The IEA UDP professor commented that “the school was a success, all students achieved the goals of their projects and presented good results, some of which may lead to publications next year.”
01/03/2024
During February, Evelyn Johnston, assistant professor at the Institute of Astrophysical Studies at the Diego Portales University, participated as a tutor at the Observation School held at the La Silla Observatory (located on the edge of the Atacama Desert).
The event took place “during two weeks of intense work, during which participants had real-life practical experience in the complete cycle from observation planning, observing with professional 2 to 4 meter telescopes, and reduction and subsequent data analysis,” explained the IEA UDP professor.
The school combined time at the ESO offices in Santiago preparing for the observations (selecting targets, calculating exposure times and preparing the observations), listening to science talks given with the ESO telescopes, and five nights at the La Silla Observatory where they finished their preparations and observed their data for three nights.
“We ended up reducing and analyzing the data, and on the last day the students presented their work to ESO astronomers. The school was a success, all students met their project goals and presented good results, some of which may lead to publications next year. And by the end of the two weeks, everyone became more comfortable with the process of observing and reducing their data, skills that are slowly being lost as more astronomy is done,” Johnston added.
