Wow, I can hardly believe that it is the end of week three already! I have had the most amazing time so far on my internship and I’m learning so much. This past week I moved into the Mars Hill Lodge on the Lowell campus. It is about a minute walk from my work space at Lowell, which makes it very easy to go back and forth (and get a little extra sleep in the mornings). The other two students who I am sharing the lodge with are also my desk neighbors in the student work space. The student work space is shared between myself and five other undergraduates who are also interning and doing research at Lowell.
This past week I have been working on gathering and organizing all of the MANOS results for the asteroids. They have collected data on the asteroids’ astrometry, light curves, and spectroscopy. Astrometry is where an object is in the sky at a certain time, and over the course of multiple observations where astrometry data was taken on that object, we can calculate its orbit. The lightcurve data provides us with information on an object’s rotation and shape, while the spectroscopic data can classify the object based on what it is made of. All of this data needs to be reduced and analyzed, with the end product being plots and graphs of the light curve and spectroscopy and the text files for those images. I am adding the specific information on who did the reduction and analyzation of the data gathered for each observation, how they did it, and the actual images and text files of the results into the new system.
I also began a new side project this week: creating an observation schedule for a list of asteroids to get more data on. Planetary Resources sent us their list of asteroids that they see as potential targets for mining missions. Nick gave me the opportunity to generate the preliminary observing schedule for these asteroids. This involves using the Minor Planet Center’s database to figure out when the asteroid would be observable from a MANOS-associated observatory, as well as the dates of its maximum magnitude (brightness) and its sky motion (how fast it is moving across the sky) at that time. This has been very valuable because it has opened my eyes to the timeline of most of these projects and how much work goes into the results I have been working with. All of the potential observation times of these new targets are mid to late 2018. Once I have compiled a table with all of the necessary information, we will need to do our best to pick observation dates when we can view multiple objects in a night, and each object is bright enough to get reasonable data on. If we did not already have an observation time on the telescopes, we would have to send in observing proposals for telescope time. Then you actually have to go to the telescope and do your night of observing to get all of your raw data, which then has to be reduced and analyzed before producing your results.
On a slightly different note, this week I hosted my first open house with the Public Outreach Program. I opened up the Rotunda Museum for visitors to wander in, view all of the interesting exhibits on Pluto etc, and ask questions. I enjoyed getting out of my office space and learning more about the history of the search for Pluto and those involved.
This past Wednesday there were free dance lessons at Heritage Square in 
downtown Flagstaff. Two of the other student interns and I went down Wednesday evening and learned how to dance collegiate shag. The lesson lasted for the first hour, and then they open it up to anyone else who wanted to dance. We had so much fun that when we heard they were doing another lesson on Saturday at the Galaxy Diner, we figured we had to go! It was held at a really old-school diner and was formatted the same as the first session. This time we learned swing, and afterwards enjoyed cheeseburgers, fries, and milkshakes.
On Friday my grandparents and I took a day trip to Sedona for a hummingbird festival. I loved spending time with them and taking advantage of how close we are. It was very interesting and a good break from my work at Lowell. I can’t wait to see what next week brings!
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