Petschek's book has become quite interesting. I know I'll never talk to anyone ever again about the stars, but this book has started to completely absorb me. Chapter 5, Interaction of Supernovae with Circumstellar Matter -- by Roger Chevalier. Esentially this chapter reviews the circumstellar environment (including the progenitor stars) of supernovae. I'm amazed at how the cooling and compression (ie, hydrodynamics) of supernova goes. The equations are insanely complex with page long terms -- but they all seem to be relatively basic. No hamiltonians to diagonalize... No dipolar terms that don't compute... Etcetera... Something that caught my eye -- Klein and Chevalier (1978) -- the numerical part of the calculation of the process of the acceleration of the shock wave through the outer envelope of the progenetor star (which leads to higher temperatures out there and shifts in the spectrum) requires high resolution in the outer part of the star. Caught my eye because I wonder what high resolution for numerical computation meant in the seventies (
).
This weekend was perfect for windsurfing. The winds were ~15mph out on the bay. My friend, Vicky, though, broke her tendon the last time we were out on the water so we didn't make it out. Instead, I went down to the marina to watch the more experienced windsurfers to learn some of their mastery. I can't wait til I level off of my big thick board and stop falling into the water and get onto the thin, fast moving, sinking boards. It's not as challenging or as intense as rockclimbing... but it is a lot of fun and I've gained a really great friend with whom when we were in the same research group, I never before could get along with!
).
This weekend was perfect for windsurfing. The winds were ~15mph out on the bay. My friend, Vicky, though, broke her tendon the last time we were out on the water so we didn't make it out. Instead, I went down to the marina to watch the more experienced windsurfers to learn some of their mastery. I can't wait til I level off of my big thick board and stop falling into the water and get onto the thin, fast moving, sinking boards. It's not as challenging or as intense as rockclimbing... but it is a lot of fun and I've gained a really great friend with whom when we were in the same research group, I never before could get along with!
VIEW 4 of 4 COMMENTS
maxwellxdemon:
Your metamorphosis sounds fascinating. I'm sure your hair is amazing to say the least. I don't see where you had the 10 pounds to loose as your body is breath taking already. These two guys must be out of there minds to allow you to slip between there fingers. Yours astronomy books sounds fascinating. Science has varied quite a lot since the 70's, hasn't it? Watching the windsurfers sounds relaxing, I'm sure you enjoyed your weekend. I pity those guys. Your too enchanting!!!!!! 
qvas:
Sadly, I think our sun won't have the glory of going supernova. It isn't massive enough (or as an astorphysicist may say, it isn't luminous enough). Instead, it'll slowly burn off all of it's hydrogen until it starts to expand in a red giant halo. Fun, eh? My statistical mechanics professor gave us a horrifying account of this a couple years ago in our discussion of dark matter and white dwarfs, and such. Earth will be engulfed by a huge gaseous red, superhot boring ball... no explosion. Eventually, the sun will collapse in on itself and become a white dwarf sitting in the middle of a nebula. Such a bitter fate.