Eclipsellium - Blog Posts
NGC 2403 taken by John C. Yu on January 30 2024
NGC 2403 is a intermediate spiral galaxy. There are typically two types of spiral galaxies: barred and regular spirals. This galaxy falls between the two, denoted as SAB.
The bar in spiral galaxies forms due to gravitational instability. However, this bar can help with star formation as it funnels material to the center of the galaxy.
Interactions with neighboring galaxies or having greater instability can lead to a greater bar shape in the galaxy. However, dark matter halos also play a big role in having the opposite effect, often preventing the bar from forming. These combined factors lead to the median shape of this galaxy.
Intermediate spiral galaxies can eventually evolve into either regular spiral galaxies or barred spiral galaxies, but we won't be there to see the final form of NGC 2403.
AAAAAAHHHH I HAVE A MATH TEST TMRW
Normally, I’m not so stressed, but I missed class this week (I was skipping shame on me 😭) and I have no clue what’s going on… Me and the math teacher are besties because he’s the coach of the golf team, so I’m scared of disappointing him with my bad test scores.
I also had a long lab in chem this week. It’s really sad because we got bad results even though we ran our trial for over and hour lol. I think it’s my lab partner’s fault because he keeps on putting his crusty fingers all over the cuvettes which is messing up the spectrophotometer. Hopefully he actually writes his part so it’s not another repeat of last year.
- Practice midterms for matrices
- Grade practice midterms
- Write lab report
- Debug binary system simulation
- Work on astro research paper
- Work on program applications
- Finish new deal research
- Finish college assessment
- Email people back 😬
Don’t ask me why we have a midterm in January… I have no clue.
Rosette Nebula taken by Suzanne Beers on January 29 2024
The Rosette Nebula is part of the Milky Way Galaxy and is located 5,000 light years away from Earth. The Rosette Nebula is an emission nebula (not to be confused with planetary nebula).
These kinds of nebula are formed around massive, hot stars, whose ultraviolet radiation ionizes the surrounding gas. The excited atoms in the nebula also emit radiation, causing the nebula's glow.
The Rosette Nebula is also home to star forming regions, as observed by the Chandra X-ray Observatory. These are especially concentrated in the bottom of the nebula, although it is difficult to see in this image. Note that this photo uses the Hubble color palette.
Messier 66 taken by Hubble Space Telescope on January 28 2021
In this picture, it showcases the star forming regions of the galaxies, which can be seen in red. Star forming regions are vulnerable to disturbances, which can cause the gas in the interstellar medium to collapse into dense clumps of material. These are called protostars.
During the formation of these protostars, gravitational energy is converted into thermal energy. If there is enough thermal energy produced, it is enough to spark nuclear fusion. The star then joins the main sequence.
Due to nature of the star forming regions, it often yields the creation of star clusters, since many stars are being created in close proximity. Large stars especially can emit radiation and produce stellar winds, which pushes the star away from these regions.
Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) taken by Auvo Korpi on January 27 2023.
During the formation of the sun, there was a protoplanetary disk (cloud of debris and gas) that orbited around it. The farthest parts of this disk were far from the heat emitted, and cooled down. The cold material clumped with frozen gasses and water, creating icy rocks.
These rocks orbit far away from the sun in huge elliptical orbits, in the Kuiper belt and Oort cloud. At one point, the icy rocks get closer to the sun. The ice is heated and releases dust, known as the comet’s trail.
Comet ZTF was first discovered in March 2022, but came closest to Earth in a long time in January of 2023. At first, the comet was believed to be an asteroid, but when it got closer to the sun, it was observed to have its signature green glow.
The green comes from the diatomic carbon, which is part of the comet’s atmosphere. As it got closer to the sun, the molecules became excited and radiate green light. This is also why the green color doesn’t extend to the tail, instead it is happening in the comet’s nucleus.
I remember going out with my telescope around this time to view the comet. At that point I think it was just above the Taurus constellation, and I had a lot of trouble angling the lens to point that high up.
I don’t remember being able to see the tail, but just with the naked eye, I could see the comet’s light. I can’t believe it’s already been two years since then. Time really flies.
Why I hate the pomodoro method.
You’ve probably seen someone suggest the Pomodoro method before— you do short sprints (typically 25 mins) followed up by a quick break (typically 5 mins).
I don’t like it, and I will never go back to using it. Don’t get me wrong, it can work really well! My sibling only gets anything done if they use this method, so there is something good about it. However, I’m going to talk about the downsides and what else to do instead of this method.
1. It focuses on time spent rather than results.
Many tasks are quite flexible in how long we take to complete them. Take walking home for example. When I am in a rush to school, it takes about 20 mins uphill, but my legs cramp really bad. When I’m just listening to my music and vibing, it takes about 30 mins downhill.
It's a similar idea for studying. Apply pressure on your learning and assignments, and they get completed faster. Too much pressure, you get exhausted or can’t think straight. (HINT: Procrastination). Too little pressure, and it takes forever to get anything done.
Different results require different amounts of time and pressure.
Trying to strive for a specific time frame undermines what your true goal is: to get some something done. The repetitive cycle assumes a “one size fits all” but that is rarely ever the case. Saying “I studied for two hours today” means nothing compared to “I wrote my essay, read a research paper, and annotated my notes from yesterday.”
2. It discourages focus and flow.
When I was trying out the method, I kept trying to find the ideal time for work and for breaks. The problem is it's never the same. Some days, you are more mentally exhausted and need longer and more breaks, otherwise you are just going to be miserable.
As it is, the five-minute break isn’t long enough to go on a short walk, take a dedicated snack, or fully disconnect. It’s a waste of time that taunts you with distractions that aren’t conducive to a good work environment.
The opposite is also true. Good days can be rare, so when you get into the zone, there’s no reason to come out of it for anything other than a natural transition. A ticking timer to your productivity doesn’t help, and breaking up that “flow state” isn’t maximizing your time or your efforts.
I also haven’t heard many people mention stamina. If you are in school and taking tests, you realize they are typically around the same length (90 - 120 mins where I am). The pomodoro method contradicts this. For a lot of people, focusing and doing your best on a test for such a long period of time can be difficult.
Oh, but that’s just life.
Maybe a part of it is, but you can take steps to improve your stamina during test taking. Spending upwards of two hours studying or taking practice tests, especially leading up to huge exams, can make the test fly by. Simulating test conditions is also a great way to study or increase pressure, which is what long term study periods achieve. Taking longer study periods also relates back to breaks. With the same amount of break time, you consolidate it into a greater block. You can grab a snack, watch an episode of your favorite show, take a walk outside, or do your hair. All fun stuff you can’t do with pomodoro.
3. It brings technology back into the equation.
If you’re using pomodoro method, most likely, its on your computer or your phone. Which means you have to have a device in reach and visible (for work on paper) or be constantly switching tabs (for work online).
Distractions are a huge part of this modern age, which means that you could inadvertently be teasing your mind with a computer game or social media or whatever you enjoy. Even if you don’t give in, you *are* losing focus.
Forget the clocks, forget the devices, forget the notifications. It’s so much easier to be productive if you have nothing else to do and no distractions to take you away from something that, at the heart of it, you enjoy. Because if you hate studying, why are you still reading this??????
This is really long so I’ll make another post about different study methods next week.
my first 24 hour hackathon!
NEVER AGAIN in my life am I building a website from scratch 😭 it’s torture. if only my dumb self knew that frameworks existed…
NGC 1316 taken by Hubble Space Telescope on January 26 2021
NGC 1316 is an elliptical galaxy formed by the collisions of multiple galaxies near the constellation Forax in the southern hemisphere. What makes this galaxy unique is the dark lanes of dust visible around the galaxy. These are indicative that they galaxies NGC 1316 was formed by were spiral galaxies.
What helped scientists determine that this galaxy was created due to a "recent" collision where different types of images taken of NGC 1316. Hubble's images helped to reveal huge collisional shells and a small number of globular clusters. Collisional shells are formed from debris of the parent galaxy, which under the effects of gravity and tidal forces. These tails last for a long time, before eventually being reabsorbed into the progenitor (object of origin). Globular clusters are a group of stars bound by gravity.
These two events were indicative of a merger that occurred within the past couple billion years.
Sirius A and B taken on 13th December 2005 by Hubble Space Telescope
Sirius A is well known for being the brightest star in the night sky and a part of the constellation Canis Major. However, its binary partner, Sirius B was only discovered in 1862.
Ever since the creation of Newton’s law of universal gravitation, star mechanics became not only descriptive, but also predictive. Sirius A’s path across the night sky was unexpected. It wasn’t a straight line, but rather oscillated across its path. This caused many scientists to suspect that Sirius A had a binary partner.
Sirius B was first observed by Alvan Clark, who was testing a new telescope at the time. This was later on confirmed by other telescopes.
Sirius B is a white dwarf, while Sirius A is a main sequence star, meaning it is much larger and much brighter. 1000x brighter than Sirius B, in fact.
In the photo, Sirius A is in the center (although there are some effects due to the instruments) and Sirius B can be seen in the lower left.
Pretty winter sunset but I’m stuck inside 🌅 Just cleaned my room though so I don’t mind that much.
3rd picture is my desk— should I put something on the wall? I don’t want to drill anything in.
Today was pretty frustrating for a variety of reasons, so I didn’t think I would get much done today but then I hopped on to Tumblr and saw a bunch of people’s study posts so I guess I’m trying this again.
- Study for math test
- Work on research program applications
- Upload a new software onto my computer
Good luck 👍
“Since it is now past 2 AM, perhaps it’s time to get some sleep and tackle this tomorrow?”
Especially as a student, it seems necessary to sacrifice sleep in order to study for a test more or get that last homework assignment done, and I get it.
It’s a never-ending cycle— stay up late to study, too tired the next day, procrastinate because you’re tired…
I used to sleep around 8 hours, which is generally the norm, when I found that I was still procrastinating and still tired. I thought that this was due to stress and therefore needed to study more to reduce my stress about upcoming tests. This led to me sleeping 6-7 hours instead.
These past couple of weeks, I’ve decided to listen to my body a lot more, often sleeping 9-10 hours.
I’ve become more productive: being able to work towards my goals without losing out on my health, being more energized, and also having more free time.
It seems counterintuitive, right? Sleeping three hours more should reduce how much I get done in a day, but no. I realized I spend a lot of time while I study being off track or doomscrolling on my phone. This actually is a logical result of being tired— not having enough energy to focus on a task and needing the dopamine in a fast release.
So what do I do if I enjoy working late at night? Especially in high school, there’s strict schedules and timings for when you have to be up so that you can be on time. Unless you can get a prep period, you have to wake up at 7:00 am.
I started taking naps as soon as I get home. If I’m not feeling as if I’ll get anything done, I try to get off my phone and just listen to music or daydream as I try to get a little bit of sleep.
If I keep this up, hopefully Copilot will stop criticizing my sleep habits 😁
chemistry has been kicking my butt lately. so i’m staying after school to study. yay 😀
on the bright side, i somehow managed to secure more than 100% in my comp sci class with a huge fail rate… not really going to question it in case it was a mistake tho. take the wins when they arise
finally finished my online class!
and now i go back to regular school tomorrow…
target haul!! i went to go grab two notebooks (one for physics and one for math) i normally just use one for the entire year, but this time i’ve already run out of pages in one semester 😳
my computer science teacher says f the trees (his words not mine) and that you should use the paper to do your work and not try to compress it super small. a little extreme, but the point is, don’t be shy to take up space with your notes.
i went for a walk later this evening to decompress and it was so pretty— prepare for more sky pics because i will be going outside more often after today.
- final review physics 2
- ap frq practice
i failed one of the frqs which was pretty disappointing. focusing on the positive, i now know what i need to practice before my final tomorrow!
study tip: eat chocolate 🍫 (unless you’re allergic please don’t die)
i couldn’t sleep last night and ended up falling asleep at 5 am. waking up this morning was really difficult and all my muscles were feeling achy.
i didn’t think I would get anything done, but then i had half a chocolate bar…
- rc circuits problem set
- rc circuits quiz
- electric circuits unit test
now i’m spending the evening working on python and then scrolling on pinterest 👀
typically, sweeter snacks are frowned upon because of the high sugar content which can cause you to crash and make it difficult to maintain focus.
however, chocolate also contains cacao. cacao improves focus and memory, and also relieves stress.
before school, i’ve started adding cacao nibs to yogurt, oatmeal, and smoothies. it’s a great way to boost your mind in an easy and delicious way :)
happy new year! 🎉🎉🎉
I wanted to lock in before the new year, so I finally got through the final part of my circuits lecture!!! I think this one was the longest yet (it took me like the whole day).
I did stop for a walk outside though (that’s the picture I took on the left) so that helped me clear my mind a little bit. Definitely a goal of mine will be to focus more when it’s time to work and then relax guilt free in order to prevent days like this.
Overall, I’m not disappointed since it’s difficult material. I really like the problem solving aspect of it since it’s like working a puzzle— especially the multi-loop ones.
funny story… the timer on my quiz was at ~40 mins and i only had an hour for the quiz so I was super stressed— only 20 mins left with a third of the problems left.
turns out the timer was counting down 😭 so i rushed for literally no reason. i got 100% anyways! so no harm.
today is a study day (fortunately or regrettably depending on your perspective). this problem set is really cool and i actually like learning about circuits, which i didn’t expect.
- circuits problem set (88 mins)
- circuits quiz (39 mins)
- advanced circuits lecture
i’m REALLY behind in my course and i need to catch up by the time school starts again so i probably have another 4 hrs of work minimum. it’s finally feeling like crunch time lol
today is a study day (fortunately or regrettably depending on your perspective). this problem set is really cool and i actually like learning about circuits, which i didn’t expect.
- circuits problem set (88 mins)
- circuits quiz (39 mins)
- advanced circuits lecture
i’m REALLY behind in my course and i need to catch up by the time school starts again so i probably have another 4 hrs of work minimum. it’s finally feeling like crunch time lol
final days of the year… ❄️ excited for a fresh start but also feeling the pressure of beginning new habits
i have a theory that trying to start new habits all at once is just going to lead to crashing and burning. so, only 1 new habit for the new year: journaling everyday.
it’s going to help me keep track of what i want to accomplish and my overarching goals of wanting to be stronger, healthier, and focused. i’ll try to build up better habits gradually, so that they last for longer than a week, especially when school is getting tougher.
I just made a playlist of songs that I listen to while I study 📚 Unfortunately, I have to lock in over the holidays, and I know some people are in the same boat so hopefully this will help motivate!
I didn’t do this on purpose, but it turned out EXACTLY 2 hours long, so it’s a sign from the universe that you should listen to it 😁
first day of winter break! i woke up early this morning for a meeting and it was still dark. then i witnessed one of the most beautiful sunrises i have ever seen. my entire room was orange
so glad finals are over :)
long study day at the library! there was a lot of snacks since it’s finals week but getting a spot was so impossible 😦 my friend and I saw three people leaving from behind some bookshelves and it was like the hunger games trying to grab our stuff and get seats before anybody else could take them
the library closed kind of early so now I’m back home and I have a long night ahead of me
- analysis study sheets (5/5)
- extra credit poem
- email people back 😭
- comp sci practice tests
- chem study sheets???
Zoe // 16 // she/her/hers // INTJ
Currently studying physics, chemistry, computer science, calculus, photography. Topics in physics I’m learning about are E&M, thermodynamics, relativity, standard model, cosmology, high-energy astrophysics, and fluids.
I’m interested in dark matter and CMB research. My academic goals right now are mostly focused on getting into university with a major in physics. I want to get a PhD in either physics or astrophysics and work in academia doing cosmology research.
Other fun facts: I play golf and am training in calisthenics. I really like listening to music and I have a really cute cat (he’s a little chunky tho). My favorite show is Voltron Legendary Defender, and my favorite movie is a tie between Oppenheimer and The Social Network.
i made this post a while ago and omg its even worse than i thought. i'm working on some electrostatics problem sets rn. how are you going to have v for velocity, V for electric potential, V for the volts unit, V for volume, U for potential energy, u for energy density, v (or i guess nu) for neutrinos, v for frequency???? they all look the same...
don't even get me started on k
why are there so many variables in physics? it’s like reading a whole new language and i’m dying here 😭
who decided that both electric potential and electric potential energy were going to be a thing 😑 we need a serious discussion!
i’m back in the library and i’m actually getting some work done which is good! i’ve been feeling kind of down lately so focusing on homework has gotten a lot harder.
finals are coming up and all i want to do is watch arcane season 2 and rewatch voltron before it leaves netflix 😭 two more weeks….
studying outside ✨ but then getting nothing done bc the weathers nice…. still have to finish up my notes for astrophysics and then go through the lectures for e&m
i actually got out of bed and did some work 😳 total 90 mins so far. next on my to-do list is emails and suddenly i want to crawl back into the darkness
i have too much to do but not enough time 🥲
early morning study session! i’ve been at it for two hours and i’ve only gotten through 7 physics problems but that’s the fun part 😁
pretty sure i got one wrong bc one of my solutions is 1.3 x 10^65 hydrogen atoms….