Santiago and ALMA

I have now officially completed two weeks in Chile.   But, I only spent 6 days in Santiago before my next adventure began.

Where have I been these past 8 days?  Check out the details here and here.

Or, you can tell the story from these photos.

Upon my return to Santiago, I participated in a "Star Formation Workshop" at ESO, next door to the ALMA offices in the Vitacura neighborhood of Santiago.  A visiting astronomer at ESO has coordinated a group of the astronomers in Santiago who study star formation, generally meeting every two weeks at ESO, ALMA, or U de Chile.  Before taking a "descanso" (break) for the summer month of February, a day-long workshop was organized to facilitate discussion on a variety of topics related to star formation. 

I gave a short talk (about 20 minutes, plus 10 minutes for questions and discussion from the audience) about my current research, which has to do with studying the outflowing molecular gas in a very active star forming region called NGC 1333 (descriptive, huh?), towards the constellation Perseus.  Shifting away from my noon-midnight shift at ALMA, and waking up at 7 am was tough, but luckily the talks were interesting and the discussion very engaging.   Hearing from others who are doing similar research is rather gratifying and validating of my efforts, so it has been very good to meet these astronomers and learn about their science since I have been in Chile.