• Who am I?

    I am Qrystal; or at least, that's my dot-name! Har har. (My name is really Crystal, but that's not as internet-searchable; hence, switching the C for the little-used letter Q.)

    I am here because I enjoy writing. I do this mostly for myself, but I also have a passion for helping others learn things from the things I write. Now that I am done my Ph.D. in Physics, I am stepping away from academic research so that I can indulge in some creative ways to share my knowledge and inspire the appreciation of scientific thinking in others. I am also working as a tutor, which is one of the jobs I've most enjoyed doing in my life so far.


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    • Farewell, Phoenix

    Posted by Qrystal on November 10, 2008 at 21:59.
    Category: Miscellany. Tags: astronomy, nostalgia, science.

    Phoenix Mars Lander sent its farewell transmission from Mars today:

    01010100 01110010 01101001 01110101 01101101 01110000 01101000 <3
    (Translation: Triumph and Love.)

    After that, the only messages in the tweetstream were ones labelled as coming from Phoenix mission ops, explaining that “Phoenix is no longer communicating with Earth.” Poor little droid! R.I.P.

    I’m actually teary-eyed now… although I guess I knew it was coming. It was sad to hear @MarsPhoenix twittering about its inevitable loss of communication, but it didn’t feel final until today when the binary message was tweeted. Triumph indeed, distant friend!

    There was a longer blog entry to fill out the details, and it included the beautiful photo shown above.

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