exoplanet spectra; graphical model for GALEX

In the morning at our computer-vision group meeting, Fergus told us about his detection of and spectral extraction for three of four companions of HR8799, the poster child for young planetary systems. This is a huge success for his methods (which are computer-vision based, flexible linear models) and for the P1640 spectrographic coronograph (Oppenheimer PI). He is pretty stoked about the success—his software has been game-changing for the P1640 project—as is Oppenheimer, who wants to publish asap.

In the afternoon, at the insanity that is the Leroy St New York Public Library for children, I made the graphical model (below) using Daft. Based on a two-hour conversation with Schiminovich, it is supposed to represent the data-generation process (or, perhaps, causal model) for the photon stream we have from the GALEX spacecraft. I think it still has some errors.