SSP Log 7/2/2024
Hi, I’m Sharon from Astro II. Today, we have a hike to TMO at 6:45. It was a long way up, a quite exhausting journey. However, it’s worthwhile for we’re seeing the telescope in real. We’re allowed to first explore the whole structure ourselves and figure out how the telescope, the dome, the dark room etc. works. When building the whole system, a lot of interesting engineering problems arise, such as how to charge the battery for the motor pulling the dome (solar panel), how to communicate between different components(one is using electromagnetic induction). There’s also a discussion on light pollution in modern cities and how everyone could make an impact by using the light where needed. I could feel the passion in the guide’s words. The trip downward is easy and entertaining.
In the afternoon, we had our first guest lecture from Professor Nathalie Haurberg on Finding Galaxies with Hydrogen Gas. We talked about how limited our knowledge on the universe is, how dark matter halo is the most definitive piece of a galaxy, and the two ways people find out dark matter(To deduce the total mass of a galaxy, one way is through seeing the red and blue shift to calculate the rotation motion, another is through gravitational lensing). In the reception, people gathered around Ms.Haurberg to ask more questions. It’s an interesting experience.
