Knox College Astrophysics Day 6: Land of the Free
Today is day 6, July 4th, independence day! I wake up as a proud American, get changed, and head to the Umbeck Science-Mathematics center for breakfast, consisting of various donut hole flavors, fruit, and yogurt.
Following this, I head into a classroom for an insightful lecture on telescopes, describing the different types of telescopes and zooming in onto the physics behind how and why they work. This lesson was relaxing for my brain, considering we previously had very challenging lectures on spherical trigonometry and astronomical time. But even though the classes are difficult, it is okay because according to Dr. Andersen, “all beings must suffer to become pure”.
After this, we had a special Independence day lunch! I try to make my meal as American as possible with ribs, a hamburger with tomato, onion, ketchup, and American cheese, as well as a cold Coca-Cola. We had more time for lunch today, and after I finished my food, I headed over to the game room to play ping-pong and pool with friends.
Following this, I return to the science building for a lecture on the kinematic equations and calculus involving vectors. We then applied our learnings by using Matplotlib and python to show the relation between x-position and y-position as well as x and y velocity and time visually. We then had a dinner of amazing pizza and soda in the science building, and eating while looking outside from the second floor and laughing with friends has got to be my best dinner here so far.
Since I had finished my work yesterday, I spent my extra time making paper airplanes out of my old scratch paper (which I have a lot of!) and testing them outside. Obviously, since it was the 4th of July, we headed up to the roof where the telescope is located to watch the fireworks once it started getting dark. Fireworks are illegal in Illinois, but the people of Galesburg really love them, as they were setting fireworks off as early as 7/1! We saw fireworks everywhere, with someone even launching them near the buildings right next to us on campus (they probably got kicked out because they stopped soon after). My favorite firework was probably the very loud “nuclear fireworks” that lit up the night sky. To finish the show, a house nearby set off a ton of big and bright fireworks which exploded right in front of us.
I walk back to the dorm, proud to be an American where at least I know I’m free, and get ready for another amazing day tomorrow.
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Andrew F.
Hello, I am Andrew from Washington. I’ve made many great friends at SSP by working together on problem sets, making jokes and discussing common interests. I love anything aerospace, like planes, rockets, and space and I hope to pursue an engineering or aerospace major. My favorite plane is the F-104 Starfighter.
