I took a break from math today. In the morning, I got through another Bob chapter, this one on telescopes. This was very interesting information, applying many of the theoretical concepts (diffraction, refraction, etc.) into a practical form that enables us to gather information about the universe around us. Very interesting but it also sounds very frustrating! I have a lot of respect for people who do it, but instrumentation is absolutely not my thing. It was also interesting to read this chapter from a perspective over a decade after it was written. Talking about the upcoming JWST, other projects that have been canceled, and referencing projects that were upcoming at the time but are now ongoing (e.g. Gaia). In many ways, these things go fast but also they take so long! Who knows what observing instruments might be available for me before my astrophysics career (if I have one…) is over?
In the afternoon I returned to my Python environment. I had hoped to finish the rest of the second chapter, but it was a little slow going after I ran into a couple bugs, and so I only got through one section. Still, it was a helpful section (mostly dealing with for loops) and I made it through all the examples and exercises with a rather minimal amount of headaches. I am a little annoyed that my last program worked but was really inelegantly coded. I am quite sure there had to be a better way to it—but, it worked, so yay!
Looking forward to Friday tomorrow. As much as I love studying, I also love my breaks! The ones where I don’t let myself feel guilty for not opening a textbook. Still lots of other things to do!