Chelen Johnson
CephC-LABS (Looking For Baby Stars): continuing a study of the star-forming region Ceph C, exending into the longest wavelength data available.
Real astronomy is very exciting! I was not expecting to have to solve problems in excel the way we did. We were asked to answer simple questions or develop simple graphs at times but in order to get correct results (as far as we can tell) our team had to parse our skills and play with logic. I remember creating my first SED: I became so excited I could not sit down anymore. Another teacher was so thrilled they raised their hands and yelled in excitement. It was the first time we had results; it was a thrill.
[Because of a poster I saw at the AAS and] my participation in the NITARP program, I will be raising the standards for my students in the future.
While a lot of astronomy is done by computer, nothing compares to having a human look over the data.
