Summer "Visit" - 2020 - OIRMA

Quotes

• [student:] Real astronomy is not the enhanced pictures that ordinary people are used to seeing in the news or on the internet, instead it is data. It’s knowing how to manipulate this data to understand what it truly means. It is extracting from these numbers the structure of something that we can barely even see. In essence, astronomy is the ingenuity to turn something that is invisible into something visible. Something that I expected to be a part of scientific research was accessing the data and creating the light curves. Something that I did not expect to be a part of authentic research was the flexibility that was needed to obtain the data that you need.
• [student:] I realized that good astronomers admit their lack of perfect knowledge and remain curious to strengthen their own intuition and identify new issues.
• Best thing was the collaboration with all involved and the students being more like peers.
• [student:] what I will never forget is my temporary lack of comprehension and occasional struggles to keep up with the rest of the group. In those situations, I was forced to accept my own shortcomings and ask others to clarify or slow down. This last week has taught me to rely on others and be honest with my own skills.
• The best thing about the week was being able to contribute to a real project where we don’t know the answer. [...] It was refreshing to have the chance to explore and analyze.

Related Teams

• OIRMA/Gorjian