Nights in the life of an astrophysicist | Remote observing galaxies with a telescope in La Palma

We got awarded 4 nights of time on the Isaac Newton Telescope in La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain to observe some barred galaxies. The pandemic has meant we can't travel there in person but we can observe them remotely from our home offices! As long as Storm Filomena doesn't scupper our plans...

"Making it rain" April Fool's paper: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2003.13879.pdf

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📚 "Space: 10 Things You Should Know": http://bit.ly/SpaceDrBecky

📚 US & Canada version: "Space at the speed of light" (same book, different title, with some beautiful illustrations): https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/bo...

📚 German translation "Das kleine Buch vom großen Knall" : https://www.dtv.de/buch/becky-smethur...

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🎧 Royal Astronomical Society Podcast that I co-host: podfollow.com/supermassive

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The artwork in the background is a scientifically accurate map showing the orbits of more than 18000 asteroids in the Solar System, created by Eleanor Lutz. Find out more and buy one here: https://eleanorlutz.com/mapping-18000...

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👩🏽‍💻 I'm Dr Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford. I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don't know. If you've ever wondered about something in space and couldn't find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.

http://drbecky.uk.com
https://rebeccasmethurst.co.uk