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Summer Visit - 2012 - HR4AGN

The summer visit to Caltech is 3-4 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 HR4AGN team came to visit in August 2012. The core team educators attended, plus 12 students, and one additional scientist.  The scientist mentor is Dr. Varoujan Gorjian. IPAC staff member Jacob Llamas (SSC) assisted, as did Dr. Jean-Christophe Mauduit (SSC).

Quotes

  • This experience changed the way I think about astronomy. Before this program, I wasn't sure what astronomy entailed. Now, I think I have a better understanding of the work astronomers do, especially the complexity of their work. There are many facets of astronomy that I had never thought of before. [..] I guess my previous conception of astronomy was that it was mostly pictures, not physical data.
  • I spend a fair amount of time, just looking, enjoying, and observing the night sky. I have always thought that professionals somehow "use" the data that is generated by the bigger telescopes but our project has really given me a glimpse into the process, and how complicated that process can be. I can say that my respect for the professionals has increased quite a bit, especially given how hard a seemingly simple question can be to answer.
  • The most surprising thing [was that] I realized that the work that most of the astronomers do can be done by civilians who have the knowledge and know how to access data on the internet. It's fascinating that the internet offers such a rich database that most people don't know about.
  • Throughout this experience I have already learned so much that has helped me in my teaching. I've gotten experience in a new area, gained confidence in my knowledge, and learned new analysis techniques. It has been refreshing and stimulating to be in constant conversation with people doing research in the field. As teachers, we can tend to become too comfortable in our day to day work and are at risk for losing creativity. This experience has forced me to look at something new and has inspired me to enrich and improve my classes.
  • [student:] This program really showed me that astronomy is not as much of a hands on science, which I have discovered I prefer. I still am quite interested in the field of astronomy, but I have realized that I would be more suited to possibly become a chemist because it is much more lab based.

Related Teams

Summer Visit - 2012 - HR4AGN