LWN Pipettes Poster AAS 2012

To the wonderful people at NITARP,

We would like to thank you for helping us create the most memorable scientific experience we have ever had. We could not have made the trip without you. When we first began working with asteroids, we had to learn exactly how asteroids work and how to use them properly, so we started using the program Astrometrica. Using the program, we learned how to stack images, locate asteroids, and differentiate asteroids from other anomalies like hot pixels and cosmic rays. After familiarizing ourselves with asteroid location, w shifted our focus to the light curves of asteroids using the program MPO Canopus. While working with Canopus, we learned more about image stacking, while also learning how to sort through good and bad data, and the basics of using Fourier analysis to create light curves. The light curve we presented was that of asteroid 2000 SO1.

Scott’s favorite part of the AAS Conference was the atmosphere. “The people here are just so down-to-earth, no pun intended,” he said. And it was true. We were almost expecting a sort of hierarchy, in which the most experienced astronomers would look down on the less experienced, but that wasn’t the case at all. No one came across as arrogant or above another, and people seemed just as attentive to a poster presentation about the light curves of asteroids as they did to a larger presentation concerning radio telescopes. Ryan found himself interested in the upcoming technologies. “The inflatable planetarium was quite possibly one of the coolest things I have ever seen to this date. It looked to realistic to be just a hologram,” he said. We managed to catch glimpses of many cool technologies, from the submillimeter array telescopes to the James Webb Telescope to the inflatable planetarium. Meanwhile, Joseph was impressed by the range of sciences. “When you do so much work with asteroids, you almost forget that there is more to astronomy than just asteroids.” We saw studies on white dwarfs, radio waves, variable stars, and all kinds of telescopes. It was very cool to see what was going on in the other sections of astronomy.

This trip has helped all of us to realize that while none of us may be going directly into the astronomy field as undergraduates, astronomy is a hobby that will continue to stay with us throughout our lives. We see how much fun and how beneficial it can be when a person continues to study astronomy. Thank you again for helping us realize this.

Sincerely,

Joseph Wiggs

Scott Stolarz

Ryan DePorto