14/01/2025 20:00
this IAP, i am in Tenerife for 12.411 (astronomy field camp), which is an observational astronomy lab intensive class that satisfies the thesis requirement for astronomy minors and some unknown requirement for course 12 (earth and planetary science) majors. as part of the class, we work on various research projects, taking and reducing our own data. usually, we take projects various people are working on and obtain the data they need as part of a larger project. the class ends with final presentations and write-ups to the PI that explain the data taken and results deduced. today, i am observing at Artemis, which is a 1m optical infrared telescope part of the SPECULOOS (Search for habitable Planets EClipsing ULtra-cOOl Stars) program which hunts for exoplanets around cool stars (Jan T. ’26 disagrees). i am here with Jayna E. ’27 and since both of us are driving this for the first time, Jensen (TA) and Amius are teaching us how to use it. the procedure for running Artemis is fairly automated so I will be heading over to IAC-80 (80cm telescope) at some point and then, the observing shall continue until some point in the morning. Wahoo.