The first GoChile summer school of astronomy

Participants of the first GoChile summer school of astronomy. Photo: summer school archive

The first GoChile Astronomy Summer School took place from 26 to 31 August 2022. Sixteen students gathered at the Hiša mladih in Ajdovščina to learn about research work in astrophysics.

The programme included theoretical lectures in various fields of astrophysics and physics. The lecturers, both Slovenian and foreign scientists (some of the lectures were in English), also gave advice on careers in science. The participants also visited the Faculty of Natural Sciences (University of Nova Gorica) where they looked at different physics laboratories.

The main part of the school consisted of an observational project, where the GoChile telescope played a major role. The participants were divided into small groups and chose a project to work on. They observed asteroids, galaxies, exoplanet transits and variable stars. They then thought about how they wanted to tackle the project and finally carried out the observations. They processed and analysed the data and presented them on the final day of the school. The students were supported by five experienced astronomers.

Students while searching for planets. Photo: summer school archive

Despite the busy schedule, there was plenty of time for walks in nature. We also challenged the participants with an orientation hike - a planet-hunting tour of a scale model of the Solar System in the centre of Ajdovščina. We wrote about the first summer school and the projects the students carried out in a longer article in the November issue of Spika. Student Alexander Gaydukov also wrote an article about his project for Presek magazine.

The participants themselves can tell you the best about the summer school. Here are two impressions from the school, which were also published in Spika magazine.

This summer I attended the 1st GoChile Summer School. I researched exoplanets, which are one of the more popular research topics in astronomy at the moment. The exoplanet I chose to observe was WASP-145 Ab, which was visible from Chile at the time, its parent star is not too faint to observe, and the dimming of the star at the exoplanet's transit was achievable with our telescope. I started observing the planet shortly before the passage started to get data on the star's glow when there was no planet in front of it. Then I watched the transit and finished half an hour after I was sure that the planet had indeed finished its transit and the star had regained its initial glow. This was a really interesting project to work on and I was very pleased with the result. I did not expect such an interesting challenge and I am very happy to have gained this experience and all this new knowledge. I had a really great time at the summer school and enjoyed all the lectures we had. They were very varied and gave us an insight into many areas of astronomy and astrophysics. I would love to attend more camps like this.

Neja Pisk, Škofijska Gimnazija Vipava

At the Summer School of Astronomy in Ajdovšina high school students gathered from all over Slovenia to improve their knowledge of astronomy and gain some practical experience in astronomical research. I took part in a project where we observed the passage of the exoplanet WASP-28b in front of the parent star around which it orbits. This exoplanet belongs to a group of hot, Jupiter-like planets. It has a very short year of only a few days, and the brightness of the star around which it orbits decreases by about one per cent during the transit. Using the data we collected, we plotted a light curve of the transit, from which we were able to calculate the ratio of the size of the planet to the star, the distance of the planet from the star... We compared our data with catalogue data. We gained theoretical knowledge during numerous lectures on astronomy and astrophysics. Weather permitting, we also spent one evening observing the night sky with the school telescopes. An important part of the summer school was the socialising among us, students who share an interest in astronomy and other natural sciences.

Vid Oven, Gimnazija Vič

On the last day students presented their work. Photo: summer school archive

At the end of the school we were tired but happy. Photo: summer school archive