As I opened my eyes to the intense New Mexico sun beaming down on my face, the immense gravitational pull towards my bed beckoned me to return under the sheets. As I utilized every ounce of my physical and mental strength and strolled out of my bed, I muttered under my breath, “Not today, Newton.” Subsequent to ignoring the first law of motion, I slipped on my speed suit and got out for my daily run. After a brief 3 miles, I got some breakfast to go, picking up eggs and bacon at the NMSU buffet. By 8:30, we all boarded the bus and set out on our adventures for the day. Thankfully, the short 3 hour drive to the Apache Observatory was a good occasion for me to catch up on some reading (I am currently on Pride and Prejudice). Finally, we arrived at the Apache Point Observatory and were introduced to their state of the art astronomy equipment.
First our team visited the Sunspot Telescope, which we learned is utilized specifically for taking magnified pictures of the sun. The most astonishing part of the presentation was the odd mechanical structure. Sitting on a detached ring located in the center of the observatory, the Sunspot Telescope is sitting in 120 gallons of mercury. Our tour guide compared its structure to an iceberg, as over 2/3rd of the telescope is located beneath the surface, allowing for a large focal length and a lens that is undisturbed from atmospheric noise. After this, we took a trip to the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Telescope, which was designed for mapping vast areas of the observable universe.
After this tour concluded, the team went back to Las Cruces and had some dinner at Wendy’s. I quickly downed my 10 piece chicken nuggets and 2 orders of chili before getting back on the bus. As the bus ride continued, and the white sand dunes began protruding through the landscape, I was enamored at the vast amounts of land the sands covered. Once you were in the dunes, it seemed to never end. The group brought several sleds along the ride and for a while, we were sliding down the dunes, challenging each other for who could make it furthest in the sand. Most of us grew bored of this game and moved on to create our own. We played a vicious game of capture the flag and then moved into Kabaddi. Kabbadi pits two teams against each other, with an interchanging captain running into enemy territory and attempting to tag as many people as possible without the opposing team tackling them.
My team was behind for the majority of the time, but eventually we pulled through and won. By the time the game finished, the sun was setting and we all gathered around, took photos and looked out to the setting sun. To finish off the day, we went to Walmart for a 30 minute shopping trip. I picked up some Vitamin water and bland yet delicious graham crackers. Within the first 10 minutes of entering the door, I finally gave into the gravitational force for a restful evening.
My name is Lamarr and I’m a rising senior from Clifton, NJ. I love engineering and almost anything else STEM related.
