Two weeks after arrival, we’re settling into a rhythm with fewer dorm lockouts and more well-timed naps. At times, it’s easy to forget how little time it’s been–it’s confusing when people talk about not going home for the next 25 days, because we’re heading back to the dorms in just an hour or so. UNC really does feel like home now.
Here at home, some things have gotten more precise. I’ve figured out that the showers work best if the handle is turned to about 120 degrees, regardless of what the dial itself might suggest. My alarm is set to 8:23 a.m., allowing me just enough time to get ready, grab a bar from downstairs, and walk at a moderately brisk pace down to our first lecture. And I’ve seen more than ever that those extra digits stored in the calculator really do matter.
But unlike the orbits of our asteroids or my schedule, not everything here can be described in numbers. Pitting Gauss and Einstein against one another in a fierce clout competition. Perusing the menu of the boba tea shop after taking in the view from the steps of the Wilson Library. Posing endless Fermi questions (okay, maybe that one is a game of numbers). People who share so much in common with you that even though it’s been 14 days, you’ve practically “known them your whole life,” and you sometimes wonder if human cloning technology isn’t real after all.
And the joy of seeing our asteroid–1997 TD, a miniscule speck among a background of black–flick back and forth between calibrated images for the first time was beyond words or numbers. Who would have thought that a little moving smudge could evoke such a feeling of accomplishment? This tiny blip on our screen represented all that we had learned so far–about coordinates, about image calibration, about using a telescope–and all that we have left to discover at SSP. Tonight at the Morehead Observatory, we’ll learn a little more about just what that is.
Generating ephemeris…
-Riya
