Colby Astro Blog – Day 23

Today began like most other days, waking up at 7:30, taking a shower then walking to the infamous Dana dining hall. At the dining hall, I was greeted by the monstrosity, which is breakfast pizza.

After breakfast, we made a speedy walk to the Keyes building for our first lecture of the day. Having completed all of the mathematical theory behind the orbital determination project, we have begun special lectures! This morning’s lecture was Dr. Robinson’s on special relativity. After a brief historical introduction to how the founding principle of special relativity was determined, we applied our knowledge to some wacky paradoxical situations. People can observe different events at different times, and measure objects at different lengths!

After the lecture, we headed to the dining hall for lunch, where we discussed how airplanes are really uncomfortable and how we should implement hanging body bags to make flights more comfortable. Imagine flying and you can just be snuggled up in a hanging bag feeling weightless.

After lunch, we had another special lecture by Dr. Kim on White Dwarf stars and her particular research into the subject. She also shared with us her experience as a researcher and her track to becoming a scientist.

After the lecture, I took some time to decompress in my room before taking a shower and getting dressed for dinner. At dinner, we talked about kebabs and our favorite foods while feasting on some blueberry crisp with raspberry ice cream. Remy ate 7 pieces of pizza too.

We finished out the night while toiling over the dreaded ephemeris table coding assignment. It is very evil, but we bonded through our shared trauma. Another late, but fun night in the books. Excited for our trip to the beach tomorrow!

Blog Author

Thomas

SSP Participant

Hi, my name is Thomas Armstrong, and I’m from Franklin, a town located just south of Nashville, TN. Some of my hobbies include reading, rowing, technical theater, and learning Chinese. My primary passion is physics, and I have a particular interest in theoretical cosmology. At SSP, I am a part of Tiny Tem, my team with Lincoln and Helen.