Hi everyone! My name is Idil, and I’m a rising senior from Turkey currently studying in Connecticut. My day began with multiple snoozes of my alarms until I finally woke up at 8:40. Trying small boxed cereals with milk poured into the cardboard box for the first time, I headed to the lecture with my roommate. Initially on kinematics and projectile motion, the lecture shifted unexpectedly to gravitational waves, which Dr. Kundu explained thoroughly. Understanding how LIGO operates was fascinating and improved my grasp of how gravitational waves influence mass, the « charge » of the gravitational force.
After the lecture, we had lunch at Chase Dining Hall at UNC, where the food reminded me of my high school’s dining hall food. Following lunch, we attended the second Guest Lecture of the Speaker Series by Dr. Brad N. Barlow, titled “Hypervelocity Stars, Binary Brawls, and Explosions.” It was captivating to learn about hot subdwarfs and Dr. Barlow’s research, beginning with the star US 708 traveling at a velocity of 1100 km/s (incredible, given that the escape velocity from a galaxy is 550 km/s). Hearing about various subdwarf formations and supernovae (there’s one expected near Earth in 700 billion years!) from someone so involved sparked excitement about potential future research opportunities, especially with the establishment of LISA. The guest lecture, undoubtedly the highlight of my day, was followed by working on our problem sets.
Later, at dinner, we sat at assigned tables, ensuring everyone in the program had a chance to interact (which I found very thoughtful). Discussing our reflections on the lecture, we then returned to our problem sets. Today, I focused on problem sets on “Optics and Telescopes” and “Taylor Series.” While lectures lay the foundation, problem sets truly deepen understanding and are something I greatly appreciate.
There were no observations today due to an issue with the telescope’s tilt, but it should be fixed by tomorrow (shows every possibility in doing actual science). Looking forward to continuing observing tomorrow!!
Gravitational Waves to Hot Subdwarfs:
-Idil
