The astronomy observations at SSP are an amazing thing. The act of actually doing the science and finding the asteroid on the screen never gets old.
On the first observation day my team literally had our mouths agape at how awesome the telescope was. In retrospect, we really didn’t do anything remarkable except moving it around, but even that was such a cool introduction to observational astronomy. It’s quite a beast, with, in my opinion, somewhat a noble air surrounding itself. Both the telescopes, Artemis and Apollo, are planewave telescopes with a 20in aperture and, with their mounts included, are almost double the size of a person. I don’t think I can put the experience into words, but the way they move, sound, and feel still fills me with a sense of wonder every night.
The observation shifts are the heart of SSP. For my team, they start late at night, after a long day of lectures and problem set work. Each time we start by logging in, running a few ‘pre-flight checks’ and focusing the telescope. The magic starts when we enter the coordinates of our asteroid and the telescope slews over to its location. We expose the camera for sets of 30 seconds then compare the images to find our asteroid. Sometimes, we even have time to take some color photos of pretty nebulae!
In particular, the late observing shift is either filled with everyone losing their sanity laughing (because it’s 1am) or everyone losing their sanity being tired (because it’s 1am). The time when we drove Emily insane by saying ‘chat’ (this is a new slang where people say the word as if they were live streaming and talking to the live stream’s chat) kind of epitomizes the late shift experience.
I’d like to end with a video about a new object we discovered in the sky when we took observing images one day.
About me: Hi, I’m Vincent! I’m a proud senior at Stargate High School in Thornton, Colorado. In school, I enjoy my math and physics classes the most because of how they make me feel like I’m rediscovering science. Outside of school, I love playing violin and piano (any late night musicians?) My favorite season is autumn, with its beautiful leaves and cooler temperatures.
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SSP International is a nonprofit offering inspiring science immersion experiences. Founded in 1959, its mission is to provide opportunities to accelerate learning, doing and belonging in science. SSP International’s flagship program is Summer Science Program, a leading education experience for exceptional high school students in astrophysics, biochemistry, genomics and more.