Nights in the life of an astrophysicist | Remote observing galaxies with a telescope in La Palma

We got awarded 4 nights of time on the Isaac Newton Telescope in La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain to observe some barred galaxies. The pandemic has meant we can't travel there in person but we can observe them remotely from our home offices! As long as Storm Filomena doesn't scupper our plans...
"Making it rain" April Fool's paper: arxiv.org/pdf/2003.13879.pdf
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📚 "Space: 10 Things You Should Know": bit.ly/SpaceDrBecky
📚 US & Canada version: "Space at the speed of light" (same book, different title, with some beautiful illustrations): www.penguinrandomhouse.com/bo...
📚 German translation "Das kleine Buch vom großen Knall" : www.dtv.de/buch/becky-smethur...
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👩🏽‍💻 I'm Dr Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford. I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don't know. If you've ever wondered about something in space and couldn't find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.
drbecky.uk.com
rebeccasmethurst.co.uk

[@fordsfords]

I love this kind of video where we get a peek at what it's *really* like. We think of science as being very methodical - hypothesis, experiment, gather data, analyze, test hypothesis, refine. Science marches on. But sometimes it stumbles instead of marching. And sometimes hits its forehead on a low-hanging branch. Science is REAL LIFE!

[@DrBecky]

I like that: “science sometimes stumbles instead of marches”

[@godsbeautifulflatearth]

Science is man's attempt to understand what God has already created.

[@godsbeautifulflatearth]

@@DrBecky Science is man's attempt to understand what God has already created.

[@sebastianjost]

...and sometimes we just run into a wall and can't find a way around it.

[@sharadtiwari1465]

@@godsbeautifulflatearth Oh! I got it you are the only one trolling every time here! Let the people do the stuff they want to do. Science is also necessary. You are able to comment here on internet just because of science and technology. So, if you hate science then at least abstain these gadgets created by science. This is nowhere justified that you are enjoying the fruits of the tree you think which is poisonous.

[@cheskaborre8448]

Thanks for inspiring me to be an astro physics doe my journey is long im still on 7th grade I just love outer space 😊☺️

[@lilac9271]

That's amazing news I'm in yr 6 (5th grade) but I really hope you become an astro-physicist!

[@cheskaborre8448]

@@lilac9271 same to you too 😊

[@fundamentalsofknowledge6902]

Same here I am in 7th too...

[@let4be]

Follow your dreams, no matter how hard it is sometimes... Implementing the dreams is what we live for!

[@articgalax4684]

Ahh me too but i'm in 8th

[@higgledypiggledycubledy8899]

“And as he drove on, the rainclouds dragged down the sky after him, for, though he did not know it, Rob McKenna was a Rain God. All he knew was that his working days were miserable and he had a succession of lousy holidays. All the clouds knew was that they loved him and wanted to be near him, to cherish him, and to water him.” -Douglas Adams

[@ollep9142]

In normal circumstanses you'd at least be able to see some nice bars in Las Palmas even if the telescope can't be used...

[@DrBecky]

Those bars would have sangria too 😭

[@danbigtasty9164]

@@DrBecky sangria kills your genius braincells, Amsterdam coffee shops have nice bars to think with! Nine of them xx

[@Pim3211]

Dude.. 😂

[@sidneyh970]

Took me a while to realize what "bars" you're talking about lmao

[@Bannockburn111]

@@danbigtasty9164 The idea that alcohol kills brain cells has been proven wrong. It doesn't.

[@avelkm]

Just bought my first telescope this September, had two weeks of clear sky. Clouds since October... I blame you for inspiring me to buy a telescope:) Thanks!

[@michaelpartridge8459]

I’m afraid astronomy in the UK can be frustrating. You have to try to use the telescope on the odd clear night. What you see can, however, be very rewarding.

[@godsbeautifulflatearth]

You will get better images than NASA.

[@avelkm]

@@michaelpartridge8459 Not in UK, though in Ukraine, same same but different:) As a fact, almost every day someone in Ukrainian telegram group posts new astrophotos. I'm unlucky:) But spring and summer times a lot of clear sky, so I'm patiently waiting.

[@thomaschumley3904]

I have to say that my favorite thing about your videos is how genuinely excited you get about science! I hope lots of girls watch and see that being a scientist can be cool an go for Their dreams!

[@I_Don_t_want_a_handle]

Why just girls?

[@umeshbhatkar6515]

I want to become an astrophysicist when I grow up . I am an 11 y/o girl btw

[@I_Don_t_want_a_handle]

@Alex Berkman There are no obstacles to women becoming astrophysicists in the West.

[@pugnation]

@@I_Don_t_want_a_handle No formal obstacles but cultural and sociological ones. Otherwise there would be as many female scientists as male scientists.

[@I_Don_t_want_a_handle]

@@pugnation Nope, that's down to choice. Scandinavia has discovered that the more open the STEM fields are to women the less they choose them. Go figure. There is no glass ceiling, but there is a class one.

[@seionne85]

So sorry this happened Dr Becky :( you managed to stay positive, dont stop now! Its going to happen eventually, I really feel sorry for the PhD student

[@sacredkinetics.lns.8352]

I love the fact that the weather doesn't affect your beauty. 💫👽💫

[@asuka-ryo]

you're living my dream life 😭

[@rafaelfcf]

What a creepy comment

[@ariochiv]

@@rafaelfcf Why is it creepy?

[@Old299dfk]

I too, like to live vicariously through these videos.

[@Old299dfk]

@@rafaelfcf bro thats not cool

[@TheMathias95]

@@rafaelfcf I don't know if your wording was because of a lack of a better description. There was definitely nothing "creepy" about, if you honestly believe otherwise you need some help. Let's all give you the denefit of doubt due to language barrier.

[@femkeball]

I am in my second year of my bachelor astronomy at Leiden University, we actually got a whole week at the INT with our whole year, and we had almost a full week of clear skies in january 2021, so exciting! Very sad we could not go to La Palma ourselves but still very happy to have taken pretty pictures! Not the most groundbreaking research though, this was our first time writing a proposal ourselves and completely deciding whatever we wanted to research. I really like your channel, so cool to see an actual astronomer do their job!

[@michaelalexander2306]

Well done Dr.Becky. Living on La Palma, I can assure you you have to try very hard to find bad weather here! Hard Luck.

[@ayushsinha7300]

This was really heartbreaking. I love how you vlogged through and remained hopeful and kept us updated. Really hoping you get to get your data in September! 🤞🏽

[@arctic_haze]

Meanwhile in a galaxy, far, far away: "These aren't the data you are looking for".

Damn Jedi, they are a menace to science!

[@godsbeautifulflatearth]

This channel is jam packed with nothing burgers and fantasy.

[@arctic_haze]

@@godsbeautifulflatearth If science is fantasy for you, why do you use its fruits? Stop using electricity, computers and phones. None of them is mentioned in the Bible 😩

[@jacobusstrydom7017]

Love these videos where you explain what you actually do and details on how you measure the redshift. Sorry that you couldn't get your data you originally wanted. Thanks for this.

[@confusedalaskan]

Yer cute, smart, and bubbly nature.. Sure does brighten my days! 😊

[@AnanyaGoyal7]

Yess!!! I was waiting for this vlog since you mentioned it! I wanna be an astrophysicist one day. Thanks for inspiring me.

[@nousernamejoshua1556]

🙄 it would have been so much cooler if we could have seen learned about telescope configuration, I mean I can read about Frodo but there's a lot to the ring bearing. Me thinks. 😒 Another time perhaps.

[@priyanshi4873]

Hogya inspire? Padhle ab chupchap warna kota aake maarungi😂😂

[@Old299dfk]

5:52 - can we just take a second to appreciate how amazing Becky's hair looks here.

[@nousernamejoshua1556]

Right? Great comparison with the splitting light 🤯 BUT Did You See how she fixed it!!? anither BIG brain move.😊

[@duderoony]

I was going to comment on how long it’s getting through being in lockdown but you’re right..... she’s looking good 😊.

[@ollep9142]

@@duderoony Lockdown? Those goldilocks aren't down! 😘

[@nousernamejoshua1556]

@@ollep9142 I like the hair up. We rarely see her this way. I guess maybe she's venting all the professional appeals as though she had made the real appearance at La Palma.

[@renedekker9806]

Looks like a galaxy with bars.

[@uptown3636]

@Dr. Becky, it's fun to see how excited you get talking about your research. Your passion is contagious. Wishing you clear skies for your future observations!

[@potterma63]

"How does having bars affect a galaxy?" Oh, well, the patrons are less grumpy! Nothing worse than a dry galaxy!

[@nousernamejoshua1556]

But there's still so much light, where there is seemingly less stars, in the bar or the picture is a little fuzzy. I think all the stars contribute to the star formation at the center or they all sort of wink out together. I have no idea what the bar is though. Maybe there is no black hole but accretion disk like a bar magnet coincidental.

[@nousernamejoshua1556]

Maybe they're just dirty stars. Like noise pollution, which Rock -n- Roll ain't. Are they dusty, but potentially bright? Are there key signatures?

[@RideAcrossTheRiver]

"She stepped in to the dim, gassy, dusty environment of the bar. Here and there were lights, dwarf glimmers, distantly lighting the grainy, hazy medium with a muted yellowish glow ..."

[@nousernamejoshua1556]

@@RideAcrossTheRiver sounds barred to me. Dang bottom quarks! Lulled us into THE wrong warp type of sleep.

[@RideAcrossTheRiver]

@@nousernamejoshua1556 Dr. Becky would hang out at Quark's, sure.

[@genestatler2514]

I love your videos, Dr. Becky and also your great enthusiasm!!

[@nivinajith5334]

Dr.Becky , you are a true inspiration for many people!😃

[@carriemiehlich258]

Thank you for sharing and cannot wait to see what you find......

[@tommasofreschi6467]

You really do inspire me Dr. Becky... Your video "a day in life of an astrophysicist" is one of the reasons why I wanna become an astrophysicist, I'm 15 now and will be taking physics from next year, which I'm really excited for. Good luck with everything and thanks for inspiring me!

[@choppareed6595]

Outstanding work Dr

[@sergioguillen1037]

Thank you so much for making a very instructive video even though you could not gather the data you wanted. I really appreciate your work during these pandemic times. I have learned quite a bit from you here in California!!! Happy 2022.

[@AnirudraDiwakar]

Extremely well explained Dr. Becky! You're an inspiration.

[@marydion7872]

I love watching your videos. You always make my day.

[@danbigtasty9164]

Best news of the day Dr Becky vid! Yay Xx

[@ynnektrub1]

I think it's so wonderful what you do. Thank you!

[@cannibalcrow7524]

I can't believe somebody would give you a thumbs down, especially since you have the looks the brains and a wonderful personality, always 5⭐ in my book. My favorite topic you discuss is black holes!!

[@ryanwallace4686]

NEW FAVORITE CHANNEL!

[@frederickmclean9180]

Just started following you. You're awesome and thank you for your work. Please keep making videos.

[@samwhitaker8809]

I had access to the Faulkes Telescopes for 3 years, one in Hawaii and the other in Siding springs, Australia. I only had 2 successful sessions in 3 years on the Australian scope!

[@fazergazer]

Dr. Becky, you are a fantastic scientist, bar none! You are the science teacher I wish I had growing up.

[@balaji-kartha]

wow .. how come I never knew about your channel loved it and have subscribed! now I will go and find your old posts

[@gerhardkraider]

This research is so cool, and totally mind boggling! Love it! But, looks like we need more telescopes in orbit. Relatively few weather up there 😉

[@weepat5325]

Telescopes on the moon as well.

[@ariochiv]

If SpaceX can fulfill its goal of drastically reducing the cost of orbital launches, then astronomers will be able to have more orbital telescopes that aren't affected by weather (or the lower-altitude constellations of communication satellites that they've been complaining about lately).

[@favesongslist]

@@ariochiv That's what I thought until I asked the question to astronomers; that informed me it will not make much difference as the time and cost is still prohibitive. Even NASA refused two free NRO Spy satellites (Similar to the one used for Hubble) not so long ago.

[@joansparky4439]

@@favesongslist Those prices are for one-offs.. Think in hundreds or thousands, then prices for the satellites come down. SX starlink satellites are so cheap, because they built a couple per day. They cost somewhere around 500k or even less. If a telescope in orbit was to be had for like 2-5 million there could be hundreds of them and not just a hand full. It's all just a matter of economies of scale.

[@favesongslist]

@@joansparky4439 I thought the same, Yet the Astronomers say otherwise.

[@jonathanlindsey463]

cheer up Becky... i am one of the few here that understands the frustrations and that is part of it... i was a physics/mathematics double major at university, unfortunately my govt decided to deploy me off to war and it all got derailed... but that doesn’t mean i lost my passion for math or astronomy... smile Becky.. we are here anytime u need cheered up... u were heart broken, which breaks our hearts to see... so smile.. please

[@joyl7842]

Something I learned while in therapy is letting go of things that do not go according to your plan but are completely out of your control. Such as a train being delayed or the weather ruining your reserved observation time. There simply is nothing you can do about it, so there is no point in spending energy on being frustrated. It isn't always easy or even possible, but I found it helps at times.

[@heldersilva6672]

13:44 That April Fools Paper is hilarious! 😂

[@t71024]

The first page was cut in half on the video, so I had to to duckduckgo the paper to ensure they didn't forget about Rain God in HGTTG. They didn't. :-) Or is it actually the "Huide"? That's a hood one, I didn't see that homing. :-)

[@RainMakerNGS]

They have a reference to Africa by Toto on page 5 xD

[@dillonpark7262]

It must be so frustrating when the weather holds up your plans.

[@pdalko]

I’m still a little cloudy about how the bar itself came into existence

[@rickseiden1]

Dr. Becky, you are such a great science communicator. It is just so easy to watch your videos, if you know what I mean. If I were going to pursue a degree in Astrophysics, I'd apply to your program just so I could be your PhD student. PS: I'm currently wearing my TOENAIL MOON t-shirt!

[@Javaman92]

Around 7 minutes in, THIS is why you are the best! You explain HOW you know something. LOVE it. :-D

[@skaphanatic5657]

This perfectly matches my experience trying to get observations for my undergrad class on the 61" Kuiper telescope at Univ of Arizona. So yeah, you got to share a realistic viewing experience with all your followers. We had 6 different dates over the course of the semester and every single night but one rained out. The one clear night, there was a wildfire on the mountain and the sheriff's dept wasn't letting anyone go up the mountain. I think a great idea for a future video would be to follow the process of data reduction and walk everyone through how you go from raw telescope images to final data that you would put into a paper. You started going into it at the end of this video and I think people might enjoy seeing the whole process from start to finish. Love your videos and better luck with future observations!

[@flymypg]

I spent a third of my career building bleeding-edge imaging systems, and the closer you get to the bleeding edge, the noisier things get. First you "quiet the sensor" using every trick in the book: Noiseless power supplies, short wires, Faraday and mu-metal cages, and every other construction technique imaginable. After there is no further gains to be made there, you add a cooler, then a freezer, then a cryocooler, then, finally, a liquid helium bath. Then you move the amplifiers into the cold zone. Anything to get the noise down. After that, it's all signal and image processing. First, as Becky mentioned, you take a "dark field" image, with no light hitting the sensor. Then you take images of flat fields with known luminosity (it can be fiendishly difficult to create a truly flat field, especially at ultra-low intensities), at various wavelengths. Then you take images of known content with varying contrast, such as 2D sine waves of increasing frequency, then again with square waves, the goal being to carefully detect, measure and calibrate the per-pixel gain, any adjacent-pixel "spill over", and pixel handling noise. At this point we also do wavefront imaging to detect and measure the flatness of the silicon sensor, which in turn informs us of the optics with which it will perform best. The above leaves you with the "basic" processing pipeline for future images, the end result being images with all known inherent imperfections ("instrument error") removed. It doesn't mean you get a usable image! It just means your image content isn't a side-effect of the imager itself. Sometimes, the processing needed to accomplish the above leaves insufficient bits left for a useful image! That is, you've created an imager no better than one costing 1/10 the price. That's when you set that imager aside and try to build a better one. It rarely winds up that way, and it is heartbreaking when it does. Finally, you get to take images For Real. No matter how wonderful these images may look to the human eye (and they **always** look great), the image is useless if it doesn't "look wonderful" to a computer. Fortunately, there are bazillions of image processing libraries and techniques that may be applied to "tease" the data of interest from the rest of what was captured in the image. There are also motion and filtering techniques that may be used while taking an image to make specific content easier to extract from the resulting image. There are two domains of low-light imaging: The very slow (such as astronomy, where you can 'stare' at a patch of sky for as long as needed), and the very fast (extremely short frame times for high-speed video). I've worked in both domains, and high-speed video is the most fun: The last imager I helped build could take 100,000 frames per second, and was so rugged it could do so while surviving 100g impacts. These specialty cameras were used for things including inside cars during crash testing, and very close to weapons testing. Telescopes are cool too. When they're open. We should also talk about when you would intentionally blur an exposure to get a better result.

[@nicholasvalentine3907]

While we are not doing much... love the blue nails Becky, fabulous!

[@bimmergeezer]

Dr. Becky, my fingers and toes are crossed for you application. I totally loved this episode, although the outcome was said. More videos of your analysis process, please!

[@edwardmedina1236]

We loved Bridgeton. It's great! You'll love it.

[@brayans634]

Hi Dr Becky, I love what you do, and you have teach me so much with your videos that I can’t thank you enough!!! I have two degree non related to physics but, I love so much physics and every space topic that I’m actually considering pursuing an astrophysicist career!!❤️

[@beck4218]

Best PHYS channel on YT!

[@jgostling]

As an amateur astrophotographer, I can feel your pain. Clear skies!

[@PaulWalker-lk3gi]

Thanks for posting the code -- fun to read!

[@jamesfohare]

Stay warm and safe Doc. x :)

[@razabadass]

Thank you and well done again Becky! Raza :)

[@Hurin55]

Sorry to learn about your affinity to the Pauli Effect... even via long distances. ;) Love your videos Dr. Becky!

[@gorrthebutcher4696]

hey becky great vid sorry you were snowed out must be gut wrenching hope you have better luck next time

[@jcarlile8279]

First 8 minutes is super badass for reaching laypersons like me. Thank you dr teach.

[@scootskute]

I feel for you. When I was a teenager I received my first scope as a Christmas present. The next three weeks we were socked in with fog . . . disappointment, to be sure, but we did get some beautiful hoarfrost out of it. Then, when it was finally clear, I took out the scope and found that it had an assembly issue, and that fastener hardware was rattling around inside and against the objective lens. We had to send it in for replacement. More waiting and more disappointment. At least for me, it was just for pleasure, and nobody's degree was on the line. Good luck. I hope your student does well despite the setback.

[@jm-xh4yz]

I love watching your videos. Sometimes I wonder if I want to stop studying biology focusing towards medicine and go into astrophysics. Keep up the good work!

[@martiny1804]

I know how you feel Dr B. I just finished building my Wee observatory in my backyard that contains my 10" SCT ( i know small)last month and haven't had a clear night since. Love the hair at different times.

[@tomwolf9420]

Kudos to your animation of light going through a prism. What most people don’t realize is that the glass slows down the light - depending on its wavelength. Love that attention to details. Considering that you have to wait only 2b years until Andromeda arrives here (like that piece too) there will be enough clear nights for observation 😉

[@RebeccaCampbell1969]

Love your sweater... And it's a volcano/fissure island, the observatory is probably on the east facing side... AHHH! lol, sorry I had to make sarcasm about the so called "future catastrophes" As for the rest I feel your pain... but that's life (not only science)

[@RedRocket4000]

Well sooner or later the Mountains Goddess Sister will blow them observatories off the mountain if Sister apologies for past actions. Of course the Mountanin God of Snow could just bury them. This my response to native activists. The reason the mountains were reserved for the priest class was because they are holly. As it is a dormant volcano which will erupt again and freak snow storms maybe off a hurricane could blow the observatories around, the Goddesses involved are quite capable of dealing with the issue themselves if they are offered don't insult your gods by thinking you have to keep the observatories off the mountain. After all the Goddesses might want to look though the instruments at the Universe themselves being earth bound Goddesses.

[@seriousmaran9414]

And here's me hoping you were going to sing Frosty the astronomer to cheer us all up.

[@martainroth2588]

A really great case for more space based telescopes.

[@timharrison1158]

I love the way you say wo'.

[@Saraseeksthompson0211]

I can’t imagine her stress and frustration and worry over her PhD student. That has to be so hard. I hope it all worked out with them in the end!

[@jwdataspot]

Is that a "phases of the moon" necklace you're wearing? I love it!

[@chongli297]

Thanks so much for sharing this! As a math student close to graduation, I'm currently taking my second intro astrophysics elective and your videos have been very inspiring. I want to get my own telescope at some point but I've worried about all the bad weather and light pollution ruining my day. For some reason, it's comforting to see that scientists struggle with the same issues despite having access to much more fancy equipment. I guess it makes science seem more relatable and less remote? Anyway, thanks!

[@adityakrishna4101]

Sad!... but I am really intrigued by the raw image from the telescope.... that's awesome!

[@3xnikss]

Hey this is awesome apart from the bad weather! I actually operated the Isaac Newton Telescope a few years back on location together with a few other astronomy students, it was an amazing experience. Fun fact: when the wind speeds are too high and the dome is open an audible alarm goes off which is sure to keep everybody anxious and wide awake..!

[@mv11000]

Like your sweater Dr. B. :)

[@punchjudy]

That making it rain paper is hilarious, thanks for that.

[@daverobert7927]

Nice and sunny, clear nights and warm here in Australia, Lake Macquarie

[@tando6266]

I'm a mechanical engineer researcher. and when I need inspiration, this is where I come. Thanks!

[@godsbeautifulflatearth]

That's terrible. You should really look for reliable sources of information instead of blindly listening to this NASA inspired garbage.

[@tando6266]

@@godsbeautifulflatearth How do you know I haven't done work for NASA? Its ok, I get the sheer magnitude of what we don't understand as a species is scary, and that believing the world is flat helps you reconcile that fact. If you ever want to leave that safe space and learn, the whole of humanities knowledge is right there outside of Qannon's bubble waiting for you to engage with it.

[@TheHarrip]

This made me smile outloud from start to finish. Took me away 👍

[@nousernamejoshua1556]

Ahh, yes. The Lady In Red. I was drowning when introducing the bar galaxies with the very quiet background music, I felt she was reading a lullaby. Some great looking galaxies btw. They take my breath away, you know, the reality of them and so snowflake different. I need that Galaxy Atlas!

[@nousernamejoshua1556]

I did not mean to pun! Or be insensitive there. Becky. You forgot to take the lense cap off. See m, now that's insensitive. How many months to clean that up you reckon? Nae you say. . . . . .You could never get a better level of detail.

[@TomTom-rh5gk]

Your videos have really improved. They are quite good. You give reasons. Yeah.

[@mg4361]

I am really sorry to hear this, especially for your PhD student. I hope this doesn't delay his thesis too much.

[@stevenlitkey9354]

I feel your pain Dr Becky 😣😣 I do astrophotography as a hobby , and although your work is vastly more important that my hobby, it's been cloudy here since my last photo night which was Dec 10th !!!

[@loremejmir298]

Feel so sorry for your PhD student 💔 I lost 4 months of lab work for mine during lockdown 1 and I’m still waiting for the greenlight to go back now. So incredibly frustrating! Best of luck for the new application 💖

[@DrBecky]

Sorry about your lost time!

[@IRIS-se9kl]

i don't know why i cried over this video!! it was so sad that your hope didn't come true...

[@buckeyeman7631]

Wish I were spending some of my nights with you Dr. Becky, you are funny, smart and gorgeous! Have fun and stay safe on your travels.

[@p4p3rm4t3]

Congrats on your Google Talk! I learned things form it!

[@spookydonkey2195]

And I thought disassembling my astro photo setup at night due to clouds was frustrating, much respect for your patience!

[@JamesMcCormickIV]

That thumbnail!

[@iseriver3982]

Becky looks like she's going to play cricket against the Arctic Armadillos.

[@freudsigmund72]

13:43 Similar for me, though you only need to offer me a vacation. Over the past 17 years, wherever I have spent my holidays, whatever time of year, I have had some form of precipitation every single day. Whether it is Indonesia in the dry season, South Africa (where I had a torrential downpoor in a town that hadn't seen a single drop of rain in 2 years), Argentina in the dessert, Cuba, Arizona in june, Portugal. You get the picture.

[@jchristie254]

Very frustrating for you but thanks for talking through your historic data. We have a joke in our astronomy club that if one of us gets any new kit, then it's at least 2 weeks before we'll get any clear skies lol

[@J-Stoic]

How true, bought a 6mm eyepiece and a moon filter about two weeks ago and not a clear night since!

[@nousernamejoshua1556]

Is there a pattern to clouds like seasonal.

[@carlthor91]

@@J-Stoic I am too close to large lakes, at the wrong time of the year. Almost two and a half months of cloud cover. Snowing out right now, ~4 ft/1.22 m of snow on the ground, more coming. The only star gazing I will do is watching on a computer screen. Best wishes all, stay safe

[@justthinking5091]

I once had a few nights at Calar-Alto in Spain. Up on the mountain. 5 Nights. All either cloudy, or two times the domes were covered in snow and the operators did not want to open them. I ended up just walking around on the mountain enjoying the view and sleeping a lot :D

[@abhirishi6200]

Amazing

[@EarlWallaceNYC]

Thank you for showing us the details of the science. So sorry you didn't get to observe.

[@no_more_free_nicks]

Poor Becky, I love the snow, but not on the telescope. Greetings from Kraków.

[@TheWTZ1983]

I must say that finding here a fellow Krakus is as unexpected as the snow in La Palma 😅

[@hyfy-tr2jy]

Hey there Dr Becky. Loved reading your book as a Christmas present to myself! So when does volume 2 come out "Space at the speed of light: Toenail moons and other cosmic entities"?

[@frederickmclean9180]

What book?

[@tommasofreschi6467]

@@frederickmclean9180 She has a book called "Space at the speed of light" (north American version)/"Space: the 10 things you should know" (European version)

[@hyfy-tr2jy]

@@frederickmclean9180 its at the end of the video titled "Space at the speed of light" that she released at the end of 2020.

[@melanierhianna]

Finally I love controlling stuff remotely over networks. It has been my thing in tech really. Right now I'm developing software for a device which is sat in our office ten miles away. Due to Covid I don't go in to the office but I can control the device, connect to it, update its software, and work on it just as though it is sat on my desk. But telescopes are cool so using one remotely is kewler!

[@CallumFinlayson]

I didn't go to La Palma, but in my final year at uni we went to Mt Teide; when we got there we couldn't get up because it had been snowing and the road was closed (it was March), and when we did eventually get up there I promptly developed bronchopneumonia!

[@BlackEpyon]

Well, the good thing about these observatories is that you can always just tell the scientists on site what you want to look at, they take the observations for you, and forward you the data. Pretty much how it needs to happen with this pandemic. As cool as it is to see the observatories up close, it's not necessary to be present on site.

[@garyschraa7947]

Bridgerton plug . I love it

[@howder1951]

Becky was quizzical studied astrophysical science away from home, Late nights all alone with a telescope, oh-oh,oh ,oh! Great description of your endeavours for a layman like me, you make a lot of things very understandable ( if that is a word) I understand the frustration of dealing with the weather gods, when we were in Maui we never got the chance to see the ocean from the highest peak because you had to be very early before the clouds covered everything. Enjoyed very much, cheers!

[@swistedfilms]

Plan B: Professor Poliakov creates liquid hydrogen and Professor Moriarty constructs a rocket and we strap Brady to it and give him a telescope and a parachute and a pressurized suit.

[@ragnkja]

I would have Neil Barnes do both parts that you assigned to the professors.

[@pbaddict1a]

Dr Becky! Please do a show about how amateurs with "home" telescopes can do some basic astrophysics! I see all the young people commenting and it's inspirational. Maybe you have some pointers that would help solidify thier dreams.

[@StatsScott]

It is hard to “like” this video given the somber tone but was still very informative. Sorry about the lost observing time - hope you can get a replacement time slot. Interesting to see some of what the raw data actually looks like. And very neat idea about using differential red shifts to infer gas movement - I would not have thought of that but it makes a lot of sense when you explain it.

[@Zeno_Evil]

I'm really fascinated by your data cleaning processes. Can you do a video on the topic or share some links to other resources or even your code? Also, how do you validate the accuracy of those processes? (ie: how clean is the data, how much signal is lost, .....)