Chelen Johnson
The goal of SHIPs (Searching Herschel Images for Protostars) is to find and identify stars in the earliest phases of formation in NGC 281, a.k.a. "the pac-man nebula". These stars will help us understand the history of the star formation process in that region.
[I did not anticipate] meeting a Nobel Prize Winner – Saul Perlmutter – and getting a picture with him.
Our lead astronomer, Luisa Rebull, has a very energetic style and pushes her team to the limits. Our group of teachers put in many hours each week for a full year to learn the topic or skill at hand followed by a weekly teleconference. The pressure was on and I loved it!
[In my classroom, I will] increase my emphasis that what is written in a textbook is not the final word on a subject. Science is an ever-evolving mechanism of discovery and nothing remains fixed in perspective or proof.
