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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

  • The most interesting thing I did was organize data and actually understand what it meant.
  • [It was surprising to me that] there wasn't any sort of 'checklist' like method or clear direction as to how to analyze the data after the first couple of graphs.
  • The most surprising thing I learned was how astronomy works. I had assumed that it was all about doing large amount of complex mathematics and other number crunching. This trip gave me the impression that a far more wide array of skills and people are required.
  • I was surprised at how quickly the days flew by. This experience was completely engaging in every way.
  • 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.

Related Teams

Summer Visit - 2012 - HR4AGN