The trials and tribulations of student life over the last 7 months
A big hello to my fellow space geeks!
As the title of this post suggests it has been over 7 months since I last posted to Life of a Space Geek, this hasnt been due to me just being lazy, the main reason for the lack of posts has been due to the workload of my degree, something had to take a back seat and unfortunately this was it :(
Over the last 7 months I guess I lost myself, I had forgotten my reasons for waiting to study my degree.
You will see from reading my last few posts that I was intending to take on not one but two new modules last October, which I did with much anticipation and I started both with good intentions and dove into both with as much excitement as lasts years module BUT I realised after a few months that trying to work to two different timelines with TMA's and iCMASs on top of each other, as well as still working part time and trying to be a mum that I was becoming miserable.
I'll be honest it was the maths module that did this to me, although my marks did not indicate I was suffering, I found myself staring at a tma question for hours not knowing where to start and becoming frustrated and angry with myself for not understanding. The more time I spent on my maths model the more and more I fell behind on my physics and space module so I finally admitted defeat a few weeks back and deferred my maths subject. The sense of relief I have felt since then and I seem to have at least some of my life back without every waking moment having to study.
Doing this degree thing is tough and I knew I would have challenges along the way, I guess I didnt think it would be so soon into my degree journey. The plan is to start my maths module again in October on its own, with nothing else to distract apart from learning differentiation, integrals and matrices!
It hasnt all been doom and gloom since I last posted though :)
With the support of Professor Andrew Norton at The Open University I was accepted as a Fellow of The Royal Astronomical Society, something that I am extremely proud of and my thanks to Andrew for this.
My physics and space module has taken me on a journey through Python programming, quantum mechanics, energy and now Cloud Chambers - these are fascinating bits of equipment that can detect background radiation, check out this wiki link for more information https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_chamber
The space industry has seen NASA successful land Insight on Mars and I watched with fascination the landing of Insight, Im not ashamed to say this did make me a little emotional. Following Insights updates on social media has been fantastic, gradually all its equipment has now been placed onto the surface of Mars and we should now be able to receive valuable data on the planet, exciting stuff!
Check out the NASA site for more info https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/
There was also the launch of the Solar Parker Probe sent to the Sun so we can better understand our host star, I for one am excited to find out what this provides us with as the Sun is such a vital part of not only life on Earth but is a big player in the life of our solar system. https://astronomynow.com/2018/11/13/parker-solar-probe-in-good-shape-after-close-approach-to-sun/
Last month also saw another Lunar Blood Moon and much of the UK waited in anticipation to see it only to find that Mother Nature had other ideas and the clouds came over :( So most of us had to be happy with seeing images taken from others lol https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/jan/20/super-blood-wolf-moon-rare-total-lunar-eclipse-to-grace-northern-hemisphere-skies
Finally I now have a set of binoculars, perhaps not as exciting to some as they are to me, however it means I can now view the Moon much closer, I can actually see some of the craters on the surface of the moon which is awesome!
Right that's all from me for now, I hope to get back into the swing of posting every week so watch this space for more exciting space news :)
Oh and if anyone reading this has any suggestions on conferences/events etc that I can attend please do leave them in the comments, I am looking to get more involved this year!
Till next time space geeks
Em
As the title of this post suggests it has been over 7 months since I last posted to Life of a Space Geek, this hasnt been due to me just being lazy, the main reason for the lack of posts has been due to the workload of my degree, something had to take a back seat and unfortunately this was it :(
Over the last 7 months I guess I lost myself, I had forgotten my reasons for waiting to study my degree.
You will see from reading my last few posts that I was intending to take on not one but two new modules last October, which I did with much anticipation and I started both with good intentions and dove into both with as much excitement as lasts years module BUT I realised after a few months that trying to work to two different timelines with TMA's and iCMASs on top of each other, as well as still working part time and trying to be a mum that I was becoming miserable.
I'll be honest it was the maths module that did this to me, although my marks did not indicate I was suffering, I found myself staring at a tma question for hours not knowing where to start and becoming frustrated and angry with myself for not understanding. The more time I spent on my maths model the more and more I fell behind on my physics and space module so I finally admitted defeat a few weeks back and deferred my maths subject. The sense of relief I have felt since then and I seem to have at least some of my life back without every waking moment having to study.
Doing this degree thing is tough and I knew I would have challenges along the way, I guess I didnt think it would be so soon into my degree journey. The plan is to start my maths module again in October on its own, with nothing else to distract apart from learning differentiation, integrals and matrices!
It hasnt all been doom and gloom since I last posted though :)
With the support of Professor Andrew Norton at The Open University I was accepted as a Fellow of The Royal Astronomical Society, something that I am extremely proud of and my thanks to Andrew for this.
My physics and space module has taken me on a journey through Python programming, quantum mechanics, energy and now Cloud Chambers - these are fascinating bits of equipment that can detect background radiation, check out this wiki link for more information https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_chamber
The space industry has seen NASA successful land Insight on Mars and I watched with fascination the landing of Insight, Im not ashamed to say this did make me a little emotional. Following Insights updates on social media has been fantastic, gradually all its equipment has now been placed onto the surface of Mars and we should now be able to receive valuable data on the planet, exciting stuff!
Check out the NASA site for more info https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/
There was also the launch of the Solar Parker Probe sent to the Sun so we can better understand our host star, I for one am excited to find out what this provides us with as the Sun is such a vital part of not only life on Earth but is a big player in the life of our solar system. https://astronomynow.com/2018/11/13/parker-solar-probe-in-good-shape-after-close-approach-to-sun/
Last month also saw another Lunar Blood Moon and much of the UK waited in anticipation to see it only to find that Mother Nature had other ideas and the clouds came over :( So most of us had to be happy with seeing images taken from others lol https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/jan/20/super-blood-wolf-moon-rare-total-lunar-eclipse-to-grace-northern-hemisphere-skies
Finally I now have a set of binoculars, perhaps not as exciting to some as they are to me, however it means I can now view the Moon much closer, I can actually see some of the craters on the surface of the moon which is awesome!
Right that's all from me for now, I hope to get back into the swing of posting every week so watch this space for more exciting space news :)
Oh and if anyone reading this has any suggestions on conferences/events etc that I can attend please do leave them in the comments, I am looking to get more involved this year!
Till next time space geeks
Em
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