Sylvia Zhu

Possibly a dog. Definitely a gamma-ray and gravitational-wave astrophysicist. I have strong opinions.

[Sylvia Zhu @GammaRayWurst]

VLT: Very Large Telescope
ELT: Extremely Large Telescope
BLT: Bodaciously Large Telescope
GBT: Green Bank Telescope
LGBT: Lesbian Green Bank Telescope
TMT: Thirty Meter Telescope
TMNT: Thirty Meter Ninja Telescope
HST: Hubble Space Telescope
LSST: Large Synoptic Space Telescope

[Sylvia Zhu @GammaRayWurst]

Our recent project: the Berlin U-Bahn map as a backdrop for coat hooks. Most of the painting was done in one Saturday under the supervision of our art director, my SIL, without whom this would never have gotten off the ground.

Thanks to @BVG_Kampagne for the inspiration.

[Sylvia Zhu @GammaRayWurst]

Received some spam in Chinese that ends with "If you don't speak Chinese, you can show the content to your Chinese peers." Instructions unclear, I am already a Chinese peer who speaks Chinese, I'm just illiterate wheeeeee

[Sylvia Zhu @GammaRayWurst]

@astro_nino 😬😬😬

did past-you at least document things well?

[Sylvia Zhu @GammaRayWurst]

why doesn't data just ... analyze itself

why does it have to be all weird and stuff

[Sylvia Zhu @GammaRayWurst]

the conversation between a radio and a gamma-ray astronomer is only slightly less fraught than the conversation between an astronomer and a particle theorist aka "hey uh can u put units back in thx thx"

[Sylvia Zhu @GammaRayWurst]

"hey Syl what are you up to on the last day before you go on vacation"

o nm just googling 'wtf is a jansky' and reading through a bunch of astro101 course notes I found online

[UMD GRADMAP @GRADMAP]

Application for this upcoming #WinterWorkshop2023 is now LIVE!!! This year's workshop will be held virtually Jan. 9-15, and applications are due on November 28th at 11:59pm ET. Come join our cohort of amazing scientists!!! #GRADMAPWW23 #GRADMAP
https://t.co/1C5PVFI7U7

[Sylvia Zhu @GammaRayWurst]

My new motivation for getting better at German is so that I can snap at people for standing on both sides of the escalator

[Sylvia Zhu @GammaRayWurst]

@ohmar81 The chocolate? Yes. The actual telescope???? ... no

[Sylvia Zhu @GammaRayWurst]

🍫🛰️

[NASA Universe @NASAUniverse]

Studying the gamma-ray skies can be really sweet! A multitalented scientist, who bakes in their spare time, captured the likeness of our Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope in chocolate. The real satellite isn’t as tasty, but it has made some delicious discoveries about our universe.

[Sylvia Zhu @GammaRayWurst]

this was a lot easier when I was ten years younger

[Sylvia Zhu @GammaRayWurst]

look it's me!

fun fact: many of the earliest previous prize winners took pictures in front of trees so I made the bf go on a walk with me for the express purpose of taking a pic of me in front of a tree to revive the tradition

[hesstelescopes @hesstelescopes]

Happy Monday! We're happy because we're announcing the newest winner of the H.E.S.S. prize: @GammaRayWurst! Dr. Sylvia Zhu was awarded the prize for her contributions to the DAQ, coordination of the GRB team, and science communication and outreach activities 🥳🥳

[Sylvia Zhu @GammaRayWurst]

They warn you about the snakes and the baboons but it turns out the biggest danger at the telescope site are rocks @hesstelescopes

[Sylvia Zhu @GammaRayWurst]

To whoever needs to hear this: Sometimes you think "let me tackle this one thing" and then the thing fixes itself 40 min later when you are in the middle of reporting to the group the tackling plan

and the moral of the story is, when you want to try to fix s/t, wait 40 min first

[Sylvia Zhu @GammaRayWurst]

secret's out; now you know what I get paid to do

[hesstelescopes @hesstelescopes]

Here we see the DAQ team hard at work fixing problems on the cluster using the official DAQ Toolkit using the most state-of-the-art custom techniques.

[hesstelescopes @hesstelescopes]

Every observing night, two or three shifters oversee the array operations: preparing the cameras, scheduling the observations, keeping an eye on the weather conditions, etc.

Up tonight are Hiiko (center) and Kai (right), with support from Sennae (left).

[Sylvia Zhu @GammaRayWurst]

@qgp07 Omg ok should we do a game? I can GM! We just need two more people and also overlapping schedules across multiple time zones 😄

[Sylvia Zhu @GammaRayWurst]

Sometimes my throat is sore and I think "omg did I finally catch covid" but then I remember that I spent three hours on Sunday talking in a really constricted voice during a ttrpg session

Related: have you tried Brindlewood Bay?

[Sylvia Zhu @GammaRayWurst]

@c_aulb @TomD_Santiago Oh boy, sounds 100% worth it!!

[Sylvia Zhu @GammaRayWurst]

"Professor in Gravity theory and fundamental theoretical physics, 10% position"

lolololololol

https://t.co/pWgsCTkEhV

[Sylvia Zhu @GammaRayWurst]

@TomD_Santiago oh boy such a great offer