Stay the Course

No major journeys this weekend (aside from a bicycle trip downtown yesterday to purchase two pairs of shoes, one for R and one for J, and a lovely dinner at Ralf-Juergen's place Fri. night).  R's heel is very painful.  It's reminiscent of what Marg suffered on the El Camino.  Let's hope it won't last.  It really just flared up overnight so today, Sunday, we decided to stay put and not attempt anything ambitious.  What this actually means is that we worked.

R is working on a dynamo model to try to explain the observations of Carolina for NGC 4631 in which she sees alternating positive and negative Rotation Measures in the low halo of this galaxy, as one scans across the disk.  Ever the theorist, he can explain anything with lots and lots of math.

J is concerned about the fact that NRAO (the US National Radio Astronomy Observatory) has just published primary beam measurements that differ from what they previously told everyone to use.  What this means is that every publication of flux density and in-band spectral indices that have been published since the new receivers at the VLA (Very Large Array) were installed ( i.e. since 2011) have been incorrect (*everybody's* -- not just ours) -- but not wildly incorrect.  Just incorrect enough that a ton of tests must be run to understand the exact effects that his change has on our CHANG-ES (Continuum Halos in Nearby Galaxies -- an EVLA Survey) data and to figure out what corrections need to be made.   She has started the tests.

In the mean time, we thought we'd show a few more pictures of the local area and of RUB (Ruhr-Universitaet Bochum).  First, we exit the apartment, which contains 16 units, most of them (it seems) occupied by babies or small children.  Here's what the exit looks like.

Usually 6 baby carriages are present -- someone must be out.

Our 20 min walk to work, as we've said before, first takes us through the Grey Forest which is quite pretty and adjusts to the time of day and weather.  Unlike this photo's appearance, there are always other people on the path.

Der Grauer Wald

After emerging from the Grey Forest, one then passes through Uni-Center -- pronounced Oo-ni (like Ookpik, if anyone remembers this children's toy) rather than You-ni.


Various graffiti and encouraging slogans then await.  The locals are really quite cute when they speak English.    It's mostly correct but oddly 'off'.




There are many posters and advertisements for a variety of activities, mostly parties.




We were introduced to the 'Mensa' when we first arrived.  Once we got the confusion cleared up, meaning that Mensa  means cafeteria and doesn't mean the organization that is only for geniuses, we noticed an interesting phenomenon and comment on the German character, namely, everybody tucks in their chairs after finishing eating.  This table was occupied by a dozen people just a moment ago.

The Mensa cafeteria

But behind the Mensa (to the south of the University) is a very pretty valley.  If you could see a little farther, you'd see the Ruhr itself.

And so we will go back again tomorrow as another week starts.  Just thought we'd end by showing a couple of pictures that J took today, proving that Autumn comes to Germany too, though in a subtler glory than back home.