IC 417 Summer visit logistics

High-level schedule

The work days we've agreed upon are June 15-18, traveling June 14, and June 19. There will be minimal help from me on June 19 as sort of a "training run" for when you go home. (It is also a 'safety valve' if we don't get enough done the rest of the time.)

I propose you come in relatively early on June 14, and plan on doing dinner at my house that night.

• Sunday morning/early afternoon - arrive in LA
• Sunday night - pizza party at Luisa's ... pizza arrives at 6. come by 5 or 5:30 if you want to play with Andrew!
• Monday morning 8:30??? - tour of SSC, meet Wannetta
• Monday morning 9-12? - lectures
• Monday afternoon 1-5 - get started on data!
• Tues AM - JPL Tour??
• Tues PM-Wed AM-Wed PM - work!
• Thurs morning - Luisa to stay out of your hair most of the day. Work on your own or small groups. Try to do some of the tasks we did as a group. Compare notes. Can you work on your own at home without me?
• Thurs afternoon - Reconvene for any questions and help, discussion, etc.
• Friday - return home

Software to install

Make sure you (and all your students who are coming) each have a functional laptop that you know how to use with as much of the relevant software installed as possible well before you get on the plane. Trust me. Makes it much easier if you do all this ahead of time, including starting it up to make sure it works.

• a web browser (Firefox, Safari, or Google Chrome -- NOT MICROSOFT INTERNET EXPLORER)
• Excel or other spreadsheet program (Google Docs is ok if your school lets you access it; most of the rest of us will be working with various versions of Excel)
• ds9 (though maybe you can make do with IRSA tools)

Also make sure you have all the passwords you need for installing new software, getting on a wireless network, or getting back into your machine if it reboots.

Besides the computer, you will need something to write on and something to write with to take notes! Experience has shown that this should be more than post-it notes. I will give you handouts, so the hyperorganized among you may want, e.g., a 3-ring binder.

Math to know

Scientific notation.

• Caroline sent something around in email.

Logarithms.

• http://mathbench.umd.edu/modules/misc_scaling/page09.htm <— general introduction to concepts involved
• http://labs.physics.dur.ac.uk/skills/skills/logscales.php <— more specific but still general intro, includes information on doing this in Excel plots!
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logarithmic_scale
• http://www.intmath.com/exponential-logarithmic-functions/7-graphs-log-semilog.php
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Log%E2%80%93log_plot

Logarithms and the magnitude system:

• http://coolwiki.ipac.caltech.edu/index.php/Photometry#Magnitudes
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnitude_%28astronomy%29

Units (mks, cgs).

• https://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/cgsmks.html

HR Diagrams.

• http://coolwiki.ipac.caltech.edu/index.php/Color-Magnitude_and_Color-Color_plots
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hertzsprung%E2%80%93Russell_diagram

Basics of Excel programming. NOTE NOT VISUAL BASIC. just basic Excel. this is what i could find in a brief google search:

• http://www.excel-easy.com/basics.html
• http://www.excel-easy.com/functions.html
• http://chandoo.org/wp/excel-basics/