Astro-ph Today

(1)
Tomo-san introduced a paper concerning the possibility of a quasar as a standard candle. Standard
candles are a useful tool in astronomy since we can use them to estimate the distances of celestial objects and even use them to explore the expansion of the Universe.  It has been and interesting issue in astronomy.

(2)
Jimmy introduced the Green Bank Telescope and its current state. If anyone intend to conduct an observation with the telescope, it may be a good choice to apply for.

(3)
Kevin presented a paper concerning AGNs and Reionization of the Universe. A model was discussed  that an AGN-dominated scenario will satisfy the some observational constrains and considered that AGNs may mainly contribute during the epoch of reionization than the active star-forming galaxies.

  

Amazing old town Jiufen

Tetsuya and his family went to an old historic town, Jiufen (九份). The name of ``九 (nine)'' originates in nine families living there in Quing dynasty. The appearance of buildings is amazing and nostalgic.

Unfortunately it was rainy but there were still so many people in spite of weekday. We saw a lot of foreign tourists, especially Japanese students. If the ancient nine families saw the current town like festivity, they should be surprised.

Jiufen is famous for tea. We enjoyed Taiwanese style tea. Our baby was looking at tea but she can not drink yet.

This is my favorite famous dessert in Jiufen, ``芋圓'' which is made by a kind of potato. They have a lot of foods and souvenirs in Jiufen. I really recommend to go to Jiefen if you have a chance. Please do not forget to take an umbrella!

 

Tomo presented his latest results from HSC data at Subaru conference in Hiroshima. He had useful discussions with renowned astronomers around the world.