• NASA
  • IPAC

Summer Visit - 2012 - UBOKO

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 UBOKO team came to visit in August 2012. The core team educators attended, plus 10 students.

 

Quotes

  • [It is] not surprising but always jarring when the research plan doesn't go as planned and adjustments are made, or a redirection of purpose. I think it is actually an important piece of the process since students are used to having an known goal that they can reach if they follow directions.
  • I [thought] that there would be more computer work, and more telescope operating.
  • I didn't know just how much data is publicly available. Anyone can do astronomy - you just need to come up with a question and figure out how to use the archives.
  • Astronomers used to spend a lot of time looking through telescopes, and that is not the case anymore. It is a lot easier to get data these days (no more sitting on a platform keeping a guide star centered anymore), but there isn't as much connection to the sky. It is important for students to understand this.
  • This experience made me realize that sitting in a room for several hours doing research did not necessarily have to feel like work. This improved my opinion of astronomy even further by making me realize just how much I enjoyed it.

Related Teams

Summer Visit - 2012 - UBOKO