Chelen Johnson
The StarChasers team will be looking for new young stellar objects (YSOs) in the constellation Cassiopeia where other people have already found a few YSOs; StarChasers will be looking to see (a) if the published list of YSOs seem to be real YSOs, given additional data, and (b) if they can find additional YSO candidates.
For the teacher, connecting with working scientists and networking with other colleagues has immeasurable value. I plan to utilize these relationships and potentially other projects spawned by them for years to come.
I have already talked to my department about adding an astronomy research class to our class choices next year and they are very enthusiastic.
I’ve always thought that probably most astronomers were just normal people who had a passion for astronomy, and my experience confirmed that. I felt like many of the astronomers I talked to were able to have normal conversations as well as “wow” me with lots of data and analysis.
