katherine @vis_viva@scholar.social

hello! my name is kat, I'm an undergraduate astronomy & astrophysics and physics double major at a school somewhere in PA. Currently I'm working in a particle astrophysics lab, though that may change in the near future.

Obviously I'm super interested in space, but I am also absolutely fascinated by history, anthropology, and linguistics- so don't be surprised if you see me pop up in your notifications☺️

it's nice to meet all of you
#introduction

if this tells you anything about how ya girl has been doing recently... I just fell asleep 3 separate times in the pass 4 hours trying to read my gd astro textbook

I toured the nuclear reactor on campus today, and the cooling pond was literally just... 2 feet in front of my face. I have never been so tempted to stick my hand in anything EVER before. There was no fence or anything!!! Nothing to stop me but my own self control

@vis_viva these are the posters, they’re really beautiful and free to download
https://resources.perimeterinstitute.ca/collections/posters

The halls of the physics building are covered in posters of nobel prize winners. This is a good idea in theory, but in practice it’s really demoralizing as a woman to walk down the halls and see hundreds of old white men with maybe 3 women... but today i walked in to the building see people replacing the pictures with beautiful, colorful posters of influential women in physics. I almost started crying; I felt so happy. Representation matters, folks.

my best friend had a solo in her a capella music video and it is just so amazing- her voice is beautiful and y’all should give it a listen if you have the time

https://youtu.be/zO8jGz41k9o

I asked my reu superviser if he could send me some stuff to read up on for my project, and he sends me 3 textbook pdfs, 2 hundred page articles, and a couple small dudes. I think i have around 2000 pages of material to read.... :0

a great mnemonic for the different spectral types of stars, courtesy of my dear friend and fellow overworked astro major:

Oh
Boy
Astro's
Finally
Gonna
Kill
Me
Lord,
Thank
You

take me to (cowboy) church

[id: a wooden sign reading “Flathead valley Cowboy Church, Sunday 5:59 pm” with trees and snow covered mountains in the back ground]

I’m officially going to new mexico this summer for my reu!!

Today was fantastic for 2 reasons:
1. I was accepted into an REU program
2. I was able to schedule a tour of the nuclear reactor on campus for my club. We have been trying to do this for years!!!! And finally i was able to make it happen :)

can cryptocurrency die please

[id: quote from david wallace-wells, highlighted part reading “we are now spending more electricity mining bitcoin than is produced by all the world’s solar panels combined. So we have eliminated all the progress made on green energy, just through bitcoin use.”]

ahhhhhhhh!
i just ran into my favorite ta from last year while he was hosting a review session in a study room, he stopped teaching to give me a hug 😭😭😭❤️❤️❤️ this made my day omg

it will never cease to baffle me that astronomy - which deals with the largest objects in the universe (including the universe itself!) - uses cgs units.
like? I have the mass of the sun memorized in GRAMS. I know the distance of the earth to the sun in centimeters. centimeters!

i lightened my load this semester because of the ski racing season and yet, it's still near impossible to keep up with my school work on top of practices and competitions.
as much as i love this sport, I'm glad this is my last race weekend of the year
(it's regionals, btw, and our girl's team won today! we've got a pretty good shot at nationals )

i finally feel like I've done something meaningful in my lab!
my PI is going on a trip this week- not sure if it is a conference or just for a private meeting- related to the collaboration we're in. He said he'd like to bring some of the work I've done and show it to other people to see what they think.
It's all very exciting and I don't know what to expect !

does anyone understand what this says? I left my work up on the whiteboard and when i came back this was written- i’m so curious!

@vis_viva the thrilling conclusion: they cancelled classes until 5 pm, my midterm is at 6:45. Honestly, i think this was the best case scenario... no i have all day to study and i dont have to worry about rescheduling messing with other exams

i need a snow day tomorrow to cancel my midterm.
by all counts we SHOULD have a snow day tomorrow. But this would be our 3rd this semester so uhhhhhh it’s not looking likely :(

i kinda wanna go to a pet store so i can hold some rats. I miss my babies :(