid prototyping technique, which builds using dust and lasers, layer by layer. In the Advanced Materials for Radiation Shielding lab, we saw products made from carbon fiber materials.
We then toured another lab I hadn't seen before, the Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) Test Facility. We were taken to a large room padded with foam cones which absorb microwaves. When sealed, the room acts as a Faraday cage, in which emissions from electronics can be better recorded and tested. We were shown a simple but effective demonstration using a toy remote-controlled car in a large lobster pot and a number of different kinds of lids to show what creates or disrupts a Faraday cage.
Finally, we toured what used to be called the Propulsion Research Center, but now has a new name which I've forgotten. We were shown a plasma gun which shoots tiny metal or nylon balls to simulate micrometeorite impacts in space or rain impacts on high-speed aircraft or missiles. We were taken to a lab with a copper floor where I unexpectedly ran into a friend who works there. The man giving us the tour didn't effectively explain what his lab does, but he did provide us little hand-held spectrometers through which to view a fluorescent ceiling light. The naked bulb, which emits mostly in the near infrared, showed clear mercury emission lines, while the part of the bulb with the phosphorescent cover emits "white" light in the visible range. Fluorescent lights wouldn't be nearly as effective as ceiling lights if it wasn't for the useful luminescence process of fluorescence. For a physicist like me, it was a wonderful little demonstration of everyday physics.
We wrapped up the day of tours by climbing into a large vacuum chamber where they do non-nuclear testing of fission surface power technologies. There I was told that it was highly impressive that I could walk over grates and climb structures with ease in high heels. I was also told that I asked the most questions out of everyone there, which I hadn't realized until they mentioned it, but they're probably right. I'm a very curious person, I enjoy learning, and I'm not intimidated by science or technology, so why not ask? It shows the tour guides that they're spending their time teaching to visitors who are actually interested. It was a great day, and I'm glad I got the opportunity to tour a highly productive NASA Center again.
]]>That evening, I met the inductees at the VIP reception. It was important that I meet them, since I would be reprising my role as stage escort, collecting people from their tables and delivering them to the stage, with the additional role of returning them to their tables with their plaques and other gifts. I also met former astronaut Hoot Gibson, who was talking about preparing to be a contestant on the game show Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? Batman also made a brief appearance; The Dark Knight is being shown at the IMAX theater at the museum, although I don't know why Batman decided to walk through the museum reception.
Finally, at around 7:30, the crowd made its way to the Davidson Center and the program began. The CEO of the Space and Rocket Center gave some introductory remarks, including a story about the Apollo 12 astronaut mobile quarantine facility that had also been used by the CDC for lassa fever quarantine, as a habitat for wildland firefighters, and as a home for graduate students studying catfish before being accidentally discovered in rural Alabama and transferred to the museum.
After dinner, I assumed my role next to the stage for the continuation of the formal program. This year, William Shatner's MCing role was taken by a local news anchorwoman.
The first speaker was famed astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. This man is not famous because of his scientific research. He's famous because he's charismatic, funny, a good writer, and one hell of a speaker. He has the ability to explain a complicated topic in simple terms in such a way that the listeners are able to view it in light they had never seen before, all while being entertaining and inspirational. He gave a fantastic off-the-cuff talk about his success in convincing the Good Morning America panel of travel experts to name the Space and Rocket Center's Saturn V rocket (the rocket hanging over our heads as we ate dinner) one of the Seven Wonders of America. At first, no one but him wanted it, but in the end, the decision was unanimous. After his talk, Huntsville's mayor gave him an award. I wish I could have chatted with him, but he arrived late and left early because of a family emergency.
The following talks were given by former astronauts Jim Halsell and Hoot Gibson. Their talks weren't as memorable as Dr. Tyson's, but they were very good and I liked them a lot. It seems the years if being an astronaut makes one an excellent public speaker.
Finally, the inductions began. The first was a German Werner von Braun team member who designed the original simulators for Space Camp. He was endearing. Next was a middle school teacher who has brought over 1500 students to Space Camp over 21 years. Then was a former Space Camp counselor who now works at KSC's Launch Control Center. Following her was a Space Camp alumnus in his sharp dress blues who flies F-15E Strike Eagles. Then was the only inductee I already knew, a Space Camp alumnus, a volunteer from last year's Hall of Fame event, the creator of a popular Space Camp website, and fellow Huntsville-resident space enthusiast. Finally, my favorite, a 20-year-old Space Camp alumnus who has been wounded twice while serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom. He gave the kind of speech that, no matter where your politics on the war in Iraq lie, make you want to salute the American flag by the end. In addition to his Hall of Fame induction, a general ascended the stage and gave him a Purple Heart and another citation. It was tear-jerking. The event wrapped up at around 11:00.
The poster session will take place on Thursday, July 31, from 1:00 to 3:00 at MSFC's Activities Building (4316).
]]>I've spend a good bit of time this week planning my dissertation. I went through some short documents that I had previously written to determine which of them I can use to expand into or work into sections of my dissertation. I have starting points for several topics I hope to write this summer. I should be able to easily write about the history of GRBs, Swift and its instruments, the Swift data, and my analysis methodology.
I would also like to learn enough about GLAST, its instruments, and its data to be able to start writing those sections in the next few months. The daily morning meetings are helping me learn quite a bit about things I had never thought of before, such as trigger algorithms, coincidence detections, electron precipitation, the South Atlantic Anomaly, spacecraft movements, and occultations of Scorpius X-1 (a neutron star and brightest source of X-rays in our sky aside from the Sun).
I've also looked at three published GRB dissertations to study both the structure and the content. All three were quite different from each other. One was essentially a collection of published papers with very little relation between them. One was partially a collection of published papers and partially other related work. One contained chapters of closely related work which were not previously published. I was able to measure how much text they used to discuss introductory topics, instrumentation, methodology, models, physics, conclusions, etc. By studying what others have produced, especially those who have graduated from this group, I can better understand what is expected of me.
I made good progress this week continuing my Swift database. I'm pleased with how quickly and efficiently I can work with this familiar data. I hope that, with time, I can learn to work with GBM data just as well.
Of the 160 gigabytes of memory in my 10-month-old computer Stella, 125 gigs is dedicated to my home directory. Earlier this week, I found that I could not continue downloading new data because I had used 120 gigs of that space. I didn't expect to run out of room so quickly! It turned out that the unprocessed data I downloaded from the Swift archive accounted for 65% of that used space. Once I deleted those unnecessary files, I was able to continue working. I'm worried that I'll reach full capacity pretty quickly after I start working with data from two observatories at once. I may eventually have to inquire about purchasing a second hard drive.
I've also started to rewrite my color-color diagram program. My original program is a good foundation to start from. I was getting preliminary data from my original program before work on it ceased. I've written a paper outline of what I need the program to do and some of the code to do it. I haven't yet learned enough about arrays to really program it yet, but I hope by next week I will. My immediate task is to rework the input data files such that I can use an iterative process to read in the data. My biggest challenge is trying to think like a computer, which does not come easily to me.
]]>Excitement is abound now that GLAST has launched. Activating, testing, and getting to know GBM is everyone's top priority. I've begun sitting in on the daily morning GBM switch-over meetings with the GBM team in Germany. During day hours in Huntsville, the team here run the instrument, and when it gets late here and morning arrives in Germany, the team there takes over. I don't understand most of what they discuss, but I will learn just be bing immersed.
The newest versions of HEAsoft and Swift XRT CALDB calibration files were released while I was gone, so I gathered up my courage and upgraded. I find Linux very user-unfriendly, and installations are never as straightforward as they should be. Surprisingly, I only ran into two problems this time.
I only upgraded CALDB at first because I didn't realize a new HEAsoft version had been released as well. I tried to run an XRT processing script called xrtfilter, but it decided it didn't like a column name in a calibration file. Version 4 of that file didn't contain that name, so version 4 worked just fine, but it did not like version 5. I emailed the help desk and was told to upgrade to the latest HEAsoft to solve the problem.
I followed the HEAsoft installation step-by-step, line-by-line. It installed without error, and it did fix the xrtfilter issue. However, a second problem came when I tried to plot an image in xselect using DS9. I double-checked my path and permissions, upgraded to the latest DS9 release, ran test scripts, and asked for advice from others with no success. Finally, I realized that when I typed the full path to the DS9 program within xselect, it worked. Outside xselect, I have an alias set in my bashrc file which allows me to simply type "ds9" in any directory and the computer will know where the program is. However, something must have changed within the new release of HEAsoft such that aliases aren't recognized. I modified the xselect program to include the full path to DS9, and it finally worked.
Next week's plan is to program and to begin working on my poster presentation for the MSFC GSRP at the end of the month.
]]>It will be about two months until GLAST is fully operational and sending us observational data. By the end of the summer session, I want to be ready to start analyzing the first GRBs.
I leave for a long vacation tomorrow. Before I go, I bring you, story time:
Chryssa and I were browsing the day's Astro-ph new submissions last Friday when we came across a paper describing a newly identified GRB from April 1998. Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory's (CGRO) Burst And Transient Source Experiment (BATSE), run out of Huntsville by my team, observed the gamma-ray sky from 1991 to 2000. Hmm, Chryssa wondered, I wonder what BATSE saw on that date in April 1998.
Files and files of BATSE data in paper format used to be stored in my workplace in a room called the Bat Cave. We started our search in the Bat Cave, browsing through large cabinets labeled DDS, the daily records of BATSE's detections. We quickly realized that DDS files for the dates of early 1994 to mid 1998 were not there. My task, should I accept, was to find the DDS files for April 29, 1998.
When the GBM Instrument Operations Center opened, many of the file cabinets were moved there. I scanned the cabinets in the back of the room, and to my delight, I found the right time frame. When I had finally grabbed the correct folder, I was not discouraged by the discovery that the papers were out-of-order. I flipped through them until I found the golden date. Success! I brought the papers to Chryssa 5 minutes before her scheduled teleconference.
But I was mistaken. I had found the files containing the daily calibration data for the instruments, but not the DDS papers. I rushed back to the GIOC to return the incorrect paperwork and continue my search. There were cabinets labeled for calibrations, bursts, pulsars, and “other,” but the only DDS files to be seen were from the early 1990s, long before my date of interest.
Frustrated, I returned to the Bat Cave. I scanned the cabinets once. Defeated, I recruited Rob to help in the hunt. We poured through every cabinet in the Bat Cave and GIOC. Rob soon began to worry that all the SGR files and all the later bursts (after 1997) were missing. He didn't know where they would be, but he did have an idea about the missing DDS files: deemed useless, they were tossed. We confirmed this with Jerry, and finally found the empty files in an unlabeled cabinet. The data from April 1998 is gone. All I got was a massive papercut. Oh well.
]]>Who knows if GLAST will launch next week, or even this month. Because of this uncertainty, and the fact that the supposed launch date is creeping towards my mid-June vacation, I have canceled my trip to Florida. I'm very disappointed. If the delay is substantial (months), I may still be able to go at a future date. If it launches next week, I'll watch it on TV. There's no point in getting too upset over something I can't control. I trust that the engineers and program managers working on the issues have the expertise to launch the rocket safely.
Meanwhile, I've been working days I didn't expect to be here. I'm still learning how to program, although I haven't made much progress this week. I'm still analyzing GRBs and organizing data. I started writing my dissertation. I only created a short outline, but it's a start. I think I will be able to write a few paragraphs by the end of this week. I'm starting early because I am firmly committed to graduating by May 2010. This has been my goal from the beginning of my grad program, and I'm even more convinced now than ever that I can achieve that goal.
]]>Meanwhile, I've been learning C++ and FORTRAN 90. I don't find it very exciting, but it is useful. Hopefully I'll be able to code my own simple programs correctly soon.
]]>I am also trying to learn how to program. I've been trying to learn how to program for at least four years, but it does not come easily to me at all. Teaching myself based on self-study and trial-and-error coding has been a failure. And so, I got a textbook that was recommended to me, and Chryssa and I are going through it chapter by chapter. I will also be sitting in on a few basic engineering programming classes this summer.
I also plan to begin writing my dissertation. I should be able to create rough drafts of the history and introduction to GRBs, an overview of the general theories, and the descriptions of my current projects thus far. Writing will not only help me focus on determining my next big project, but it will also help me prepare for my qualifying exam, when I present my research proposal to my doctoral committee and they test my knowledge in my research area.
I will also (hopefully) experience my first up-close rocket launch when the Delta II carries GLAST to low Earth orbit. Assuming the May 31 launch of Space Shuttle Discovery isn't delayed, GLAST will launch on June 3.
]]>Rumor has it that the new GLAST launch date may be set soon. I can't wait!
]]>Today I worked with Lisa to get a better idea of how the data will flow from GBM on the satellite to control center on the ground to the global coordinate network (GCN) circulars which alert the scientific community that a burst has been detected. It's amazing how many little steps there are in the process, but the reporting is done so quickly, within a matter of seconds. I also have a better idea of what I need to learn next to best get a handle on the GBM data.
Two weeks ago, I observed the Sun for my Observational Astro final project. I took this photo of our beautiful star.
We then all made out way to the new operations center, a collection of three rooms (to be honest, I can't even remember what used to be there, some nondescript offices, I suppose). Chip gave an introduction to the center, then was interviewed by the media. Refreshments were served, and people socialized. Rob showed me two computers with live data from the instrument (currently in Florida awaiting launch) and the current GMB software link information. I admired a beautiful artist rendering of a GRB displayed as a large tile mosaic on the wall. I was introduced to the monkey that sits on backs (inside joke).
Information about the GIOC and yesterday's grand opening can be found at:
NASA news release
Huntsville Times article
The launch is scheduled for May 16.
]]>We visited Griffith Observatory and hiked the Mt. Hollywood Trail, ate at the 101 Coffee Shop, strolled Hollywood Boulevard, visited the Kodak Theatre, saw a movie premier set-up at the Chinese Theatre, and checked out some local bars. I left LA this morning and arrived back in Huntsville this evening.
Overall impressions of the conference: it was okay. Some of the presentations were fascinating and exciting, but many I weren't very interested in. I didn't really meet as many people as I would have liked. I'm glad I attended, but I had hoped it would be at least as beneficial for me as last year's Amsterdam conference.
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