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Eight Things to Know About Our Flying Observatory

Our flying observatory, called SOFIA, is the world’s largest airborne observatory. It is a partnership with the German Aerospace Center (DLR). SOFIA studies the life cycle of stars, planets (including Pluto’s atmosphere), how interstellar dust can contribute to planet formation, analyzes the area around black holes, and identifies complex molecules in space.

1. A Telescope in an Airplane

SOFIA stands for the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy. It is a Boeing 747SP aircraft that carries a 100-inch telescope to observe the universe while flying between 38,000 and 45,000 feet – the layer of Earth’s atmosphere called the stratosphere.

2. The Short Aircraft Means Long Flights

SP stands for “special performance.” The plane is 47 feet shorter than a standard 747, so it’s lighter and can fly greater distances.  Each observing flight lasts 10-12 hours.

3. It Flies with A Hole in the Side of the Plane…

The telescope is behind a door that opens when SOFIA reaches altitude so astronomers on board can study the universe. The kind of light SOFIA observes, infrared, is blocked by almost all materials, so engineers designed the side of the aircraft to direct air up-and-over the open cavity, ensuring a smooth flight.

4. …But the Cabin is Pressurized!

A wall, called a pressure bulkhead, was added between the telescope and the cabin so the team inside the aircraft stays comfortable and safe. Each flight has pilots, telescope operators, scientists, flight planners and mission crew aboard.

5. This Telescope Has to Fly

Water vapor in Earth’s atmosphere blocks infrared light from reaching the ground. Flying at more than 39,000 feet puts SOFIA above more than 99% of this vapor, allowing astronomers to study infrared light coming from space. The airborne observatory can carry heavier, more powerful instruments than space-based observatories because it is not limited by launch weight restrictions and solar power.

6. Studying the Invisible Universe

Humans cannot see what is beyond the rainbow of visible light. However, many interesting astronomical processes happen in the clouds of dust and gas that often surround the objects SOFIA studies, like newly forming stars. Infrared light can pass through these clouds, allowing astronomers to study what is happening inside these areas.

7. The German Telescope

The telescope was built our partner, the German Aerospace Center, DLR. It is made of a glass-ceramic material called Zerodur that does not change shape when exposed to extremely cold temperatures. The telescope has a honeycomb design, which reduces the weight by 80%, from 8,700 lb to 1,764 lb. (Note that the honeycomb design was only visible before the reflective aluminum coating was applied to the mirror’s surface).

8. ZigZag Flights with a Purpose

The telescope can move up and down, between 20-60 degrees above the horizon. But it can only move significantly left and right by turning the whole aircraft. Each new direction of the flight means astronomers are studying a new celestial object. SOFIA’s flight planners carefully map where the plane needs to fly to best observe each object planned for that night.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

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A-Level students right now

On Autism and College, revised.

Here is some advice on navigating college/university, by an Autistic (American) student, for a/Autistic students.

Register with disability services as soon as you make your decision to go to your school. If you don’t have a diagnosis, you may be able to talk to them and get tested/diagnosed and get accommodations. It depends on your school.

Make sure to research housing. You will want to know about food, the type of people who live there, location, and activities available. You want to be able to eat with your meal plan, get to class just fine, meet people there (or not, depending what you prefer), and if you want something to do there you should know what is available.

Spread out classes as much as possible. You will get to choose when you have your classes. Know your schedule and work with it. For example, next semester all of my classes are in the afternoon, which is good because I have a weird ass circadian rhythm and ended up being nocturnal for half of this semester.

Find out the minimum amount of classes you can take and start with that. Don’t overwhelm yourself. I’m taking twelve hours (the minimum for a full time student) next semester.

Make a schedule of when your work is due. You will likely (especially in math and sciences) have weekly homework due on a certain day. Know when that is and plan for it.

Try your best to not procrastinate. I’ve had far too many panic attacks and meltdowns from waiting too long to do work. You probably won’t have work assigned one day and due the next (it can happen, but I haven’t seen it), so plan your time.

Don’t overdo it with organizations/clubs. Friends are great, but don’t make extra commitments you can’t keep. I’m being treasurer of an organization I love because I’m needed and it’s not a huge commitment; I just have to turn in paperwork by deadlines, which I have no problem with.

Keep in touch with your advisor. If you need to drop a class or change your major, you will need their help. Know their email and use it. 

It’s okay to stim. No one’s gonna notice you stimming in a lecture hall unless it’s loud. I twist a paracord bracelet and chew a necklace in lectures. Smaller classes are trickier, but people tend to not care if you’re fidgeting with a bracelet or something that doesn’t make noise or chewing on something. It’s okay.

Emails can be awkward, it’s okay. You’re not going to have the perfect email all the time. Most professors are fine with a very straight to the point email. Example asking for help from a professor:

Dear [name]: I am in your [time] [class name] class. I need help with [x]. Could we meet sometime to work through this? (If you have a problem with face to face interaction, you could say “Could you explain this to me via email?” They may ask you to meet with them anyway, just a warning.) Thank you, [your name]

Write down all office hours, whether or not you think you’ll need them. Professors want to help. It looks good for them when students do well. Mostly they sit bored in their office during hours. Even if you’re not struggling, it looks good for you when you come in and talk about the course with them during hours.

If you can’t handle your major, switch. Try to major in a longtime special interest if you have one that you could do that with. There are jobs in every field. I personally am switching from physics to psychology.

Clubs are good for finding friends. I’m in five(ish) queer organizations and have quite a lot of friends from them. Especially in larger schools, you can probably find other a/Autistic folk by pursuing interests and joining clubs devoted to them.

You likely won’t be judged for being a little “odd”. No one really bats an eye when they find people sleeping in public places here. At most, people might know you as “that person that does X thing”, but if you have the confidence to rock that, then you’ll be fine.

 Don’t buy textbooks until class starts. You almost definitely won’t need them the first day of class and there’s no point in buying a $120 textbook you never actually use. 

Keep all of your class syllabuses together. Just… try not to lose them, and if you do contact your professor. They might have assignment due dates for the whole year.

Use a planner. I use Habitica, an app that works kinda like an RPG. It helps me remember meds and work and all that jazz.

If you need one, take a gap year. School will still be there when you get back. It’s okay.

Feel free to message me with questions! I will be a sophomore at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign next semester!

It should come as no surprise that investigations have shown that many for-profits do in fact target low-income people who can’t pay. These people areoften minorities.

Steve noticed the same thing at his school: “Most of my students made minimum wage, and over half were black. Every one of my students had a loan, and it’s all they ever talked about. Some felt strong-armed into them, but some wanted them. They lived off of them. They wanted the loans as another source of income because they couldn’t make ends meet with their regular jobs. They took a few classes to keep up appearances, but I would always know why they were really there. Every college has these students, but at my college, I had several in every class I taught. I never knew what happened to them after the semester and they were 20 or 40 grand in debt. Many struggled to make ends meet, and the college offered an easy way to get loans. What did you think was going to happen?”

For-profit universities vastly prefer loans – and the long-term, interest-bearing income they generate – to straight cash payments. So much so that they often don’t take cash: “One student in particular told me that she had $20,000 from an inheritance in cash, but ran into roadblocks everywhere. My college wouldn’t accept cash, so she tried a check. They told her they couldn’t, since they had too many issues with bounced checks. She then tried paying online in full, but she was told she shouldn’t because ‘What if you decide to drop a class? Would you still want to pay for it?’ She then tried monthly payments, but she was informed she was too late to sign up. She could only take a loan.”

I Teach At A For-Profit College: Here’s Why It’s A Scam

North Carolina will allow students to bring pepper spray to school, suggests using spray against transgender students

"Perverts and pedophiles taking advantage of this law in bathrooms was my major concern," Chuck Hughes said.

Yesterday, North Carolina’s anti-transgender climate reached a new low.

School officials announced that students will be allowed to bring pepper spray or mace to school beginning in the fall. One board member went as far as to say that defensive sprays could be used against trans people in bathrooms:

Board member Chuck Hughes voiced support of students carrying sprays, saying it could be a useful weapon should transgender students be allowed to use the restroom that matches their gender identity.

“Depending on how the courts rule on the bathroom issues, it may be a pretty valuable tool to have on the female students if they go to the bathroom, not knowing who may come in,” Hughes said, according to the Salisbury Post.

However, that person later tried to rescind his comments:

Hughes said he believes that his previous comments were “inappropriate” and that he didn’t mean for them to be related to the LGBT community.

“Perverts and pedophiles taking advantage of this law in bathrooms was my major concern,” he told BuzzFeed.

Oh my god. I can’t even believe this is real.  

i cannot stress this enough

if you are an eligible voter in the US this coming election and bernie sanders does not have the democratic nomination

you. have. to. vote. for. hillary.

i am not fucking messing around

i am not gonna sit here while you write in names or go on some fucking strike. hillary is not on the same level as donald trump. all of you who act like that’s a hard choice are ridiculous. you vote for hillary clinton if she gets the primary. if you don’t, you give trump the presidency. clear and simple. normally i would not advocate against writing in names, but at this point writing in names would take away from hillary’s vote if she is the nominee–EVEN IF YOU WRITE IN BERNIE SANDERS, YOU GIVE TRUMP A HIGHER CHANCE AT THE PRESIDENCY, AND YOU DON’T WANT THAT.

not even a year ago y’all were laughing about donald trump. don’t fuck this up. in no world is hillary clinton as bad as donald trump.

GOOD NEWS FOR #PublicSchools IN WISCONSIN - http://goo.gl/VqdsFt

The authors of the report contacted superintendents throughout #Wisconsin, to determine how the new flexibility provided by #GovScottWalker’s 2011 legislation has allowed them to alter their #Education programs for the BENEFIT OF STUDENTS, without the self-interested intrusion of organized labor #UNIONS.

“Superintendents of public schools no longer have to seek approval from public unions in order to make changes to the administration of their schools,” the report said. “They are free to adopt the best practices of teacher pay and classroom management.

“They can hire and fire teachers according to criteria other than the rigid policies from a union (#CollectiveBargaining agreement). The words ‘#Seniority’ and ‘teacher #Tenure’ can be terms of the past for many districts.”

There is now merit pay for teachers, in various forms across the state. In the old days of collective bargaining, teachers were stuck on rigid pay scales based strictly on the number of years they taught and the number of graduate credit hours they earned.

Now Teaching English Online

Hey everyone!!

Now that I have moved back to Canada I will be giving online lessons via verbalplanet. If anyone is looking to better there conversational skills or studying for the Cambridge exam please try a free lesson with me(Ashante C) at:

http://www.verbalplanet.com/publicviewprofile.asp?tr_id=10028741945&lang=ENG&lang2=ENG

*It’s hard to tell which one is me lol I’m the one infront with the converse shoes and backwards cap:)

-IGGY

Construction workers have found 1,300 pounds of ancient Roman coins while carrying out routine work on water pipes in southern Spain.

On the photo a technician holds a coin at the archeological museum in the Andalusian capital of Seville, Spain, April 29, 2016. The coins come from a cache of 19 amphoras discovered in Tomares on April 27, 2016.

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