Heidi Korhonen

Thoughts about moving

heidi — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 15:01:17 +0000

In this profession one ends up moving a lot. So, you get used to it. Still, I have to say that the level of the complexity increases a lot with age and number of family members.

When I left Finland to work one year on La Palma in Canary Islands I just had my suitcase. Or actually two suitcases, but nothing else. That year also ended up being 1.5 years, but that is another story… Of course there I also had a furnished flat waiting for me. When I left La Palma I had a lot more stuff than when I arrived, but then again I was lucky. My husband, or actually at that point still my boyfriend, was moving with me to Finland and he had a container payed by our employer. So, all my stuff could go in it too.

We stayed three years in Finland and got our daughter during that time. We moved to Germany when she was one year old, and suddenly we realised we had a lot more stuff than when we had arrived in Finland. Things got even much worse after our son came along. So, the move after five years in Potsdam was complicated, and we had far too much stuff. Of course having a very big flat in Potsdam didn’t help either. If you have space, you fill it… Now three more years in an even bigger flat in Munich increased our possessions further. Which meant that getting that stuff to Copenhagen was quite an effort. And the German custom of painting the flat when you move out made it to be a lot of work. Anyhow, now our things are standing in the cellar at my parents-in-law, and we have to find a place to stay - another long story.

At least one can say that being an astronomer and moving around is not boring. But after a while you realise that you have done it often enough, and astronomy doesn’t pay well enough for you to get a moving company to do it all for you. So, the plan is to stay in Copenhagen… But let’s see how that will go.

The heat is on…

heidi — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 15:29:39 +0000

As the title tells, Europe is currently quite a hot place, but also my own life has been very hectic lately. The last months I have been preoccupied with finding my next job, figuring out where to move and in general what to do after August when my contract at ESO ends.

I have been three years a research fellow at ESO, a position which you cannot hold for longer than that. Several of my non-astronomer friends don’t get the logic of a job where you have no chance of prolonging the contract, nor why should other people then be hired for the same post I already held successfully enough. Fellowships are always positions that are limited to few years in duration, and they are meant for (junior) scientist for concentrating on their own science, acquiring knowledge and experience from a new place, and also enriching the scientific environment of the host institute. So, there is no point holding this position for a longer time. And I am already so far in my carrier that I should take the next step.

So, what will be the next step? Quite frankly I am not yet sure. We want to settle down, and my husband has been offered a job that could end up being more permanent. This time I will move because of his job, he followed me the previous time, so it is now my turn. I will go and visit my former Ph.D supervisor for three months and during that time I will try to find something in the same place as my husband. I am actually happy about the move, and especially about the idea of settling down somewhere after more than 12 years of moving around. As usual, the future looks like an interesting challenge .

PS. I know that I have had a long break in blogging, and I feel like I am always just apologising for my breaks, so this time I decided to skip the apology part. But I still want to really warmly thank the people who have encouraging me to continue writing my blog. THANKS! I am sure you know who you are without me mentioning any names.

Amazing new view of the Sun

heidi — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 08:07:25 +0000

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) has sent the first images to us. And they are simply amazing! This observatory can image the full Sun with an amazing detail and time resolution, and also zoom into small parts of the disk to look at specific features. Just look at the beautiful first light images in the NASA press release!

One of the first light images of SDO (image credit NASA).

SDO is the first mission in NASA’s Living With a Star (LWS) Program. This is a program aiming to understand the causes of solar variability and its impact on Earth. These are topics are related to my research field, and I have always been very interested in them, as must have become clear from my earlier posts. SDO is really a big and breathtaking step in trying to understand the star we live with. I am eagerly waiting for the scientific breakthroughs SDO will make. Stay tuned…

More puzzling results on exoplanets

heidi — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 11:06:08 +0000

For a long time scientist thought that they knew a lot about planet formation, but those results were based on one planetary system, our own solar system. Now with an increasing amount of planetary systems detected around other stars we have had to change our old views drastically. The most resent results from the booming field of exoplanets, planets orbiting other stars than the Sun, are again very exciting and puzzling.

Real data of a transit of the planet of the star HD209458 observed by the TEP network (image credit Hans-Jörg Deeg).

European Southern Observatory had a press release today on discovery of nine new transiting exoplanets. Transiting planets are detected by observing the changes in the brightness of the star they orbit when they travel across the stellar disk. A discovery of nine planets is nowadays not that big a news, because we already know more than 440 exoplanets. Most of them are so-called hot Jupiters, massive planets orbiting very close to their host stars. No planet orbiting its host star at such a distance that would enable liquid water (usually called the habitable zone) has been detected, nor have Earth sized planets. So, finding such planets would certainly be news, especially if you found an Earth sized planet orbiting in the habitable zone. Today’s press release is not on such a planet though.

The scientist have this time reported six planets orbiting in the opposite direction to the rotation of their host star. All the planets in our solar system orbit the sun in the same direction as solar rotation. This new discovery represents a big challenge to the planet formation theory. The new observations also suggest that planetary systems with hot Jupiters most likely would not contain Earth-like planets. I am looking forward to the heated discussions these results will surely initiate in the exoplanet community, and also to the answer from the theorists.

Many deadlines and a vacation

heidi — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 07:24:38 +0000

Huh. That was a longer break in blogging than I wanted, or expected. February/March is always very busy time with many deadlines, and the first two weeks of April I was on vacation. But now I am back in my office wondering what an Earth am I supposed to do next.

Many observing time application deadlines are in February/March, and this year additional deadlines were caused by job applications. So far I have managed to be on 11 observing time applications, submitted three job applications (in March alone), participated in one conference and given 4 talks. No wonder I was feeling exhausted before my vacation started.

This year’s Easter vacation we spent in Finland. First week in a skiing resort in central part of Finland, and then the second week at my parents place near the capital, Helsinki. It was great and relaxing time. The kids even tried cross country skiing for the first time in their lives. The older one was surprisingly good at skiing, whereas the younger one seems to have inherited his skiing genes from his Danish father.

Now back to trying to publish papers and find a new job before end of August…

Swamped by deadlines

heidi — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 08:39:38 +0000

It seems that everything has to be finished this month. I get new deadlines for end of February/early March on daily basis now. Job application deadlines, grant application deadlines, observing time application deadlines, conference abstract deadlines… And on top of that I should still give few talks within the next three weeks and prepare some observations. And for one of the talks I should still analyse some data. Sigh.

I didn’t remember that February and March are often hectic, so to make matters worse I managed to take next week off. It is a school vacation here in Southern Germany and I thought that it would be nice to do something with my family. Not really to go anywhere, but just stay home and relax (go see the mountains, go to the swimming hall with the family, maybe also go to some museum that would also interest the kids, etc). But immediately after I had decided on this and asked to have vacation, I started getting information on all kinds of deadlines. So, now I will most likely still end up working on my vacation.

Unfortunately some of the things I have to do will take quite a while. Writing a project plan for a job application is serious business. Almost as time consuming is to write an observing time proposal, especially if it is for a project you have not worked on before. Of course some of these things can be dealt with quite easily. Submitting an abstract for a conference doesn’t take that long.

By the way, what is this abstract? Typically when you go to a conference you want to present your latest results there, either by giving a talk or presenting a poster. In both cases you first have to tell the organisers that you are going to present something. So, you write an abstract on what you would like to present and send it to the organisers, who then decide if you are granted time to give a talk or if you should just present a poster. Of course you can directly ask to just present a poster. Anyhow, several months before the conference you have the abstract deadline. And of course you would like to present your latest results, which you most likely don’t have when you write the abstract. Therefore, the art of writing an abstract is to make it sound very interesting (so that you are given time for the talk), but at the same time you shouldn’t say too much, as you don’t really know what your results will be. Writing an abstract shouldn’t take very long, as the text is quite short, but it can sometimes take a long time to find the correct formulation.

Anyway, I better start working on all these things if I want to get anything done…

I like snow

heidi — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 14:48:34 +0000

I am originally from Northern Europe, so I am used to snow. I even like it. I think cold dry air with some snow is much nicer than warmer, but still cold, weather with rain.

In many central European cities the normal winter weather is +2C, fine drizzle and strong wind. You go out and in two seconds you are completely wet and totally frozen. And you never see the blue sky because it is over cast for 3 months at a time… OK, I admit, maybe I am exaggerating a bit, but that is at least how it feels to me. Where I come from it can be cold, typically -10C and in extreme cases even -40C or colder, but it is dry and you see the blue sky. You just dress up warmly and go out to enjoy the beautiful weather. It is not wet, so your clothes stay dry and you stay warm.

Why am I writing about this? It is quite cold now in many parts of Europe, and there is quite some snow. In parts it is dry and the weather is quite pleasant. But in some other places it is -10C and humid. Which makes it really freezing cold. Then people tell me that that is how it is in my home country every winter, so it must be terrible. I just want to say that taking -10C in humid and windy Hamburg or London and multiplying it by 2 is not what it is like in -20C in dry windless northern Finland. Still, of course you have to have houses that are build for that climate and heating system that works. Then you can have fun playing in the snow with your kids and go inside to enjoy the warmth and look out to the beautiful snowy landscape.

Again one year gone

heidi — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 16:19:54 +0000

Happy New Year to everyone! Hyvää Uutta Vuotta! It is a bit more than one year since I wrote my first ever blog entry. Now 50 entries later the IYA2009 has ended and with it also the year 2009. What happened during the last year? What is the same and what has changed?

I am still working at the European Southern Observatory, but there is only 9 months left of my contract. During 2009 I have published or submitted two papers as the first author, two as the second author and 3 as some later author. I have been on 47 flights and spent 51 nights/days at the Paranal observatory. I have gotten new astronomical observations from observatories in France, Spain and Chile. So, all in all it has been quite a successful year professionally. The only negative point is that I have not yet managed to find my next job, but at least I still have nine months time to do that…

Then some more personal things. I have gotten older. And naturally my family has also gotten older. Just in the end of December my younger child turned 6, which makes me feel old… Personal highlights of the last year were the family vacation in the Canary Islands in April and the “10 years postponed honeymoon” in Brazil and Argentina in August, just me and my husband.

As Franck wrote, there are at least some people who are planning to continue to write to the Cosmic Diary even now that IYA2009 has ended. I think I will join that group too and continue blogging. If people are interested reading that is. My blog entries have been about many things, less about science than what I originally thought, so maybe I should in the future write more about science. I have some ideas on what to write about, but you are always welcome to suggest topics and post questions that you would like to get an answer to.

All the best for the year 2010!

Hyvää Joulua!

heidi — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 23:09:45 +0000

I wish you all very happy and relaxing Christmas!

Hyvää Joulua! Merry Christmas! Glædelig Jul! Fröhliche Weihnachten! Feliz Navidad!

Christmas is coming?

heidi — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 07:35:37 +0000

When looking out from my window it doesn’t really look like Christmas is coming. I am from (very) northern Europe and a firm believer in white Christmas. The weather in southern Germany is currently very rainy and miserable. Still, one cannot avoid getting at least a bit into the Christmas mood. All our neighbours have plenty of Christmas decorations and all the supermarkets have been selling German Christmas cookies since October. And of course my children have several Christmas calenders and are every day counting how many days there are before Christmas Eve.

I have also lived in Canary Islands where even the winter is warm and sunny. There it was even more difficult to get to the correct mood than here in the rain. On La Palma the main problem for me was actually not the warm weather, but the too long days. Where I come from the days are really short around Christmas - I have even lived in a place where the Sun didn’t come above the horizon on Christmas Eve. And for me the darkness is part of the Christmas experience. It is nice to have all the Christmas lights and candles inside when it is dark outside.

Of course I also know that there are many people for whom Christmas means barbecue on the beach. And I would prefer that to the nonstop rain of Munich. Still, I am biased by my own experiences as a child and for me Christmas means darkness, long twilight, cold, candles and snow. So, I hope that we would get some snow for Christmas…