Astro Morning Tea
- 2012 Astro Morning tea schedule
- 2011 Astro Morning tea schedule
- 2010 Astro Morning tea schedule
- 2009 Astro Morning tea schedule
- 2008 Astro Morning tea schedule
- 2007 Astro Morning tea schedule
This page lists the calendar for contributions to the weekly astro morning tea held in the School of Physics at Sydney University. The meetings are held in the tea room from 10:15-11:00am on Monday mornings. The main aim of these meetings is to have a forum for informal discussions on any/all topics of interest to the members of the school involved in astronomy and astrophysics related research. In
particular to discuss recent results from within the school (with a special emphasis on students) and any other recent
papers/conferences/news of interest. Its also a useful place to introduce visitors or new staff members.
Each week one person will be nominated to talk on a topic of their choosing for ~15-20 minutes (their own reseach, a recent pre-print/paper or some other news item). There will also be time to introduce any new faces, and talk about any other results/news of interest. We encourage people to bring along a plot/paper/news-item, irrespective of whether they are scheduled for that particular week.
Things to remember:
- Keep it simple (at least to begin with!). Make sure that everyone gets what you're talking about, as many of us might not have much knowledge of your particular chosen topic. Some nice plots, or some scribbles (carefully drawn diagrams?) on the white board are always helpful.
- If you can't fill your spot or are away, find someone to swap with you (they could be someone on the list below, or someone who hasn't been scheduled yet). When you've found someone to swap with, email scroom at physics.usyd.edu.au.
- Even if you're not scheduled, you can STILL bring something along! If its a recent interesting piece of research or a paper, then talk about it now, don't wait for several months until you're scheduled.
JOURNAL CLUB
As of 2009 we are also running some of the morning tea sessions as a journal club, looking at some of the classic papers in astronomy. For 2011 we are trying a different format, with a student presenting a paper that is either i) a key paper in their research, or ii) selected from the list of suggested papers. Try to present papers that are of lasting value. Here are some guidelines that should be followed when preparing a journal club presentation:
- Talk to your supervisor about the paper choice.
- Keep to 20 minutes as the absolute upper limit for the presentation. This should include time for interruptions.
- You should prepare a maximum of 4 key points which describe your personal opinion as to most important parts of the paper. These should be the aspects that changed the field.
- Make sure figures are displayed clearly, and limit the number, 3-4 will typically be enough.
- Describe the context - what was the situation at the time the paper was written, and how has it influenced work since then?
- Powerpoint is allowed, if it makes seeing figures easier.
- Students must speak to at least 1 academic working in a related field prior to the presentation (e.g. the one who suggested the paper!).
There are links to ADS for all the papers on the morning tea schedule. It will be very useful if everyone attending reads the paper prior to the meeting, as we are aiming for a discussion, not just a presentation. Those in the audience should feel free (and are encouraged) to ask questions.
Papers suggested for possible discussion in the Journal Club are listed here; papers which were discussed in past years are listed here.