Hello Everyone,
We only have one more week at BASIS before we head out into the real world. Over the past few months, I have been in contact with a professor at ASU. Through back-and-forth emails, we have determined that my senior project will be about the Hubble Constant. The Hubble Constant measures the rate of expansion of the universe. He will be providing me with data, and I will be conducting my own calculations to reach an answer. I won't be collecting my own data because he advised me that it would take a lot of time, too much for the time slot given for the senior project.
The week following the day we get out, I will begin learning how to program using Python. I don't have much experience in the programming world, so I don't know what to expect. Additionally, I'm not too sure whether it will be challenging or not. I have allocated two weeks for beginning Python. Python is an important program not only for astronomy but other fields as well. Afterwards, I plan on going to ASU. My on-site advisor, Dr. Nathaniel Butler, wants me to come over to the Goldwater building at Arizona State University. Every Thursday, the Goldwater building holds a group meeting at 1pm. What those meeting entail, I'm not exactly positive. After the meeting, he will be introducing me to other professors and researchers in his department. Once the the greetings are over with, Dr. Butler will be taking me on a tour around the Department of Earth and Space Exploration labs. I've never been there before, but people have told me that the labs and building itself are spectacular, so I'm excited. He's also told me that if I'd like, I can go over to ASU for a few nights and help with observations. Working along a professor and performing observations is an opportunity I cannot wait to experience.
For my final project, I will be writing a ten-page research paper describing the process of determining the Hubble Constant. Along with the paper, I will be creating a visual aspect of the project. This will be a poster that talks about the Hubble Constant. I can't wait to start the senior project because once I finish, I will have experienced something that high-school seniors rarely have the opportunity to do. Read up on this blog weekly, for I will have pictures and more specific details of what I will be doing.
The week following the day we get out, I will begin learning how to program using Python. I don't have much experience in the programming world, so I don't know what to expect. Additionally, I'm not too sure whether it will be challenging or not. I have allocated two weeks for beginning Python. Python is an important program not only for astronomy but other fields as well. Afterwards, I plan on going to ASU. My on-site advisor, Dr. Nathaniel Butler, wants me to come over to the Goldwater building at Arizona State University. Every Thursday, the Goldwater building holds a group meeting at 1pm. What those meeting entail, I'm not exactly positive. After the meeting, he will be introducing me to other professors and researchers in his department. Once the the greetings are over with, Dr. Butler will be taking me on a tour around the Department of Earth and Space Exploration labs. I've never been there before, but people have told me that the labs and building itself are spectacular, so I'm excited. He's also told me that if I'd like, I can go over to ASU for a few nights and help with observations. Working along a professor and performing observations is an opportunity I cannot wait to experience.
For my final project, I will be writing a ten-page research paper describing the process of determining the Hubble Constant. Along with the paper, I will be creating a visual aspect of the project. This will be a poster that talks about the Hubble Constant. I can't wait to start the senior project because once I finish, I will have experienced something that high-school seniors rarely have the opportunity to do. Read up on this blog weekly, for I will have pictures and more specific details of what I will be doing.
Have a great day,
Max Biwer
