# Presentation: 160213

## Astronomy  Camp:   an  Adventure  in  Hands-on  Scientific  Inquiry

**ABSTRACT**

**Astronomy Camps are hands-on, participant-directed, immersion experiences in astronomy.  Campers spend two to 8 nights at a professional observatory complex on a mountaintop in Arizona, using  eyepieces, spectrographs, and research imagers on telescopes of up to 61” diameter.  Research astronomers with strong interests and experience in education and outreach comprise much of the staff.  Camps are offered for a variety of groups at different levels, including adults from any profession, teenagers, educators, specific school groups, and most recently, Girl Scouts.  The Camps, in existence for over 15 years, have continually evolved in technology, scientific emphasis, scope, and number of offerings.  The program is poised to take a quantum leap with the likely private funding of a new 2-3 meter telescope and science center at the main Camp mountaintop site.  **

**INTRODUCTION**

- Imagine diving into the world of practicing astronomers, asking fundamental questions about the universe and our place in it, keeping nighttime hours, and using large telescopes.  Would you like a taste of research and discovery, beyond reading about it, catered to your interests and background?  The University of Arizona Astronomy Camps, staffed by research astronomers with a strong interest in and long experience with public outreach, provide this opportunity with camps specialized to many different groups:  teenagers; adults from any profession; educators; specific schools; and recently a major new initiative for Girl Scouts & their leaders.

**OPERATING PHILOSOPHIES**

**  ****Hands-on.  Participants are taught how to use the equipment and are encouraged to personally utilize it as much as feasible.  Ideally the staff are  in the background, acting as facilitators, watching for safety, and responding to questions.  **
**  ****Participant-directed inquiry, experiment & investigation.  Campers use the equipment & direct which objects to observe.  Advanced teen campers develop their own research projects & teams.  Staff teach basics, then advise & consult. **
**  ****Informal setting, including easy interaction with staff.  The detailed scheduled is flexible, changing as needed to respond to weather & interests.  **
**  ****In addition to more senior scientists, Camp heavily involves astronomy graduate students, plus some undergrads, thereby helping train the next generation of scientist-educators.**
**  ****Non-profit, independent, and market-driven.  Camps, except for the newer NASA-funded versions, depend on participant fees.  We rely on happy campers spreading the word of mouth.  Camps often sell out months in advance.  **

**FUNDING & TELESCOPE ACCESS**

- Astronomy Camps are a self-supporting non-profit program affiliated with the University of Arizona Alumni Association (Camps are open to anyone, not just alumni).  Most Camps are funded by camper fees, kept as low as possible through tight cost control, &  donations, mainly from former adult campers.  Scholarships are available for teenagers from lower-income families.  NASA recently started funding some of the Camps through Spitzer and James Webb Space Telescope education and outreach programs.
- Access to the three large telescopes is gained by competitive peer review, just like for any research project.  The Camp proposals often receive the highest ranking among all submitted for these facilities.

**Astronomy  Camp:   an  Adventure  in  Hands-on  Scientific  Inquiry**

- Eric J. Hooper1,2,3  and  Donald W. McCarthy4,5

- (1)  The University of Texas at Austin, ehooper@astro.as.utexas.edu;
- (2)  NSF Astronomy & Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellow;
- (3)  University of Arizona Astronomy Camp (formerly Associate Director);
- (4)  The University of Arizona, mccarthy@as.arizona.edu;
- (5)  Astronomy Camp Director

- www.astronomycamp.org

**LOCATION & EQUIPMENT**

- Astronomy Camps run from two nights to a week in the alpine setting of the Catalina Station of the University of Arizona’s Steward Observatory, one of the premier astronomy groups in the world.  The site is atop one of Arizona’s “sky islands,” an isolated mountain ecosystem in a sea of desert.  Despite proximity to Tucson, the skies are the darkest and clearest that many campers have seen, especially teenagers from urban areas.  Participants often cite the serenity and beauty of the location as an important part of their overall experience.  The campers & staff live in the astronomers’ dorms on site.  We utilize several telescopes, from modest size, to the largest to which most amateurs will have access (sizes listed below refer to primary mirror diameter, which determines a telescope’s light collecting capability):

**THE STANDARD ASTRONOMY CAMPS**

**A MAJOR NEW EMPHASIS**

**AN EXCITING FUTURE**

- A small group of business people, former adult campers, are planning major upgrades to the Mt. Lemmon summit site:
-   A 2 to 3 meter state-of-the-art telescope, designed for research and use at Astronomy Camps.
-   High-quality research instruments, likely emphasizing infrared and adaptive optics, along with eyepieces.
-   Upgrades to facilities, including new kitchen, common area, offices, etc.
-   An on-site science center emphasizing astronomical origins.
-   This will be an enormous upgrade in Camp’s capabilities and scale.
-   Timescale is 2-3 years.

**A DAY & A NIGHT IN THE LIFE OF AN ASTRONOMY CAMPER**

**THE POSTER BACKGROUND IMAGE**

**EDUCATION RESEARCH ON THE ADVANCED TEEN CAMP**

**OVERVIEW OF ADULT PROJECTS**

**OVERVIEW OF ADVANCED TEEN PROJECTS**

-   61” at Mt. Bigelow, a telescope with excellent optical quality, originally designed in part for mapping Apollo landing sites on the moon.  Use a 2” eyepiece for seeing planets, stars, nebulae, & galaxies directly.  Also utilize a research-grade electronic camera.
-   60” at Mt. Lemmon, a telescope with a newly refurbished primary mirror, used with an eyepiece and also a spectrograph.
-   30” at Mt. Lemmon, an older telescope used less frequently.  Mount either an eyepiece or a photometer for measuring the brightness of a single object.
-   12” Meade LX200 on a permanent mount in a dome on Mt. Lemmon, typically used with a commercial astronomical electronic camera.  This telescope is quite popular, despite its size, because the equipment lies within financial reach of many amateurs.
-   Several smaller telescopes, including one equipped with a solar filter, and a solar image projector (right).
-   Computers, image processing software, demonstration equipment, etc.

- Girl Scout Camps (currently autumn & spring) are part of a new large program, sponsored by NASA through the Near-infrared Camera for the James Webb Space Telescope (successor to the Hubble Space Telescope).  The primary emphasis is to “train the trainers”; these camps draw Scout leaders from across the nation, as well as education & outreach personnel from, e.g., the Jet Propulsion Lab & NASA Johnson Space Center.  One Scout leaders said, “I always thought that science was just memorizing facts, buy you guys are encouraging us to think and explore...”  This national effort has a great leverage potential for reaching people underrepresented in science; not only girls and women, but for example, 46% of Arizona’s Girl Scouts are non-white.

-   Beginning Adult Camp (every autumn).  Two nights  of mostly eyepiece observing of a variety of objects.
-   Beginning/Advanced Adult Camp (every spring).  Three nights of eyepiece and electronic camera imaging.  Images are processed during the day, & more advanced techniques and concepts are discussed.
-   Beginning Teen Camp (every June).  First type of astronomy camp created, in 1988.  Seven nights of eyepiece observing, electronic camera imaging, spectroscopy, and numerous daytime activities.

-   Advanced Teen Camp (every June, sometimes also July).  Fully project-oriented, highly advanced 8 night camp.  Almost all observing time is devoted to student-proposed and executed projects.  Data reduction and analysis is a high priority, culminating in seminar presentations on the projects at the end of the camp.
-   Camps for Educators (every June).  Three nights, similar to the adult camps but with a peer group of educators.  Discussions & activities center on professional development and classroom applications.
-   Specialized camps for school groups, from elementary to high school.

- The initiative has other components as well:
-   Heavy involvement with local Girl Scout council, including helping with national effort  and career events for 500 girls.
-   Scholarships for Girl Scouts to attend teen Camps.
-   Correcting major errors in extant Girl Scout astronomy materials.
-   Curriculum development, in part relating to the James Webb Space Telescope, including distribution to Girl Scouts.
-   Large student (graduate & undergraduate) involvement.
-   Planning the Girl Scout leaders camps.
-   Undergrads planning a 5th grade camp with a Scout leader.
-   Web site documents a grad student’s unfolding career path.
-   Creating annual astronomy badge day.
-   Donating time to Girl Scout star parties.

-   Reduce & analyze data; plan the next night’s observing (especially advanced teen camp).
-   Free time and dinner, then leave for various telescopes.

-   Observe on 3-4 telescopes on two mountains.  Those not observing work on data, talk with astronomers, look on the web for Hubble Space Telescope pictures of objects we observe, etc.

-   Have night lunch; switch telescopes depending on needs; bed.

-   Once per camp experiences:  insider tours of Steward Observatory Mirror Lab, observatories at Kitt Peak, Mt. Hopkins, or Mt. Graham.

- Adult campers mostly enjoy looking at and talking with the astronomers about a variety of objects.  Some of the advanced campers like more focused activities, including contributing to ongoing research.  Campers have helped identify a comet, imaged low surface brightness galaxies, and contributed to a survey for very high redshift quasars.

- Teen campers, particularly those in the advanced camp are very ambitious and often push the limits of feasibility in their proposed projects.  Staff astronomers help guide them in planning and execution, but an important part of the experience is learning to deal with the frustrations of research, limitations of equipment, and the great deal of time & effort it takes to accomplish much.  The projects range over many areas of observational astronomy, from our solar system to quasars, utilizing both imaging and spectroscopy.  Several advanced campers have continued working on their projects after the Camp and have used them to reach the finals in major science fair competitions.

- Astronomy Camps, particularly the teen camps, appear to have a major impact for a relatively short experience, based on feedback from participants, parents, and teachers.  A master’s thesis explored the reasons for this using interviews with campers and staff at the 2002 Advanced Teen Camp (2002, Deborah McCarthy, M.S. in Curriculum & Instruction at the University of Wisconsin, Madison; a copy is available at www.astronomycamp.org):
-   Youth centered:  Campers design & execute their own projects, with the help of staff, and are primarily responsible for the project’s success; they are trained to operate equipment and collect data largely independently; minimal rules with maximum impact help foster a sense of personal responsibility; there is a strong connection with peers & staff.
-   Meaningful science activities:  Campers draw a sharp distinction between school science and what they do at Camp, which is modeling the entire research enterprise from project conception, proposal, project planning, data collection, analysis, and presentation to the peer group.
-   Fun & aesthetic environment:  informal relationship with staff; accepting & helpful peers; scheduled relaxation time & spontaneous fun; and the beauty of the night sky, including time for stargazing and eyepiece observing.

- Teen Astronomy Campers use a thermal infrared camera to probe simulated Martian subsurface ice.  This group includes Girl Scout scholarship winners.

- Part of the Mt. Lemmon summit site.  The geodesic dome in the center is a former military tracking facility, recently decommissioned.  The building and pier are very robust, and this will likely house the new 2 to 3 meter privately funded telescope.  (The helicopter was working on fire suppression.)

- Messier 27, a.k.a. the Dumbbell Nebula, consists of the former outer layers of a dying star.  The hot remnant core of the star ionizes the gas.  The resulting emission lines produce the colors you see.  The stars are slightly elongated due to a small drift in the tracking of the telescope during the exposure.  This image was taken by participants in the spring, 2002 adult Astronomy Camp.  Note also the adjoining images taken by Campers.

- The Antennae, a pair of interacting galaxies.  Note streamers of stars & gas, ripped from the galaxies by gravity during the close passage (the streamers are actually much longer than visible here).  Blue knots are active star formation, triggered in part by the interaction.  Image taken by spring, 2002 adult campers.

- Messier 57, the famous Ring Nebula, It’s the shell of a dying star, similar to the poster background image.  Notice the hot (blue) remnant core of the former star at the center. Image taken by spring, 2002 adult campers.

- 61” telescope

- 60” telescope

- 30” telescope

- A “sun gun” in action.

- A Camp staffer (standing) helping a teen camper (sitting) collect data at the 30” telescope.