Today, July 23rd, started with a lecture on quantum mechanics. Most students had little exposure to the subject, and we were all introduced to the idea that particles have wave-like properties and can have multiple potential positions and momentums. Following lunch, we had a workshop on LaTeX, the report-oriented coding language we will be using to write up our papers.
After the guest speaker’s lecture on modeling the Sun’s interior using sound waves interpreted through light, we learned that SSP unfortunately has had a single Covid case among its participants. Immediately afterwards, a lot of protocols went into place. We are now required to wear masks, and all the dorms, workspaces, and cafeteria were disinfected. The guest speaker reception and tomorrow’s full day field trip (due to concerns from the bus company) were canceled, and we are encouraged to spread out during meal times instead of clustering into assigned tables.
Of course, a lot of students were disappointed at the cancellation of the field trip, which was planned to last all day and take us caving and potentially stargazing. Fortunately, instead of replacing the trip with a day of lectures, we get to watch movies with snacks requested by the students and get a special dinner. Safety is obviously the primary concern, and the Covid protocols will be in place for the foreseeable future. We will continue moving forward together towards our final reports, as we did today working on finalizing our Method of Gauss code to generate our asteroid’s orbital elements from measured values of right ascension and declination at different times. It’s amazing to be able to implement the math and concepts we covered in lectures from weeks ago in an intricate and functional process.
