Chelen Johnson
The team examined the Spitzer Enhanced Imaging Products catalog to find the most unusual and faintest infrared excess objects serendipitously detected by the Spitzer Space Telescope.
[NITARP] is a fabulous experience – I feel like after several years I am understanding more of the talks, able to engage in a real conversation with astronomers, ask questions one on one, interpret more on posters – just feel more astronomically literate.
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.
[I have] an example of a student who, previous to the summer trip did not have a focused direction for his future after high school, but now does. [He wants to be a scientist.]
