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Astronomy Camp
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Day 7: Friday June 19th
Day 7: Friday June 19th
Written by Team 2: Tanishka Chaubal, Sophia Liu, Madelyn Kendall, Yana Danilina, Max White, Evan Friesen, Anushree Verma, Bex Waisman
On the way home, the counselors blessed us on a trip to the best place in the whole entire world-Safeway. This was a very anticipated journey, forcing each campers to carefully decide what they wanted to purchase. For me, the essentials included legos, cheetos, Arizona tea, and of course, slime supplies. On the ride there, our companion "Prad" offered to wear a tank top if we could manage to find it. Unfortunately, we did not. Back on Mt. Lemmon, I decided to make my slime. However, after a quick google search, I had the devastating realization that I had forgotten an ingredient- baking soda. Desperate, I entrusted Aiden to produce some for me- at any cost. However, on his journey to the boys dorm, I met my true savior- Joe. Joe had kindly offered his remaining shaving gel, which perfectly activated my slime. However, I was in luck- Aiden returned with a suspicious bag of white powder (baking soda). Overjoyed, I added a large amount of it, consequently overactivating my slime. I will attach a gofundme link below to get more supplies. - Sophia
Andrew bought a baguette at SafeWay and seems very proud of it -Madelyn K
The councilors feed us well. Us hungry mungry children are very thankful -Madelyn K
Hello everyone and welcome back to another ATC blog! If you have not already heard we just got back from what was possibly the greatest experince of all of our lives.... seeing the marvlious feat of humanity, engineering, and astronomy that is the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT). I will spare you the details that you most likely already heard but it was nothing short of breathtaking!🤩 just beucase we were not at the LBT doesnt mean the chaos stopped. Oh noooo we are just getting started. The night before we fuled up on all sorts of goodies at safeway: coffee, plentyful energy drinks, and a full sized baguette that goes perfectly with some jam. we awoke from our deep slumbers at 10:30 just in time for 11 oclock brunch. Today was hardcore lock in day because our projects were due the very next day(eeeeek oh no)!!!!!! After we ate some yummy brunch that consisted of pancakes and yogurt which I rated an 8/10 ( I have this breakfast almost everyday now , but, like a good song, it never fails to be good)! After breakfast we had project crashout time attempting to collect and analyze our data. Astro image J was being a huge pain. So we snacked on some cold pizza!
We started off early in the morning talking about everyones favorite current phenomenon... AI! All of us now know what a Large Language Model is and have a better understanding on how AI works and can be used in astronomy and what impact it has on the future of math,astronomy, and physics. We had a discussion about when it is appropriate to use AI and if we draw the line at letting it grade papers and not letting it write our wedding vows( has anyone ever done that? If they have I think it might be time for a divorce😬). Personally I believe that AI must be used with a high level of human involvement, meaning that you should look at what AI tells you and still question it because trusting a computer blindly is dangerous. That being said I believe we should keep our usage of AI to a miniumum. What do you think about AI?
We moved on from AI to Binary stars!!!! Binary stars have always been one of my personal favorite objects in the universe. We learned about different ways to detect these star systems such as visual binary stars, eclipsing binary stars, spectroscpy, and the GAIA satellite that is currently making a 3D map of the solar system (how cool is that!). I think we can learn a lot about human relationships through binary stars. They are gravitationally bound together and sometimes they can even exchange materials if they are close enough which reminds me of how humans feed off eachothers emotions and need eachothers warmth in order to not be flung into space alone. We also learned that stars don't shine cause they burn, they burn cause they shine. In conclusion stars are more poetic than one may think.⭐
Shortly after that we went into our college and carreer seminar. I think I can speak for everyone when I say that having this was very helpful. Some of the counselours talked about their journey through college, grad school, and their careers. It was nice to have a group of older and wiser people who have studied in a variety of different fields to teach us about all the options that we have as potential scientists. We got to hear about many different careers such as telescope operation for dangerous asteroid detection and analyzing moon rocks to see if there is water on the moon (Kyle we all want your job!). It easied our nerves to get our questions about college, life, and grad school answered. I found it interesting how studying Astronomy intersects with so many other fields, especially how you can study applied humanities with an astrobiology emphasis to become a "Space Lawyer". In the end it was helpful to learn how much is out there, how important research is, and all the joys and regrets that come with life as a scientist!
We had a short break and munched down on a yummy dinner that consisted of lasanga, toquitos, and dumplings ( I gave this a 10/10) pure perfection! Then we rode off into the sunset. It was particularly beautiful tonight( I say that every night but it is so true). The orange light hit us at the most beautiful angle. We all looked as if we were glowing. Then it was back to the learning center for lock in time!!!!! We worked into the early hours of the morning to get the last bits of our data and analyze them. After a hectic night of crashout, celebrations, achievements, failures, shenanigans, and talks of a ghost in the girls dorm we were all ready to sleep.
I had some time to speak with my lovely roomate about this past week and realized that the impact these seven, seventeen hour days had on all of our lives. I am very sad to leave soon, however this is a once in a lifetime experince. I have learned so much in these days. If you had asked me one week ago what right ascension, declination, sidereal time, exoplanet transit, spectroscpy, inverse square law, and adaptable optics where I would have been speechless. Arizona will now always hold a special place in my heart and the memories I made this week will shape my life forever.🌇-this is bex signing out
This is Aiden ^ Madelyn K
AI talk
Austin did an AI talk with us in the learning center. We learned about how AIs work and how to use them. We also got to do an activity where we decided how we felt about AI and whether its ethical to use it or not. - Yana
We listened to Neev's presentation about massive stars and binary systems. He explained how a lot of his research is on the computer rather than observational. - Anushree
Neev
Project work
We all went up for sunset on our final night of data collection. We could see the shade of the mountain on one side and the beautiful red, orange, and yellow hues illuminating the city below from the setting sun on the other.
-Madelyn Kendall
There are many pretty flowers here, we like to photograph stars at night.
Building 3d telescope goodnight all! woo hoo!
Day 6: Thursday June 18th
Day 6: Thursday June 18th
Written by Team 1: Faith Beckish, Alex Heritage, Reena Bendukuri, Anna Gorgan, Connor Bunch, Adam Dreyfus, Jordyn Szczesniak, Jimmy Budde
Hi! The LBT was absolutely amazing. First, we woke up early and had breakfast. After we ate, we packed our bags, that were previously packed the night before, into the car. Next, we had a 7-hour car ride up Mount Graham. Along the way, we had multiple stops, with one of them stopping at Chipotle to see the occultation. Although it was too cloudy to see, it was still a fun experience. We also stopped at a spot to eat lunch. Lunch was our sandwiches that we packed in the morning, chips, and cookies. We finally went back in the car to continue our journey. I was in the car with Madelyn, Bex, and Luca.
After we arrived, we were met with a thrilling wind chill. We went inside and unpacked our things and got ready. We put all of our sleeping bags on the floor. I was by Madelyn, Lahari, Luca, and Bex. After we changed and got ready for the night, we went up the stairs and ate dinner. Dinner was the Chipotle that we got previously. We went outside and watched the sunset, and then came the best part of the whole trip.
We all headed down to the main event, the LBT. Aka, the largest telescope in the world. I stood in awe, while there were tears of joy from some of the peers around me. It was crazy to think about how something like this is possible. Multible people expressed their awe and wonder. They mentioned how it's crazy to think and really take this all in, and how it gives them hope in humanity. We went up the stairs and got an even better view. Dr. McCarthy walked us through the telescope parts and what they do. We were able to see the telescope move, and there was an audible "wow" within the building.
After this eventful evening, we went to the SMT. We learned about radio telescopes and how they work. We were able to experience first-hand what someone with the job to use the SMT might do. We learned that they stay typically stay there all week, and then have a week off. We also learned that they take shifts within their jobs. Being able to observe this firsthand was such an amazing experience.
FInally, we were able to get ready for bed and head back to the lobby of the SMT (where we were sleeping). However, Madelyn and I had some more work to do on our projects that we mentioned earlier. We worked with Aiden (one of our counselors) to analyze our data of the transit from the previous night. Although we didn't get the answer we hoped for, getting the experience to do real work was something amazing. We headed back downstairs at around 4am and finally went to bed.
~Faith Beckish
On Thursday we returned back to Mt. Lemmon from Mt. Graham. We drove for hours through the desert, stopping occasionally to eat or get a drink of water. By the time we approached Tucson, it was already sunset! First we ate pizza at the university, before taking a tour of the telescope mirror labratory where we got to see several massive, 8 meter wide mirrors being constructed and polished for use in the world's future telescopes. It was very cool, and I wish we had stayed longer! After that we stopped at the grocery store and returned back to the dorms at the top of the mountain by 10:00 PM. I have to get back to work now, so I apologize for not writing an essay like the person above!
-Jimmy
On the way back from the LBT went to a rest stop in the forest. It was very lush and green and lots of big sticks to sword fight with. -Alex
We took a break to eat food in the forest to energize ourself before the long drive. -Reena
A battle.
Waking up in the lobby of the largest optical telescope in the WORLD was an experience I will never forget. The drive was long, and since we were all short on sleep, the community of sharing songs on a spotify jam quickly turned into everyone in the back of the van taking a communal nap. After arriving at the U of A for pizza, we headed to the mirror lab to see how and the 8.4 mirrors are made and polished for telescopes like the LBT and the upcoming GMT, which will contain SEVEN of these mirrors. After driving back up the mountain, we spent the evening observing and working on our projects- I spent the night learning AstroImageJ and drawing some constellations to help me find deep sky objects for our observation challenge. The week is coming to a close, and it's crunch time now!
Campers are waiting eagerly for pizza after arriving at the University of Arizona. - Reena
Cole observes a huge room with two spots for mirrors.
Cole observes the unpolished central mirror for the GMT.
On the way back we visited the mirror lab under the University of Arizona's stadium. We saw huge 8.4 meter mirrors for the upcoming Giant Magellan Telescope, which will have seven mirrors, five more than the Large Binocular Telescope's two.
-Adam
Coming back from the LBT we all gathered in a huddle around the luggage van while Kyle would hold up our bags and we would call out if it was ours. It was really funny because it was bidding style. It was a bit chaotic, but woke me up after the long car ride. -Alex
After our trip to Mt. Graham all the campers collected their belongings. Kyle (the unloader) voluntarily took a photo of everyone after they sang happy birthday to him.
-Anna
Andrew collecting the data from his objects
A picture of the 31"
By the time that we had got back to Mt. Lemmon, we had not only driven for 6 hours but had made many stops along the way, which only added to our exaughtion. Even though this was the case, we powered through and were able to do some observing and get the data we needed, going to bed after a long day of driving and work.
-Connor
Throughout the night, we observed many objects from many different constellations in the sky. Some of us looked at galaxies and took observations while others followed exoplanets to record their transiting data.
-Connor
Andrew not being dead
Max using the seestar to look at his comet
Day 5: Wednesday June 17th
Day 5: Wednesday June 17th
Team 4: Luca Honti, Avery Meshach, Olin Jones, Grant Parker, Jack Blankenship, Mason Sugarman, Olivia Viezca, Andrew Shaver
We got up an hour earlier than scheduled to ensure we kept on track for the day and journey to the LBT (Large Binocular Telescope). After fueling up with bagels for breakfast, we left around 10:00 a.m.
-Avery
connor mogging everyone. we were having a great disscussion during dinner-Grant
BEST CAR RIDE EVERRRRR!!!!!!
We got up and had breakfast. We then spent a looooooong car ride going the the LBT on Mt. Graham. We got there and put our stuff in the lobby, where we would sleep later that night. We then had dinner (Chipotle) and went to see the telescope. It was massive. We then went to the place where we ate dinner and reduced data, made smores, and waited for our my turn to tour the SMT (Sub-millimeter telescope). I toured the telescope, went back to the LBT and worked on my project until 2:30 AM when Dr. McCarthy made everyone go to sleep.
-Andrew
View standing under the LBT building (featuring an air vent?)
Hiding from the intense wind.
Bucket brigade.
After a long van ride, we arrived at the Large Binocular Telescope on Mt. Graham. As we brought our things in (using a bucket brigade) it was difficult to believe a telescope could be the size of the building.
-Olin Jones
Once at the LBT and with our belongings safely inside we began to line up our sleeping bags against the walls of the lobby. After settled in we relocated up the stairs and into the telescopes kitchen ready to have the dinner we had all awaited, Chipotle. The wait was almost excruciating sitting before the massive tubs of food, smelling the aromas and yet unable to feast. Finally after some time everything was set up, Austin explained our utensils needed to be rationed as extras were forgotten, then at last we feasted upon the food. -Mason Sugarman
Rationing plastic utensils because SOMEONE forgot to bring extra.
Ok, get ready everyone.
This was a life-changing experience. The early morning breakfast, long 7 hour road trip, mirror molding, polishing, and cleaning knowledge we had been given days earlier, and all the tears shed (fear not adults, they were tears of joy) led up to seeing the largest optical telescope in North America! The Large Binocular Telescope Observatory (LBTO, often referred to as the LBT) was such an incredible sight to see. From its gigantic frame, to its 8.4 meter primary mirrors, this experience taught many of us so much. We were forewarned before entering that campers often shed tears upon first seeing the telescope. I didn't quite understand why... until I laid my eyes on it myself. Craning my neck to see the top of the architecture, I could feel my jaw hit the floor. I've never seen anything more beautiful. On either side of the frame, we could see the wheels that permitted the scope to angle towards the horizon, or up at the zenith. We learned that the LBT's floors and telescope can move separately, which was very enjoyable to feel. When we first arrived, the LBT was angled up at the zenith, and much of the actual optical telescope wasn't visible. That was until the managers of the LBT asked us if we'd like to see it move. With the echo of the dome, the resounding "YES!" was loud enough to emphasize our enthusiasm. Words cannot convey the magic of the following moments. The slow, consistent movement was astounding in hindsight, however at the time, it was simply incredible. As the telescope was angling down, a tear had yet been shed. Then the scope continued angling down. And suddenly, the mirrors were revealed. The incredible, 8.4 meter mirrors on either side, revealing the interior of the telescope's size, the spectrometers spinning behind the telescope, the adjustable secondary mirrors, cameras, and tertiary mirrors left a group of thirty teenagers dead silent.
This was the moment that I couldn't do anything but stand in awe. Though we are just teenagers, very few get to experience what we did that night. The thought that I was standing there with 31 other teenagers, and a handful of astronomers watching the largest optical telescope in North America shift down until the mirrors were directly facing us, made me feel incredible. It made me feel like, I'd accomplished something, and the feeling that astronomy really is so astonishing, just brought tears to my eyes. Not just mine though. At least six of us were moved to tears. If that wasn't enough, the tears weren't just some little tears. No, the tears were streaming. Some stopped sooner, but some (I was part of the second group) weren't able to stop for a few minutes.
The counselors gave us room to breathe, but they comforted us and allowed us to process the entire experience. Dr. McCarthy walked around and explained the science of the telescope, the way there were mirrors on both sides, how the secondary mirror could be moved to take a picture with the camera, how the secondary mirror moved thousands of times per second to ensure a correction for the atmospheric interruption with light from a star, and how the spectrometer on one side focused on redder wavelengths of light, whilst the other focused on bluer wavelengths of light and many many more intricate details of the LBT.
Once all of us had calmed down, we realized the door blocking the stairs was open, and we asked Dr. McCarthy if we could walk up them. He said he'd be right back and went to ask for permission. There were possibly four or five flights of stairs, and the mirrors were facing up when the telescope was pointed at the zenith (second picture on the left), so we really wanted to walk up the stairs and get a better look at all of it. Luckily for us, Dr. McCarthy came back and led us up the first flight of stairs (first image on the left). Everyone was staring in awe, and any of us who were tired before entering were wide awake. We could see many of the instruments from a higher vantage point. We could see the extreme curvature of the mirror (which is a lightweight mirror, about 6 tons per mirror), the spectrometers, and almost all of the other instruments. There was one instrument that hadn't been attached yet, so we couldn't see it until the morning after.
Unfortunately, the best things have to come to an end. We were instructed to leave the LBT and head down to the ground floor. Many of us went to observe a couple hours later in the SMT (another extraordinary telescope, however not an optical but rather a radio telescope). We didn't truly have to leave the LBT until the following morning, for we were allowed to sleep in the lobby. In other words, the most legendary sleepover known to mankind.
-Luca Honti
Since it was cloudy at the LBT, we were able to start working on our project. Eventually it cleared up enough and we were able to go to the SMT where we were able to see it work. It was really cool to see the operator walk us through his routine while collecting data.- Jack Blankenship
Our tour of the SMT! Payden, the telescope operator, walked us through how to operate it, and we all took turns slewing it to various targets in the sky! We saw the massive 10-meter radio dish scan the swath of pinpoints above, and we even got to touch the metal! The whole building spins to move the dome around so the dish can see all over the sky.
Payden and Lucy demonstrated how remote observing works, and we got to see the dreaded Okay Button for remote communication cycle through its list of affirmatives -- everything from "Okay Dokay" to "Yepperdoodles." There were some weird sound effects coming from the scope. The doorbell haptic was in fact something other than the building's doorbell. The real doorbell did some strange sci-fi tone. One function resulted in salsa music, and when the dome room doors opened, the alarm blared in (unnecessary) warning.
Afterward, Luca, Reena, Yana, Tanishka, and I stayed behind to observe our (multiple possible) target object(s) while everyone else went back to the LBT and made s'mores. We got cold leftovers at 3am after staring wide-eyed at computer monitors and beginning to speak in the language of nonsense while trying desperately to resist. Payden, Lucy, and Dr. Scibelli demonstrated how to collect the spectroscopy data, then finally convinced us to go to sleep. First time I've been overtired since like second grade -- and never before in the presence of iconic telescopes. Certainly a night to remember!!!
-- Olivia 🙃
The cloudy sunset from the balcony of the LBT
Learning how the SMT works! The dish is through the door in the back 😃
We helped Dr. McCarthy make S'mores for everyone
S'mores! (made in the oven instead of over a campfire..)
Day 4: Tuesday June 16th
Day 4: Tuesday June 16th
Written by Team 3: Lahari Ganti, Lydia Martin, Izzy Leonardo, Parsa Montazeri, Pascal Yglesias, Cole Simon, Holly Prescott, Devin Flynn
Today we woke up and ate brunch at 11. We watched the World Cup while preparing for the day. We had pancakes and cereal. After breakfast we hung out outside - Devin
Dancing???
World cup and snacks
Wayne and Parsa looking cool and ready for Astronomy
Sharing fun facts about our Solar System
Earth's size in our scale model
Exploration of the solar system
The distances of Mars and Venus compared to the sun to the scale of a 10-in ball
Group flic!
We had a photo stop on the solar system hike before entering the trail part of the solar system hike. After visiting the outer planets, we visited a lookout with an amazing view of the mountains. We also received aircraft tickets to where the nearest stars would be located on the scale model, some of which were across the world!
Pictures from our hike of Mt. Lemmon. The rock formations looked super cool! Once we reached the top the view was awesome. - Devin
The trail we hiked on
The burnt trees from past forest fires
View from the top of the overlook
Chicken Nugget Night!!!
It was very nice to have post-hike nugget night. Everybody was so hungry and it was great to have food waiting for us. -Holly
Pictures at sunset!
Admiring the view
We stopped to look at the scenery. Even though Arizona is a desert, the trees and plants were really green! - Devin
We also visited a fire watch house, which gave us an amazing view of the area and the telescopes on other mountains. - Lydia
This is a graph of when campers turned in their project propsals. As you can see, we're doing a great job being real astronomers, because this graph almost exactly matches a graph of when proposals for the JWST were submitted. As it gets closer to the deadline, more and more are submitted , but the most proposals were submitted after the deadline. Many people did more than one project which contributed the amount of proposals submitted after the deadline.
-Izzie
Jack lookin like a lil goober
Continued gooberniss
This night, our group built a 3-D printed telescope. After building the telescpoe, we spent two hours testing it. We went through numerous different methods to test its efficiency and focus, including holding a flashlight 50 ft away. The whole process was insaneley fun. - Parsa
Day 3: Monday June 15th
Day 3: Monday June 15th
Written by Team 2: Tanishka Chaubal, Sophia Liu, Madelyn Kendall, Yana Danilina, Max White, Evan Friesen, Anushree Verma, Bex Waisman
Us being locked in and studious on our proposals (wow)😮!
Welcome back everyone to the ATC blog🥳! Saturday June 15th was undoubtedly a long and eventful day. We started our day at 10:30 by heading over to the learning center to get a head start on working on our project proposals. After some hard work it was time for brunch which was pancakes and bacon. I gave it a solid seven out of ten probably because I put too much syrup and all the pancakes got soggy 🥲. During breakfast we were tasked to solve a difficult brain-bending problem: If you buy 100 pounds of cucumbers that are 99% water and you leave them out to dry until they become 98% water how much do they weigh? Can you figure out the answer? After breakfast, we cleaned up and learned about coding using Python! It was so cool!
Then we headed over to the gym to learn about stars. This was one of my favorite activites we have done so far! The conselours started by reminding us that we are all stars by assigning us each a card with a different star on it and the properties of that star! I got the star Aldebaran which is part of the constellation Tarus! Then we arranged ourselves based on different properties such as Magnitude, temperature, and size. After making an HR diagram with the stars we were assigned, we got a sheet of stickers with different stars and had to plot each star on the diagram! Along with that, we used different sized models (balls and beads) to scale the sizes of different stars! When we were done having our minds blown by stars we went to be dazzled by exoplanets! Fun fact: there are 6298 confirmed exoplanets. We learned everything from different methods of detection to properties! Just when we thought it couldn't get anymore awsome.. IT DID! because next we went on to learn about galaxies! 🌌And just like that it was time for dinner! We fuled up on lots of delicious baked potatoes and many toppings such as bacon, sour cream, onions, assorted meats, and vegetables. I gave this dinner a 9.5/10 ( I took half a point off because it was messy😟).
The light clouds did not stop us from enjoying the stunning and majestic Mount Lemmon sunset. I could watch this sunset every night and never get sick of it. Staring off that mountain into the vast Arizona landscape makes you have deeply profound existential thoughts. If you ever feel unwell I recommend having a nice long stare at a sunset. The night is when events took a thrilling turn! Giant telescopes, nebulae, binoculars, and shananegians led us to lose track of reality and our bed time! Stay tuned to find out how we almost pulled an all nighter!
After the sun went down, it was too cloudy to start observing so we were back to proposal work with yummy snacks! As the night drifted on it got more clear. We ventured into the darkness and got to adapted by looking for constellations and deep space objects using our eyes and binoculars. we found Lyra, Ursa major/minor, Bootes, Corona Borealis, Delphnis, Draco,Hercules, and many others. As we got more adapted we split up into groups one went to mount Bigelow and one stayed to use the 32 and 24 inch telescopes. I stayed back on mount Lemmon and we learned how to move or "slew" the telescopes, use the focus, and observe many different types of objects. As it moved from night to morning we got increasingly loopy. At 2:30am we were asked if we could stay up for another two hours. Being pumped up on the thrill of space and life we all agreed to make the trip over to mount Bigelow to see the infamous 61 inch telescope that was used to map the moon for the Apollo mission! The telescope was massive! We got to tour the catwalk and learned that the building was haunted!👻(spooky). We took a look through the telescope at some beautiful celestial objects. At that point it was 3:30 am and we crossed over from being tired to loopy and giggliy. On the drive back to mount Lemmon we were taking silly pictures and laugh so much over something I cant remember. When we got back to Mount Lemmon it was 4:15 am and the sun was faintly rising over the horizon. -Bex
We are doing some star related activities! -Max
The gym got transformed into an HR diagram! We plotted ourselves along the diagram based on properties of our stars!
✨⭐ Make sure to grab your shades cause we are too bright! ( hahaha I am so funny!😝)
Here, Jordan and I were holding up visual models of stars and planets. I was holding up a beach ball to represent a blown up version of our Sun, and Jordan was holding a box with a tiny ball to represent the Earth. - Anushree
Here, campers are wroking on HR diagram showing Magnitude/Kelvin of stars!
This is us, plotting a HR diagram with with sticker with star names, brightness and tempature! -Max
While procrastinating our project proposal, the three of us (Sophia, Izzie, Avery) had the idea to draw the same image in our different artstyles. We decided on a Nurse Shark, and used different markers to make each of them unique. -Sophia
Sophia, Avery, and Izzie's Nurse Sharks
Sophia, Avery, and Izzie's Beta fish
Here, we are walking up to the summit to watch the sunset! The clouds in the photo created cool lighting effects on the sun that we all enjoyed! -Madelyn
Me, Olivia, and Luca (and Aiden photobombing) while watching the Sunset! -Madelyn
Tanishka, Yana, Reena, Lydia at the sunset
During sunset, we hiked a little ways to a new place to watch the sunset. With clear views of the neighboring mountains and the smell of pines, it was truly a experience for the memory books. -Madelyn
Although our cameras can't quite depict the beauty of the sunset, this image shows how the clouds can make it look different every day. This way, we never get bored! -Madelyn
We can use the measured duration elasped between the sunset of a sitting observer and a standing observer to calculate the radius of the Earth.
We spend time researching while Dr. McCarthy and the other councilors help us learn new concepts and answer our questions (thank you councilors!) -Madelyn
We spent a large amount of time collaborating with our groups to create and finalize our research proposals. -Madelyn
Lydia, Tanishka, Yana and Anna are doing research
These are the telescopes we use to observe at night.
We got to observe the night sky using the 24 inch and 32 inch telescopes. The Milky Way is visible from here!
Ring Nebula by Max
Pinwheel Nebula by Anna
Saturn
Us pretending to be happy sleep deprived
The view from Mt. Lemmon! (Photo by Sophia)
Against majority advice, the six of us (Sophia, Avery, Izzie, Grant, Carl, and Lorelai) decided to stay up to watch the sunrise. Because our nighttime observation stretched on until 4 AM, it seemed like a great opportunity to watch it from Mt. Lemmon, at around 5:20. While waiting in the freezing cold, we distracted ourselves by learning about Lorelai's reputation as a baby and stealing all of Carl's snacks (sorry Carl!). The sunrise was beautiful, and we all hope to experience it again with all the campers on the final day!
-Sophia
Day 2: Sunday June 14th
Day 2: Sunday June 14th
Written by Team 1: Faith Beckish, Alex Heritage, Reena Bendukuri, Anna Gorgan, Connor Bunch, Adam Drefus, Jordyn Szczesniak, Jimmy Budde
A picture of some of the campers discussing the contents of Dr. McCarthy's lecture. -Connor
A picture of one of the four teams cleaning the tables after breakfast.
-Connor
On the first full day of camp, all of the campers awoke at around 8:00 to migrate to the learning center to have breakfast. Their schedule was packed full as after breakfast the campers listened to Carl talk about the projects and work that the campers would be doing throughout the week. After the first tour of Mt. Lemon and its features which educated the campers on the layout and history of the mountain, finishing the morning with lunch at the learning center. -Connor
Took a selfie with Sophia and Anushree before going on the walking tour around Mt. Lemmon! My favorite part was seeing the huge 60 inch Minnesota telescope. It was nice spending time in the warm sun! -Alex
One of many interesting lectures to get us all up to speed.
Our extensive reading material for camp: a new paperback Observer's Handbook for 2026 (top) and an updated guide to Advanced Teen Camp (bottom).
The counselors provided us with helpful introductions to several astronomical fields during Monday's daylight hours. These ranged from exoplanet explanations to galaxy guides, and left us all on the same page before we started our research projects. I really enjoyed hearing how astronomers disproved some of Kepler's assumptions and learning that Pluto is officially a planet here (Check Arizona State Law!)
-Adam
Campers on the tour of the mountain.
Thick cumulonimbus calvus clouds rolling in (beautiful!)
We woke up bright and early to our first full day on the mountain! Compared to our first night, the clouds had come out in full force, thick cumulus led by high cirrus to precede what would become a MASSIVE thunderstorm that night. After receiving our journals, observer's handbooks, and Advanced Teen Camp books, we headed out to tour the site. Observing the facilities and telescopes we will be using for the next week was our first foray into journaling, writing down all we observe. The afternoon was full of more activities on snell's law, the inverse square law, and the behavior of light. After dinner, we ventured up to see our second sunset but a quick crash of thunder sent us back into the learning center for the rest of the evening. We spent the night working on our project proposals, running through the rain to visit the planetarium and learn about sidereal time. After a quick snack, our first, long day was over and we all headed to bed, ready to think and plan our projects for the coming week. Aside from a spider chasing me in the shower and a brutal battle (where I came out on top.), I can't wait to see what the rest of this week has in store!
-Jordyn Szczesniak
Walking up the hill to telescopes.
All the campers follow Dr, McCarthy on the tour of the astronomy camp site. In the image shown above some campers are entering the Minnesota 16-inch telescope - which was one of the many telescopes we got to see up close! - Anna
Inside the Minnesota telescope.
Investigating the r^2 law.
Our second day at camp was just as hectic than our first! We spent most of the morning and afternoon getting a feel for the camp and our activities, by running around the mountain on a tour and going over our plans for the week. We also spent some time learning about light before sunset, which was accompanied by a powerful thunderstorm. We all ran inside as the lightning got closer to us, and maybe ten minutes later, a bolt struck a tree right next to the building and gave us all a scare! Against my wishes, our counselors made us run through the storm to the other building to spend some time in the inflatable planetarium, and after that we went to sleep. Overall a solid 7/10 day! -Jimmy
Stations run by the councilors at the Minnesota building, experimenting with light through mirrors and lenses specifically looking at their reflective and refractive properties. Each station covered a different aspect of the "Optical elements" which the campers studied ferverously in order to better understand the aplication, practicle use, and science behind the mirrors and lenses in telescopes. -Connor
Aiden and Lucy doing mirror experiments -Connor
a variety of lenses that refract light -Connor
Beautiful storm clouds at sunset before we all had to run inside because of the lighting. Every sunset I've seen here has been stunning! -Jimmy
(Not my picture)
Took a selfie with Holly before attemping to watch sunset. Unfortunately, after this photo there was lots of lightning and we had to go inside for the rest of the night. The monsoon storms were crazy. -Alex
The sunset from the side of our learning enter as we were going up the mountation to our routine sunset observation spot. - Reena
Flat hands, up and down.
lightning!
We were playing a game inside when there was a huge and loud lightning strike next to the building. I got this photo of the reactions of everyone. -Alex
Pascal and I attempting to match given cards with Kaylie through a sorting game. -Connor
The campers doing various activities to pass the time because of the active thunderstorms. -Connor
Campers are working on their project proposals with their groups during the thunderstorm. -Reena(pic creds too)
Throughout the course of June 14th, we did numerous activities including taking a short hike up the road and learning about the Minnesota Telescope (along with others.) We learned about some history and technical things pertaining to said telescopes.
Additionally, we went to "stations" to the different counselors. We learned about electromagnetic fields, ultraviolet testing, the "Inverse Square Law", spectroscopy and the Doppler Effect, light and mirrors, complex organic molecules, molecular clouds, Prestellar Cores, Protostars, and Planetary Nebulae. We also got our project that we will be working on proposed to us. I will be working with peers and exploring how the composition of a planetary nebula affects the velocity. Additionally, I will be transiting exoplanets, interrupting the data, and seeing what conclusions I can draw from said data. I will be leading the exoplanet project, and having a job of interpreting data for the velocity and composition project.
The night, however, decided to conclude with an eventful lightning storm that frightened the camp. Because we couldn't go out to the telescopes, the team prepared a surplus of activities to do. For example, organizing ourselves by age without talking.
In summary, we had quite the eventful day (as you may be able to tell). We learned an oversupply of information that allowed us to further our knowledge on many things. I think that, looking back the day, I am able to reflect on all of the things that I have learned and writing in my notes. ~Faith Beckish
Day 1: Saturday June 13th
Day 1: Saturday June 13th
Written by Team 4: Luca Honti, Avery Meshach, Olin Jones, Grant Parker, Jack Blankenship, Mason Sugarman, Olivia VIezca, Andrew Shaver
First arrivals.
Counselor welcome squad.
Landed in Tucson in the morning and waited for a few hours for the rest of the people arriving by plane. Then we got sandwiches. Then we went to orientation where we were put into 4 groups and it was outlined roughly how camp would go. We then embarked on our hour and thirty minute journey up the mountain. Once we arrived at camp, we had a brief tour, set up our dorms, and had dinner. Then we got to stargaze and use telescopes for the remainder of the night.
-Andrew Shaver
We met at the Michael J. Drake building at 2:00 PM for orientation, where we split into four groups, got acquainted with each other and the counselors, and listened to a presentation by Dr. McCarthy. We discussed the Polya learning approach which we will apply throughout camp and afterward. Dr. McCarthy demonstrated this through a thought problem that we solved in groups.
-- Olivia Viezca
Discussing the camp philosophy.
Orientation in the Drake auditorium.
When we began our journey up the mountain it was extremely hot with very dry desert and large saguaro cacti. I first began to notice change when my ears began to pop and I started to see large trees. Something that surprised me on the way was the amazing views and the ski resort on top of the mountain. When we finally got to the peak we were driven around to see all of the domes housing the huge telescopes. - Jack
Road up Mt. Lemmon.
Road into camp.
The sunset watchers.
Second sunset on the mountain.
Once the sun began to set the group headed up past the telescopes to observe the imminent sunset. While observing, early attempts to calculate the radius of the earth were made through differences in the time which the sun fully disappeared beyond the mountains. Difficulties arose from the clouds beyond, and yet the view was of none other. -Mason
Flashlight painting
Crepuscular rays.
Faintly, these rays connect on the other side.
Once the sun had set, we began dark adaption in the Learning Center, where we listened to music (specifically "Muisc of the night" (Phantom of the Opera)) . We dissected the song to relate to night time observing, and even painted our flashlights red to ensure we didn't break our dark adaption, since red light- contrasted with white light- doesn't constrict our pupils and ensures we can keep our dark adaption. Having geared up and piled up with warm clothes, we ventured out to see the telescopes but didn't get the chance before our heads were stuck looking up. I don't think I've ever heard thirty kids collectively gasp so loud walking out of a building. The sky was gorgeous. Especially with the majority of us coming from light polluted areas, seeing such a crystal clear sky, filled endlessly with stars, planets, nebulae and so many more incredible sights was astonishing. We spent a great deal of time observing with our naked eyes before entering the telescopes and getting familiar with the software and focusing the image within the lens through the scope. After observing for almost four hours, at 11:30 we all took a break to eat dessert and discuss the software of the 24 in. telescope. We ran into a technical error, so Dr. McCarthy went up to solve the issue while the rest of us campers retired to bed, prepared for another exhaustingly exciting day of camp.
--Luca Honti
After seeing the 32" telescope, a group of campers went outside to learn about naked eye/ observational astronomy. We oriented ourselves with many constellations while laying down and looking at the stars.
--Olin Jones
Milkkyway on Mt. Lemmon
Welcome to the ATC 2026 blog!
Welcome to the ATC 2026 blog!
Hello ATC campers and families! Welcome to your one-stop shop for updates during Astronomy Camp. Since cell service on Mount Lemmon can be spotty, Astronomy Camp campers and counselors will use this space for updates and plenty of pictures. Expect a new post each evening starting June 14th—with photos and text directly from the campers—all about what we got up to the day before.
We have a privacy setting enabled that means this site won't show up in the results of search engines like Google, but it is still a public website: anyone with the link can access it. Please feel free to share the link to this site (https://sites.google.com/astronomycamp.org/atc-2026/home) with family and friends, but we ask you not to post the site on, for example, public social media. Thank you for helping to protect the privacy of the campers!
If you have any questions about this blog, you can email one of the blog-ish counselors:
Eden (emcewen@astronomycamp.org)
Lorelei (lstclair@astronomycamp.org)
Lucy (lsteffes@astronomycamp.org)
For general information about Astronomy Camp, please visit our website at astronomycamp.info.
Clear skies and safe travels, and we'll see you on Thursday!
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