4 ms·

If any of you are interested in some of the software that made this discovery possible, check out two of the papers from Las Cumbres Observatory: http://www.na

by WD-42 9y ago

If any of you are interested in some of the software that made this discovery possible, check out two of the papers from Las Cumbres Observatory: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature24291.html?foxtrotcallback=true http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/natu... http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/aa910f/meta;jsessionid=24CB64879B5A141DC8F45A67DC33EAA0.c2.iopscience.cld.iop.org#apjlaa910fs2 http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/aa910f/m... We run a network of 20 telescopes that are triggered remotely (mostly via API). Because of our ability to schedule observations quickly, we were the only ones able to observe the peak luminosity of the kilonova. Disclosure: I am a software engineer at LCO.

spuz 9y ago
Given that GRBs have been detected for a long time and thought to have been a result of neutron star mergers, has a GRB detection ever led to an optical light detection of such a merger before? Is the news here that gravitational wave detection allowed us to see neutron star mergers optically or that they simply coincided with detections of the previously seen optical and gamma ray events?
- scrumper 9y ago
  Yes, in around 1997 I believe. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v396/n6708/full/396233a0.html?foxtrotcallback=true http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v396/n6708/full/396233a... My read is that the news here is that this is the first visual counterpart to a gravitational wave detection. (It's also very strong supporting evidence for the leading theory that neutron stars merging are sources of those gravitational waves.)
- WD-42 9y ago
  Yes, there have been optical counterparts to GRBs before. What is news here is the first optical counterpart to a gravitational wave detection, along with a GRB, which gives us the strongest evidence yet that these are neutron star mergers.
  - spuz 9y ago
    Is there any new information gained from the optical observations in this particular instance? Did the initial gravitational wave detection allow us to capture the optical counterpart at an earlier stage than normal and therefore get more information as a result?
    - WD-42 9y ago
      Yes, absolutely. This wasn't a very large gamma ray burst - as far as I know it may have not been followed up at all. GRBs are hard to localize - but the detection of the gravitational wave made it possible to search for the source quickly in a much smaller area of the sky. This got a lot of people looking, and a lot of good data collected.
      - batbomb 9y ago
        There will be more info on this and the possibility of observing it (Via Fermi), but those papers haven't been released yet.
Ductapemaster 9y ago
Thanks for your work! I live in Santa Barbara and love the Astronomy On Tap events you guys put together. It's very cool what you have enabled astronomers across the world to do, and it's even better that you give back to the community and get people excited about space. Keep it up!
- WD-42 9y ago
  Thanks for the kind words! See you at the next AOT.
mads 9y ago
How did you get this job? I studied astrophysics, but I mainly try to lure people into clicking on ads these days, when I am not doing consulting.
- WD-42 9y ago
  Random internet browsing! I have a previous interest in astronomy and I stumbled upon our website, which had a jobs page. They were looking for someone with Django experience. The field has an increasingly large demand for people with software engineering experience due to the complexity of modern observatories, instrumentation and data analysis. It's only going to grow from here. The problem is competing with SV, which tends to be a black hole for talented software engineers.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - chrshawkes 9y ago
    what is SV?
    - blueish 9y ago
      Silicon Valley (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Valley https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Valley)
  - thecrazyone 9y ago
    Just curious, do you mean that SV's a dead end for talented software engineers? or just that it tracts most of them?
    - kamaal 9y ago
      I think the meaning implied is in terms of quality of work. Even the best Silicon Valley company you might join, the big ones that pay well, will largely have you parsing xmls or other mundane programming ritual done and demonstrated to death. Controlling telescopes, photographing once in a billion year astronomical events obviously has its coolness factor associated with it.
freerobby 9y ago
Hi! I've been working on a project that's similar to what LCO does, but uses existing amateur telescopes rather than deploying its own. My goal is to reap similar network benefits, and make astronomy more affordable and accessible for everyone. Would you be open to talking about this project? I'd love to hear an insider's perspective on things, and poke at how my project could be most helpful/useful to astronomers. robby@freerobby.com http://astroswarm.com/ http://astroswarm.com/ Thanks Robby
- jah6q 9y ago
  I like this idea. Sending you an email with some questions shortly.

by WD-42 9y ago

spuz 9y ago

Given that GRBs have been detected for a long time and thought to have been a result of neutron star mergers, has a GRB detection ever led to an optical light detection of such a merger before? Is the news here that gravitational wave detection allowed us to see neutron star mergers optically or that they simply coincided with detections of the previously seen optical and gamma ray events?

scrumper 9y ago
Yes, in around 1997 I believe. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v396/n6708/full/396233a0.html?foxtrotcallback=true http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v396/n6708/full/396233a... My read is that the news here is that this is the first visual counterpart to a gravitational wave detection. (It's also very strong supporting evidence for the leading theory that neutron stars merging are sources of those gravitational waves.)
WD-42 9y ago
Yes, there have been optical counterparts to GRBs before. What is news here is the first optical counterpart to a gravitational wave detection, along with a GRB, which gives us the strongest evidence yet that these are neutron star mergers.
- spuz 9y ago
  Is there any new information gained from the optical observations in this particular instance? Did the initial gravitational wave detection allow us to capture the optical counterpart at an earlier stage than normal and therefore get more information as a result?
  - WD-42 9y ago
    Yes, absolutely. This wasn't a very large gamma ray burst - as far as I know it may have not been followed up at all. GRBs are hard to localize - but the detection of the gravitational wave made it possible to search for the source quickly in a much smaller area of the sky. This got a lot of people looking, and a lot of good data collected.
    - batbomb 9y ago
      There will be more info on this and the possibility of observing it (Via Fermi), but those papers haven't been released yet.

Ductapemaster 9y ago

Thanks for your work! I live in Santa Barbara and love the Astronomy On Tap events you guys put together. It's very cool what you have enabled astronomers across the world to do, and it's even better that you give back to the community and get people excited about space. Keep it up!

WD-42 9y ago
Thanks for the kind words! See you at the next AOT.

mads 9y ago

How did you get this job? I studied astrophysics, but I mainly try to lure people into clicking on ads these days, when I am not doing consulting.

WD-42 9y ago
Random internet browsing! I have a previous interest in astronomy and I stumbled upon our website, which had a jobs page. They were looking for someone with Django experience. The field has an increasingly large demand for people with software engineering experience due to the complexity of modern observatories, instrumentation and data analysis. It's only going to grow from here. The problem is competing with SV, which tends to be a black hole for talented software engineers.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- chrshawkes 9y ago
  what is SV?
  - blueish 9y ago
    Silicon Valley (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Valley https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Valley)
- thecrazyone 9y ago
  Just curious, do you mean that SV's a dead end for talented software engineers? or just that it tracts most of them?
  - kamaal 9y ago
    I think the meaning implied is in terms of quality of work. Even the best Silicon Valley company you might join, the big ones that pay well, will largely have you parsing xmls or other mundane programming ritual done and demonstrated to death. Controlling telescopes, photographing once in a billion year astronomical events obviously has its coolness factor associated with it.

freerobby 9y ago

Hi! I've been working on a project that's similar to what LCO does, but uses existing amateur telescopes rather than deploying its own. My goal is to reap similar network benefits, and make astronomy more affordable and accessible for everyone. Would you be open to talking about this project? I'd love to hear an insider's perspective on things, and poke at how my project could be most helpful/useful to astronomers. robby@freerobby.com http://astroswarm.com/ http://astroswarm.com/ Thanks Robby

jah6q 9y ago
I like this idea. Sending you an email with some questions shortly.