Hi! I'm Linda Harden, formerly The Human Neutrino
(and probably still known to some as the Purple Menace).

I am a grad student in astronomy and astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz (Go, Fighting Banana SLUGS!!!). The research that most interests me is the search for extrasolar planets. My other research interests are in celestial mechanics/orbital dynamics, planet formation, planetary rings, and numerical simulations of impacts.

I left a trail of destruction in my wake as an astronomy, physics, math, and computer science major at the University of Maryland, where I graduated in May. I worked for Dr Doug P. Hamilton on an honors thesis, "Dusty Rings Around Saturn," in astronomy and physics.

In my none-too-copious free time (sigh), I enjoy ballroom dancing. I used to dance with Ballroom at Maryland. I plan to join the Swingin' Slug Dance Club when fall quarter starts. Katherine Wu has more links about dancing at Santa Cruz.

More pictures from my trip to Arizona!!

Astronomy stuff of above-average miscellaneity:

• Bad Astronomy!
• Sun and moon rise/set times
• Useful facts about our solar system's planets
• The Weather Channel's page.
• Fun astronomy-related Java applets stol - er, borrowed from Lee Mundy:
  • Animated Moon Phases
  • Gravity Cannon
  • Positions of Jupiter's Moons
  • Stellar Evolution in the H-R Diagram
• Solar System Collisions!
• What if the Moon's orbit were inclined at 90 degrees?

People

• Lori "Blood is a good thing" Fenton
• Jeff Newman

For those who love Fire, Death, and Destruction:

I don't know anybody like that, do you?

• A scientific study of the flammability of strawberry Pop-Tarts.
• George Goble's Barbecuing Tips!