Long night of Astronomy 2023

I represented the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics, Potsdam (AIP) at a science outreach event organised at the Tempelhofer Feld, Berlin. I was accompanied by Dr. Andreas Kelz, group head of Multi-Object spectroscopy at the AIP. The event was open to the public and was a chance to meet and talk to amateur astronomers, astrophotographers and astrophysicists about the field. Our stand had a model of an e-Rosita telescope lens. This brought a lot of people to our stand because many were curious about the shiny round tube. Since I use X-rays to study the evolutionary scatter of magnetic activity and e-Rosita is a German X-ray telescope, I got a chance to share the importance of X-ray telescopes and its contribution to the understanding of high energy phenomenon in the universe.
e-Rosita lens demonstration
Demonstrating the workings of an X-ray telescope lens and comparing it to the lens in my spectacles. Image credits: AIP
Dr. Kelz on the other hand shared about the importance of spectroscopy and also had a spectroscope as a hands-on demo. Overall our stand was a huge success as people stood by to listen to us even in stormy weather.  

Cultural shock as an Ausländer living in Berlin, Germany.

Context: I am an Indian who lived till the age of 23 in India. Now I live in Berlin, Germany. The views represented below are only mine. (Obviously, since it is a blog)
Cycles
Cycle lanes 2
I havent seen these many cycles before! Its a good sign for the environment. No wonder Europeans are so thin and in general live longer than the average Indian. All these cycles also mean that there are luxury cycles that cost up to 1000-3000 EUR ( ₹ 80,000 - ₹ 2,40,000). Doesn’t make any sense to me, but whatever helps you reach point B from point A, I guess?
Subconscious speed limits
Secret road
Residential areas should have slow traffic. A speed limit cannot really do much if the driver does not notice it, so how do you slow the traffic down? You make the roads really rough. So rough that it is impossible to drive on them fast! Sometimes, they just act as a subconscious speed limit that you can feel if you are speeding
Meat, bread and cheese.
Yeah, I know, there are shops that have other options too. But my local Aldi, has a large and a complex collection of Meats, such as sausages, minced meat, salami, dried sausages, schnitzel, sea food and so on. Cheese like Entmentaler, Mozerella, Brie and so on and the million varieties of German bread. But what about things like spices and vegan options? Don’t get me wrong, I love the meat, cheese and bread, but people need to eat other things too, right?
Bike lanes!!
Cycle lanes
The bike lanes here are convenient for short trips of ~4km while can also be used to travel long distances. There are even places with protected bike lanes where there is a parking lane between the bike lane and high speed traffic. This is something that India should seriously start thinking about, instead of just making roads bigger.
Women about late at night
This is a real achievement, to be honest. Whenever I returned from work late at night back in India, I have only seen men roaming around at night. It almost felt like the men rule the night. However, here in Berlin, it has been the opposite experience. The women rule the night. Regardless of the type of transport, many times, I have found myself to be the alone man in the vehicle, with perhaps 4-5 women returning from work or something. (I dont have a picture for this, because I dont want to look like a creep?)
Environmental and LGBTQ activism
Protest Photo
These are almost non-issue in India, we do not worry about climate change and LGBTQ issues. We do know that the air is basically pure dust during summers in Delhi, or pure minute carbon particles during non monsoon seasons in India, but are we really to do something about this? What about LGBTQ demands? It is never on any political agenda and whenver some incident happens, it is hushed down.
Black is the theme!
Being from India, I have always loved my vibrant Kurtas. In Berlin, they are a statement that you are probably a hippie or something, because here, everyone wears different versions of Black.
Houses are attached together
Houses
Most of the houses are attached together. This is European architecture, so not exactly specific to Berlin. I suspect it is to save energy during the winters? Meanwhile, this is a rare site in India, we do not like our houses touching each other.
They will not let you forget History
We all know a little bit about the History of Germany, right? What we learn in textbooks is just surface-level knowledge. But, say if you are walking around in Berlin, would you know what historic event happened in the place? Germans do not want you to forget the history and significance of even small places. They mark the spot with a poster, with some details about the significance of the place. Here is a photo of a poster I found near the bus stop near my university. It describes the story of a Peter Hauptmann, a seaman who was shot by guards at the border guard. Zoom in to read the story yourself.

Kindle vs iPad, what do you need as a Physics student?

If you are like me, you love reading Physics textbooks. You probably have a few books from Griffiths already on your bookshelf and would like to read some more. However, it is time to move to a new city to start your higher education and your books are weighing you down. The flight allows only 20kgs of luggage and your books contribute half of it! What should you do? Perhaps buying an iPad or a Kindle could solve your problems?

What do you want to do with your new device?

Reading books

I have always found the kindle’s display very soothing. You can read it in direct sunlight and in the dark. There are some models that are even waterproof, so you can take them with you when you go to your bathtub. However, let's be realistic. We, physicists, have many equations to look at and solve. Most books do not rewrite the equations they are referring to. They just give you the equation number and you should turn back to the page and look at the equation again. In a kindle, this is a big pain. The page-turning is sooo slow that you could spend a lot of time just going back and forth searching for that one equation you needed. On an Ipad, it's pretty simple. There is a thumbnail view on the built-in app that lets you fly to the required page. You could set a bookmark on the current page so that you can come back easily. You could also open a note-taking app on a split-screen that lets you write and add to your notes. Alternatively, if you are using a pdf, you could just write on the Pdf.
However, let's not completely trash the Kindle. I have used the kindle during my study. But mainly as an add on device. While solving problems, I like to look for the answers and usually have the solutions manual open on the kindle beside me. The Kindle works best when you do not want to change pages quickly.

Taking notes

I love taking notes and solving equations on pen and paper. An iPad provides you with the option of using an apple pencil. With this, you can take notes in the class and keep them all backed up and ready to go when you travel to another city for a conference or future studies.

Other productivity stuff

You can do much more with an iPad. Type out your assignments in LateX and then use email to send in the assignments! You could watch a video or download more resources when you are stuck on a problem. All these things are difficult or simply impossible to do on the Kindle.

Searching for a paper or a book

The iPad has a functioning internet browser that can be used to buy and download ebooks and pdfs directly to it. On the kindle, you would need a computer or a phone to do this. You have to first download the book on another device and then send it to the Kindle via USB or through email. This is just an annoying

Free time

The beautiful displays of the iPad Air and the iPad Pro could amp up your Chill and Netflix nights. Don't even get me started on gaming. However, if you do not need to do all these things and you just read a novel during your free time, a Kindle could meet your needs better.

Final verdict

I think the iPad wins hands down. I would recommend any of the iPads. However, the iPad Pro and the iPad Air’s Apple Pencil is better since it charges magnetically. You could get the kindle, but seriously, don't buy it simply to read Physics textbooks.

Don’t look up, an Astronomer’s critique

*Spoiler Alert*
Don’t look up (2021) is a movie about a comet headed on a collision course to Earth which is now dominated by people who are always distracted and have short attention spans. The movie, although consisting of popular personalities like Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence and Ariana Grande fails to impress. So here is a small list of things that the movie got wrong.

1) No one believes the 3 Astronomers.

This is simply absurd. America isn’t the centre of the world. There are scientists from all over the world who have access to state of the art telescopes to look for comets. Europe, India, Japan, Russia, China, UAE and many other countries now are space-faring countries. They all have access to good infrastructure that could have easily verified the existence of a comet headed this way and could launch a mission to deflect the trajectory of the comet. As of today, 4 countries have anti-satellite capabilities. USA, China, Russia and India. This technology with some changes could in theory be used to deflect a comet headed to Earth.

2) Only Astronomers could have known.

As much as the movie would like us to believe that Astronomers are the only ones with a telescope, the reality remains that this isn’t true. Most people who own telescopes are Amateur Astronomers. People who usually are not Astrophysicists, but do Astronomy as a hobby. They regularly take pictures of nebulae and galaxies. There are groups on social media where they share their work with the community. Of course, these people just decided to not look up.

3) 30 rockets needed to affect the comet

20220104_003800
There is a scene where a Space force team decides to get on a few 30 or so rockets to go tackle the comet. Well. One well-programmed rocket with no one on it would have sufficed. This scene is simply wrong. What are all these people supposed to do? Push the comet? Why are there so many rockets going up? ABSURD