My Nonprofit Reviews

I hold the 18th of March 2022 as one of the best days of my life. I woke up at 8 AM to have received the most beautiful email I could have desired, my acceptance letter to the Summer Science Program in Astrophysics in Boulder. In shock but delighted, I called my parents to tell them the big news. I immediately started researching the visa application process and was luckily able to obtain one in time to participate in the camp. Several weeks before my departure, while doing my astronomy preparation, I was struck by a revelation from thoughts I had been having for a few days: I was leaving my family for six weeks to engage in what people call the experience of a lifetime. My heart would beat like crazy, my palms and feet were sweaty and cold because of the nervousness, and my inner self was not only pleased but indeed happy.

I took a flight from Budapest and arrived in Munich for a short layover, and then I had the next flight to Chicago. Once I arrived there, I learned that my next flight to Denver got canceled, so I had to go and talk to an airline assistant. They were able to give me another ticket, but it caused me to arrive in Denver one day earlier than previously planned. I had to call the Site Director to pick me up at 1 AM because, as a minor, I could not get a room at the hotel next to the airport. I arrived on campus at about 3 AM as the first participant. Having woken up the teacher assistants, I had ironically made a dramatic entrance.

On my first day in Boulder, as the other participants started arriving, I got to know some of them. I created initial friendships, engaged in academic and casual conversations, and met my future team members. On our second day, as a team, we wrote our asteroid proposal to explain to the professors which asteroid we wanted to analyze for the next five and a half weeks and why. We were assigned 1993 MO, a medium-sized, rather dim than bright rock, and we started specialized observations using an advanced telescope to take photographs. Then, we used an astrometry tool to calibrate the pictures and identify the celestial position of the asteroid.

On the observatory deck, we would start by setting up the telescope and preparing it to open the roof. We took multiple sets of different images to ensure that each observation night would result in successful, usable data. Astronomy is a rather delicate field requiring perfect weather conditions, even the slightest cloud could affect the precision and quality of our observations. This is why we had to postpone several observation nights and could not waste any of the prospective ones. Toward the end of camp, we had finished the observations on the asteroid, so we decided to use our last few observation nights creatively. My team chose to take pictures of the Eagle Nebula using a filter with a very long exposure time, waiting was worth the results. Using another astrometry tool, we added color to the black-and-white photographs creating a beautiful and colorful memory.

On the other hand, our lectures on different math, physics, astronomy, and programming topics were very useful in preparing us for our final project, a final, consistent report on our asteroid. While I was confident about my math skills before arriving at the camp, I was unsure about my physics knowledge and was relatively new to astronomy and programming. Nonetheless, the brilliant lectures and guidance from our professors and assistants aided enormously in solving problem sets and eventually composing the final report. Spending whole days in the observatory, we developed many codes to help us write our last code and solved tons of math, physics, and astronomy problems to ensure we did indeed understand the entire process we were using.

Our final week involved finishing the Orbital Determination code. Starting from the images obtained from several observation nights and based on five-week-long accumulated information from lectures, we coded a very intricate program to determine the orbital elements of our memorable rock. Although just a beginner when I arrived at the camp, I fulfilled the very complex, final task, something I did not think myself capable of five weeks before. The work on the report flew naturally after that, and after some days, we finished it. It represented the result of a five-week-long, great collaboration combined with exhausting coding, intensive problem sets, and unforgettable observation nights. Moreover, we sent the data obtained with the aid of the pictures taken on the observation nights to the Minor Planet Center, and it was reviewed and ultimately published.

Our last day could not have lacked more tears. It was time for each member of the SSP team to go their way and explore the mysteries of the universe on their own. At the airport, I walked most of my fellow scientists to their gates, where we said our goodbyes. Eventually, the time came for me to be accompanied to the gate and return to reality back home. I was so glad to have taken part in this surreal experience, but as for any journey, it was time for it to end. I entered the airplane and found my seat. I left the American ground and all my friends and arrived nine hours later in London. Then, Frankfurt followed, and then Budapest, where I saw my parents again. My tear reserve was empty by that time, but the sight of my parents filled my heart with warmth. They took me back home, and after two days of non-stop traveling, my first American experience had finished.

Months later, I regularly flip through the report and the pictures on my phone and remember everything as if I was just back in my seat in the observatory. I am sad because every beautiful experience must end at some point. Nevertheless, I am joyous to have lived the experience of a lifetime.

Dragoș Monea - Romania