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Summer Visit - 2014 - SIRXS

The summer visit to Caltech is 3-4 days long and is the only time during the year of work when all the participants on the team come together in person to work intensively on the data. Generally, each educator may bring up to two students to the summer visit that are paid for by NITARP, and they may raise funds to bring two more. The teams work at Caltech; the summer visit typically includes a half-day tour of JPL, which is a favorite site for group photos. Reload to see a different set of quotes.

The SIRXS team came to visit in July 2014. The core team educators attended, plus 11 students.

 

Quotes

  • [student:] It surprised me that so much astronomical data was available to the public. I was even more surprised by the fact that this was not just a little data, but it was so much that one would not be able to go through it all in a whole lifetime.
  • [student:] I was somewhat surprised that the catalogue was publicly archived. I think it is an amazing opportunity for non-astronomers to do some "real" science, or simply learn new skills.
  • The ability to collaborate is crucial. This is something I have been hoping to work on in myself and with my students, and I think it was a huge part of the experience.
  • [student:] Real astronomy is the study of the universe. We did a lot of computer work and this didn’t match up with my expectation of scientific research. This type of research is very technical and I realized how the use of computers is invaluable.
  • [student:] Real astronomy requires a lot of time looking at data on computers and less time looking through telescopes.

Related Teams

Summer Visit - 2014 - SIRXS