Summer "Visit" - 2020 - Spider Team

Quotes

• The interactions with our peers is the essential element for transforming isolated bits and pieces into a coherent understanding of what we are doing, how we are going to get the work done, and understanding what patterns in the data will mean. It was transformative!
• [student:] I think that as an astronomer it’s incredibly important to be patient, determined, and persevering. The results take time to get, so you have to be patient and you have to keep your goals in mind.
• The summer NITARP experience reaffirmed the incredible power of collaborative construction of knowledge and understanding. Astronomers have so much data available to them that it is overwhelming if not processed in small doses. [...] I have always known about the collaborative nature of science, but this experience has really made it clear how powerful it is as a check on erroneous understanding, poorly thought out processes, and simple error in work product. [...] I now see how much better the quality of the work is because of the collaborative process.
• [student:] I didn’t realize that most of astronomy is looking at numbers on a screen. It was hard work and intense math and it made me have more respect for the entire field.
• [student:] I feel like real astronomy is working with real data from the real world that no one has looked at or touched before. Throughout this entire process, I've felt like I have done real astronomy and have been making new, exciting discoveries that will contribute to humanity's understanding of the cosmos no matter how small that may be.

Related Teams

• Spider/Rebull