As I begin to write, I am surrounded by eager keyboard clicks, and determined feet sways from all across the Sommers-Bausch Observatory computer lab at the University of Colorado Boulder. It’s only day 3, but I’ve become accustomed to the musical tunes of pencil scribbles, and the constant rhythms of shoes walking around campus.
Dry rain welcomed us Sunday as we anxiously stepped off the bus. Despite the gloom, with my suitcases in one hand, and prepared courage in another, I started down the hill in hopes of entering into a journey of a lifetime.
Almost immediately, I scanned the room, hoping to find familiar faces that also possessed the mixed feelings I had of excitement and nervousness. To my surprise, I sensed everyone’s uneasiness from being away from home in a place that didn’t feel like home; at least, not yet. After escaping the comforting realization, I found myself meeting my remarkable roommate, and grouping up for a scavenger hunt to start getting to know the others and the breathtaking campus. We are surrounded by large, iron-baked mountains, and as the sun radiates below, the mountains shine their bronzed tips with defiance and beauty. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired from looking up at the sky.
Monday began at 9 am with our first lecture about uncertainty and sig figs. That morning, I woke up at 7 am sharp, wrapped my sandy tan hijab, then headed out to breathe in the fresh air as I walked towards the dining hall for breakfast. Inhaling the long breeze helped prepare me for the next 3 hours of crash course learning. Later in the day, we grouped up with our teams to begin our main project for the next 5 weeks: researching, observing, and calculating an asteroid. We were given a list of 12 asteroids, and were told to look up their ephemerides, such as their orbital positions, right ascensions, declinations, elevations, and magnitudes, or how bright the star is. If an asteroid had a high elevation at the observing time, and a magnitude under 18, the asteroid was preferable to observe than the others. Among the 12 was asteroid 1981 QA, and it was a popular choice for the majority. Although my team turned in our proposal worried we wouldn’t get our first choice, we were thrilled when we saw our group name, White Sands, next to the asteroid 1981 QA.
The next day, Tuesday, would be our first night of observing our asteroid. At exactly 11pm, we had already skipped the stairs and made our way out onto the roof. We were met with two enormous telescopes, and to our right, 4 wide computer screens, part of a technical setup that looked straight out of a hackers basement; the red lights were adding to the mystery that awaited us up above.
Now, as I tap onto the ancient keys found wired to the dimmed screen that’s faintly running on the compact raspberry pi, I am overwhelmed with the coming days of learning, observing, and activities. I’m excited for long walks, coding, late night observing, and most of all, connecting with the diverse group with their varying skills, personalities, and potentials. Let the journey begin.
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Hello! I’m Ameera, a rising high school senior from Portland, OR! I’m attending the astrophysics CUB camp and I’m so excited! When I’m not calculating orbits in the sky, you can find me running, writing poetry, coding, or playing chess!
