Things on my desk: Part 1

[nanila]

It occurred to me recently that a decade or so of working in and around space science has allowed me to amass an interesting collection of swag. The swag lives in, on and around my desk, depending on size, current relevance and preciousness.

One item that rocketed to the top of the list (and thus currently holds pride of place) was a gift I received at the end of my service at Space Camp in Austria in July. It is a piece of Genuine Space Rock. Observe its Certificate of Authenticity, which is lent additional gravitas (at least to me) by virtue of being in German.


[Image of Asteroid belt detritus]

Next time: pin badges galore!

Comments

[kaberett]

aaaaaaaaah :D

[davidgillon]

Pictures Kaberett reaching for the HF....

[nanila]

:D :D I thought you might like this one!

[hilarita]

Since I've only been working in astronomy since May, all I've accrued is a mug. I now have custody of the collection of mugs, last year's calendars, and the Aperture Array Verification Programme Brochure, since we are without an administrator to be custodian of these thrilling items...

[nanila]

I inherited some of my swag too. It's a satisfying way to start off a collection!

[foxfinial]

SPACE ROCK

[nanila]

YESSSS *POWER CHORDS*

[sorrillia]

German space rock!

I should post photos of some of the amusing things on my desk. But mostly my desk isn't amusing, it's just terrifyingly messy.

[nanila]

Please do! (There is a reason you can't see beyond the top of the keyboard in the photo above....)

[quoththeravyn]

My favorite space program artifact is a plaque which I was sent to Huntsville to receive, with a very interesting typo in it. The citation reads: "Group Achievement Award Presented to... $name... for outstanding achievement in identifying, addressing, and mitigating the ASIS CTI effect on the $mission."

Thing is, they misspelled the name of the instrument (should be ACIS) and came to the truth of the matter: we calibrated the as-is effect.

[nanila]

Ah, what an act of unintentional genius. Have you kept the plaque?

I think we have a couple of Group Achievement awards knocking around. I saw them when we received them, but have no idea what happened to them subsequently...

[quoththeravyn]

Alas, the framed certificate on my shelf is the corrected one. There's a photo of me, the Center Director, and some HQ person, holding the erroneous one, which can't quite be read. I wonder what I did with the original.

[calissa]

That is pretty cool! Thank you for sharing.

[nanila]

Glad you thought so! Thanks for saying so.

[lark_ascends]

Very cool!

[nanila]

I thought so too! There was another tutor who was a bit blase about it, which I found rather shocking. ;)