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Summer Visit - 2017 - CephC:LABS

The summer visit to Caltech is 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 CephC-LABS team came to visit in June 2017. The core team educators attended, plus 5 students.

Quotes

  • [student:] I don't think "real astronomy" can be simply classified. I now know that astronomy covers an incredibly wide field of research, from finding active galactic nuclei to finding baby stars to sorting out the mysteries of the universe. "Real astronomy" can't be set in a box. I was semi-surprised that scientific research was so circular. In every science class I have been given a set of instructions and told to follow them. There were no instructions here, and it's so imperative to teach others that.
  • Astronomy is rad. The way that astronomers use light to understand the universe is clever and math-y. The deepest truths about the universe are earned through patient, creative, sometimes tedious, skeptical scrutiny of data.
  • No, [this work] could not have been done online and had the same effect. Online has too many limitations. The amount of information was vast. Although, after the visit, the online will take on a new dimension. The trip activated us all in ways, (although we will be negotiating the startup of school for a few weeks), that if we can be patient, should result in higher motivation levels and a deeper sense of commitment by all involved. It was also good to learn the personalities of the students. We learned a lot in a short amount of time, and the students would never had been up to speed / gaps in knowledge, without the face-to-face time.
  • [Real astronomy is] Using physical evidence to construct models about the universe. Lots of computer screen time. A back and forth, non-linear process. One of the coolest things one can do with one’s time here on spaceship earth.
  • [student:] In my personal opinion the best thing was being able to do actual science and not just something like I do in school.

Related Teams

Summer Visit - 2017 - CephC:LABS