The Washburn DEPARTMENT OF Observer ASTRONOMY UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON Volume 6, No. 1 • Winter 2016 • www.astro.wisc.edu Inside this Issue: An HD Odyssey: When Art Meets Science The Planets: An HD Odyssey ....1 re science and art confined to left and right Bringer of War” appeared on the massive HD Letter from the Chair .................2 brain? Or can they join, creating an immer- screen behind them. Asive experience capturing all of our senses, to Moments after the text faded out, the opening Leah Fulmer ...............................3 transform how we see the world? The Madison image of a barren, rusted planet leapt onto the Department News .....................4 Symphony set out to answer that question screen as the orchestra bounded into the first on the last weekend of September, filling the measure, which marched forward forcefully to Diermeier Fellowship .................5 Madison Overture Center for three straight the drumbeat of war. Bold images—both real days as they opened their concert season with a and computer generated—streamed across the REU Program ............................6 dazzling mashup of art and science. screen synchronized to the music, transfixing Ellen Zweibel’s Maxwell Prize ....6 With generous support from The Friends of the audience in a hypnotic flow of pictures and UW-Madison Astronomy, the Madison Sympho- sound. AstroGLU ...................................6 ny brought “The Planets: An HD Odyssey” to At one point, an animated video showed a Wisconsin for the first time. During the event, Mars rover descending through the atmosphere Science News ............................7 the orchestra played Gustav Holst’s masterpiece in preparation for a landing. When the rover “The Planets” in tandem with a spectacular high ignited its armadillo-style shell of airbags and definition film showcasing beautiful images of bounced across the Martian surface, some in the each of the eight planets — excluding the dwarf audience cupped their hands over their mouths, planet Pluto, which had not been discovered by others audibly gasped. the time Holst wrote the piece. Though the initial ode to Mars was packed As the lights dimmed after intermission on with intensity, the next score—“Venus: Bringer Friday, Sept. 23, the orchestra perfected their of Peace”—relaxed the audience. By the time posture in preparation for the first movement the orchestra shifted from the fluttering of of Holst’s 100-year old orchestral suite. “Mars: Continued on Page 2 The Washburn Observer is the newsletter of the Department of Astronomy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison 475 N. Charter St. Madison, WI 53703-1507 Email: [email protected] Website: www.astro.wisc.edu Department Chair: Professor Sebastian Heinz Editor: Jake Parks Design: UW Astronomy “The Planets: an HD Odyssey”: The Madison Symphony Orchestra performs Gustav Holst’s “The Planets”, synchronized with NASA’s high-resolution imagery from missions that traveled the solar system; Photo credit: Peter Rodgers The Washburn Observer Letter from the Chair ecoming a new and gratitude I feel when I open a letter And we have reached many of our goals. department to find that someone made a gift to sup- That is why I am asking the depart- Bchair is like being port the Astronomy Department. ment to craft a new strategic plan. As we a Freshman in col- Some of the most moving gifts may approach important milestones like new lege in many ways: be small—a twenty dollar check from a faculty hires and positioning ourselves in New challenges recent graduate, a fifty dollar gift from an the changing landscape of optical and in- and experiences anonymous donor inspired by a visit to a frared astronomy, it will be very helpful await you every Washburn Open House. These gifts show to have a well-crafted vision we can rely day, deadlines rush us that we affect people’s lives in positive upon. The work we do now will help the at you, and you ways. department stay the strong, productive, make fresh acquaintances and friends And some gifts are simply over- diverse, and welcoming place it is today. among your new peer group. whelming. Like our two new endowed In this issue, you will find stories that And like during the first semester in graduate student fellowships—the Fluno describe the beauty of arts and science, college, it is important to have great men- Family Fellowship and the Diermeier the ingenuity of our majors, updates on tors. I cannot overstress how thankful I Family Foundation Astronomy Fel- science and department news, the impact am to the chairs before me, Ellen Zwei- lowship—that will fund two incoming of gifts on department life, and the future bel, Jay Gallagher, Bob Mathieu, and Eric graduate students every year. These two of our REU program. Enjoy! Wilcots, for their support and advice. gifts, making use of a generous match Now that the first three months as by the Nicholas Family’s gift to the Sebastian Heinz, Department Chair chair are behind me, and I am finding UW-Madison, fulfill a vision the depart- some time to write this letter, a few ment formulated almost a decade ago: things come into clear focus. allowing incoming graduate students to The first is how amazing my colleagues dive into research right away. Donation What will it provide? are. Our prior chair, Ellen Zweibel was Which brings me to my third point, amount awarded the 2016 James Clerk Maxwell the value of long-term planning. When Coffee for a department Prize for a lifetime of brilliant work in the department went through its stra- $10 plasma physics. Ellen is the first woman tegic planning exercise in 2008, I was a meeting ever to win this prize in the 41 years it freshly minted Assistant Professor and Poster for undergrad scientif- $50 has been awarded! approached the plan with enthusiasm, ic conference Visiting my colleagues Marsha Wolf but also a sense of doubt. After all, how and Matt Bershady at Washburn Labs many strategic plans are placed in a Lunch for visiting class of $100 is an eye-opening experience in ingenu- drawer and forgotten almost as soon as high school students ity. Being department chair gives me a the ink is dry? But our strategic plan did Provide UW-branded gift birds-eye view of the department and its live up to its promise. We have referred $200 people that I did not quite anticipate, but to it over and over when making hiring mugs for visitors relish all the more. decisions, setting funding priorities, and Printing one issue of the $700 The second is the sense of humility structuring our graduate recruitment. Washburn Observer Cost to attend a domestic $1,000 An HD Odyssey Continued from page 1 scientific conference “Mercury: The Winged Messenger” to the frolicking of “Jupiter: Bringer of Jollity,” many $2,000 New Exhibit for Space Place leaned forward in their seats, completely absorbed in the swirling belts of Jupiter on the screen. Long-term visitor to Depart- $5,000 The concert ended with the ethereal sounds of Neptune sung by a choir hidden ment behind the stage, filling the audience with the same kind of wonder that, both before the show and during intermission, drove scores of attendees to the information table in Equipment for new WIYN $10,000 the lobby run by the UW-Madison Department of Astronomy. In fact, about 160 of you remote observing room signed up to receive our newsletter right then and there. We welcome you, new readers! Refurbishment of Sterling A week before the performances, the Astronomy Department hosted the Madison $25,000 Roof Telescope Symphony Orchestra at Washburn Observatory for a night of sky viewing. At the historic telescope, the musicians had a chance of their own to connect with the planets. Startup funding for a new $80,000 As they took turns gazing at Saturn, they drew upon the fact that, about an hour ago, faculty member photons left the sun, touched the surface of Saturn, and traveled back through space to Endowed named graduate land in their eye. $1,000,000 So while people often think of art and science as two completely different beasts, as student fellowship seen in The Planets: An HD Odyssey, the two can be much more intertwined. The truth Endowed named postdoctor- that can be found in science can often fuel art. And in the same vein, an appreciation for $2,000,000 al fellowship art can inspire a sense of wonder, and beautiful science. 2 When Opportunity Knocks, Leah Fulmer Answers the Call hen you speak to Leah Fulmer—an ambitious undergrad- uate astronomy student at UW-Madison—it is clear that Wshe rarely misses out on a new experience. This summer, she was stationed in Santiago, Chile, working with Professor Monica Rubio at the University of Chile. While in the Southern Hemisphere, Fulmer took advantage of every opportunity that came her way. In addition to visiting the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, she twice ob- served at the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment telescope, and also presented her research at the University of Valparaiso in Chile. Fulmer began her undergraduate career at UW-Madison as a biomedical engineering student. However, it didn’t take long before she filled an empty space in her schedule with a class she deemed “more fun”—Astronomy 104, taught by Professor Jay Gallagher. Within a few weeks, Professor Gallagher picked up on Fulmer’s intelligence and ambition, so he invited her to Sterling Hall to discuss her future plans. Fulmer vividly remembers as they Leah Fulmer at the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile walked through Woodman Astronomical Library—our repository the form of both opportunities and people.