astro resources
This website contains a wide range of resources related to astro, academia, UniMelb and many other things that I use regularly or have come across. I hope that this will benefit you in your time at UniMelb or beyond [or even if you are not a UniMelb!].
This website has various items related to "how to" in terms of getting set up etc. , within the department as well as other information which you may find relevant for your research, writing, career or other aspects.
It also includes a lot of miscellaneous references that I had come across and found useful. It is biased to the field of astro, but I very much welcome all suggestions!!
This website is a work in progress and will continually be updated. If you have any comments/suggestions or would like to add something. Please feel free to contact me (Katie). I would love to hear from you!
UniMelb specific
Postgraduate survival guide
Incredibly excellent resource put together by the UniMelb Postgraduate Physics Students Society. It covers everything from a checklist of what you should do in the first few weeks of starting your PhD, who's who in the department, committees within the school of physics, what a MSc and PhD entails, scholarships, application processes for PhD, administration, milestones, guidance on research, making most out of you meetings, outreach, teaching, personal care, your life in the university and everything else in between. Check it out:
Master's mixer
If you are an undergraduate who is interested in doing a Masters degree at Melbourne, you may be looking for information about what a MSc entails, how do you connect to supervisors and other experiences of students during their MSc program. The Physics Student Society and Postgraduate Physics Students Society held a panel of current (2021) Masters of Physics students talk about their experiences. Check out the panel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-r_5gLkh-0E
Computational related guides
Includes everything from VPN to cloud computing services and everything in between.
MSc/PhD templates
UniMelb PhD Thesis template can be found e.g., here or if you want an overleaf link: https://www.overleaf.com/read/mffftvkzdghy. The previous links may or may not be compatible with the guidelines of the university, so please double check first. However, Dr. Lucy Strang also very kindly put together a UniMelb PhD Thesis template that is compatible with the guidelines set forth by the University of Melbourne. You can find it here: https://github.com/lcstrang/melbthesis. Thank you Lucy!
Example of a MSc Thesis latex template can be found here.
Maybe you are worried about what constitutes a MSc or PhD thesis and seeing an example of these theses could help? Well the Postgraduate Physics Student Society keeps a library of past students’ masters and PhD theses that have been donated here: https://gitlab.unimelb.edu.au/ppss/thesis-library/. Note these theses are NOT public and so sign in happens via a university login - just request access, and a committee member will approve you asap!
Mailing list
You are automatically in some School of Physics wide mailing lists with your unimelb address. Add yourself to the others using the below links (sometimes somebody will have to accept your subscription request):
astro@physics.unimelb.edu.au (Please contact your supervisor or Kim or reception to be added to these mailing lists.)
Astro-3D and OzGrav mailing lists if relevant. (Kim can add you!)
You will also be added to astrostudents and phd student related lists as well.
Talk to your supervisor to make sure you are added to the required lists!
Other things to consider
If you are a MSc/grad student, I highly suggest joining the Postgraduate Physics Students Society: https://www.facebook.com/groups/127186997483965/ and https://physics.unimelb.edu.au/study/current-students/postgraduate-physics-students-society
I also suggest looking/joining/being apart of the Graduate Student Association who represents enrolled graduate students at the University of Melbourne. They provide representation, events, training and support for students: https://gsa.unimelb.edu.au/
Slack channels
There are also slack channels within the department (use your unimelb email address only).
Astrophysics at UniMelb - https://join.slack.com/t/astrophysicsatunimelb/shared_invite/zt-1qn8gnw0g-GCsjSxw1M8_Qxw0G6exVRQ
OzGrav slack channel (you will get an invite when you join OzGrav)
Astro-3D slack channel (you will get an invite when you join Astro-3D)
List of School of Physics events/activities (including astro related and not)
List of variety of events held within the department that are both astro-related and those which are not can be found here.
School of Physics Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Journal Club
DEIJC is held every 3 weeks on Wednesdays from 1:00-1:45pm.
All are welcome and highly encouraged to attend and to suggest papers.
Important Physics Email addresses if you have issues
In order to assist staff and students with any queries they may have or need to report, the THREE mailboxes below have been set up to direct these to.
physics-adminstaff@unimelb.edu.au – this mailbox is for Student-, event-, general admin- and access-related queries
ph-facilities@unimelb.edu.au – this mailbox is fo ALL Facility-related issues
ph-hr@unimelb.edu.au – this mailbox is for ALL HR-related issues
Various Resources:
Mental health:
Mental Health First Aid training for staff - https://uomtrainme.elmotalent.com.au/learning/courses?courseview=503
CAPS- support for staff including secondary consults - https://services.unimelb.edu.au/counsel/home#services-for-staff
Supporting students in a crisis
Student outreach referral
Non urgent matters but an opportunity to have an Adviser reach out to students to identify what support is needed
https://staff.unimelb.edu.au/students-teaching/support-for-students/student-outreach-and-referral
For International students starting in Melbourne:
International student checklist (including ‘get set up in Melbourne’) - https://students.unimelb.edu.au/new-students/international-student-checklist
Scientific writing/LaTeX related/Posters:
Where to find papers!
To find published papers and preprints in astronomy and physics, the four main websites you can use are:
See the new astronomy papers posted to arXiv every day via: https://arxiv.org/list/astro-ph/new
https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/ (astro focused)
https://inspirehep.net/ (more high energy content)
It is recommended to the following Chrome extension that lets you automatically skirt through academic paywalls if you have a Unimelb student account: https://library.unimelb.edu.au/search-tools/lean-library
Writing Resources:
The process of scientific writing:
Writing scientific papers; https://arxiv.org/pdf/2110.05503.pdf
A good example that writing a paper is not a linear process: https://twitter.com/realscientists/status/1369995661253480450
Good insight into the difference between undergraduate study and what it is like doing MSc and/or PhD research - papers, research, theses etc take multiple iterations it is very different from getting a grade or doing homework/exam in a class: https://twitter.com/cesifoti/status/1437043299852996608
Useful tools for finding, reading and keep track of arXiv papers in astro: https://twitter.com/FloorAstro/status/1371531751508619264
If you find that you have a DOI number but what a bibtex reference for latex, this can help find it for you: https://www.doi2bib.org/
Posters, conference abstracts etc
Advice for making posters for conferences can be found here.
How to write a good conference abstract: https://twitter.com/vicgrinberg/status/1378277567602495491 and https://twitter.com/elvisha9/status/1396911495766806531
Scientific and Public Talks
Astronomy Paper Seminar Participation Guide & Reading Walkthrough: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2020arXiv200612566C/abstract
Guide to public speaking: https://www.hfstevance.com/blog/publicspeaking
Programming languages, python, scientific program tools
Programming languages
Programming languages and Mathematical packages - this includes guide to good code, python, plots, C++ and other coding languages.
Beginners guide to github: https://medium.com/swlh/a-beginners-guide-to-github-e4747a93765c
Basic git commands: https://confluence.atlassian.com/bitbucketserver/basic-git-commands-776639767.html
Swinburne's Cookies and Code sessions which give a wide variety of programming tips for python and other aspects: https://github.com/swincas/cookies-n-code
Guide for scientific visualisation: https://github.com/rougier/scientific-visualization-book
Ubuntu/Linux related:
Quick guide to installing Ubuntu can be found here.
Unix/Linux/Ubuntu training for beginners see http://www.ee.surrey.ac.uk/Teaching/Unix/
Basic terminal commands: https://github.com/fedhere/FBBTeamResources/blob/master/bashCommands.md
Astronomical Software
What's so special about science: https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.342.6160.817
Career resources.
What does success mean to you? It is really important to think about one's research or job within the larger frame work of your personal values and goals. This article here: https://arxiv.org/abs/1805.09963 provides readers guidance in articulating what is important to them, and aligning their career choices with those values. A summary of this article can be found here: https://astrobites.org/2018/08/17/what-does-success-mean-to-you/
Media related - Regarding raising your media profile, you can register as a scientific expert here, which gives Australian media your contact details to comment on relevant media releases https://www.scimex.org/builders/expert-registration
Moving to another country - bureaucratic and financial matters - One part of being in academia (or the job market) is that there is the opportunity to move countries. However, this brings it own challenges as each country have different bureaucratic requirements and things that you have to learn about that a lot of times you have to have "local knowledge" or you learn on the run. My husband and I have had the privilege to have lived in multiple countries and there is a lot of things we picked up along the way which we would have loved to have known before moving which may have helped make a lot of the transition easier, especially in terms of bureaucratic and financial matters. My husband has put together a blog of resources that we have/ he has found helpful over the years. At the moment there is some general discussion about the things to consider and more country focused topics related to the US, Germany and Australia. For Australian based individuals there is discussion about Superannuation that you may find relevant. However, there maybe other helpful information for you to check out: https://www.expatfinance.us/
Making a website.
How to make an academic personal website, blog on astrobetter by Emily Moravec: https://www.astrobetter.com/blog/2021/05/04/creating-a-website-to-promote-your-scientific-work/
ArXiv article on this: https://arxiv.org/abs/2012.08553 and
BAAS article: https://baas.aas.org/pub/2020i0332/release/1
Miscellaneous Astro Resources
Multiwavelength databases of data for a whole variety of sources.
High energy astrophysics conferences: https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/heasarc/meetings.html#M100
Excellent astro teaching resource: https://astroteaching.github.io/
Observing Resources
Things you will need
How to make finding charts can be found here
Check the visibility of your source by using: http://catserver.ing.iac.es/staralt/index.php
Standard stars that you will need to observe when taking optical observations, here is a list. This list is ideal for observing from the ANU 2.3m telescope. For other instruments, there may be a better list.
Hints for classifying spectra see here.
WiFeS
If you are observing on WiFeS you there are a few things that you will need. Here I have summarised some of the more important things here.
AAT
If you are observing on AAT you there are a few things that you will need. Here I have summarised some of the more important things here.