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It is enviable to think that come fall, when theirfriends ask them what they did over the summer,only 29 of over 50 million high school studentsacross the United States will be able to say thatthey attended the 2008 Advanced Teen As-tronomy Camp. Only 29 students, plus their 11counselors, will be able to say that they had thechance to see Jupiter and the Whirlpool galaxythrough a 61 " telescope, that they used liquidnitrogen to freeze ice cream, and that theycamped out in the lobby of the Large BinocularTelescope (LBT) atop Mt. Graham.To all who seek to experience such rare, once-in-

a-lifetime adventures, let me be the first to tellyou about astronomy camp, the ultimate destina-tion for anyone who likes science.But first, you may be

wondering: just what is thisAstronomy Camp? Well, it ismany things. Astronomy Campis a ten day scientific engage-ment of the mind, in whichcampers at all levels plungeinto the depths of the world ofastronomy, armed with eleven

counselors and four telescopesequipped with spectrometers,photometers and CCD imagersto explore the universe andanswer their own questionsabout it. It is, to my knowl-edge, the only camp in theworld whose participants canboast the gaining of a deep-

Above: Or McCarthy leads an activity in which the campers, eachrepresenting a different planet, produce a scale model of the solar system.Below: The Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) and the SubmillimeterTelescope (SMT) atop Mt. Graham.

ened scientific curiosity, astrengthened sense of articula-tion and eloquence, experiencein the expansion of one'scomfort zone, a better under-standing of oneself, and last butcertainly not least, fearlessnesstowards moths - all within tendays! Said simply, AstronomyCamp is an unofficial synonymof the word "paradise," or so Ihave declared after myexperiences there this summer.It all started at home in

Burke,Virginia, when I firstbegan researching for myadmissions essay, a descriptionof life on a hypothetical planetof the binary star Procyon A.Five days of skipping lunch-time at school to go to thelibrary instead paid off when Iproudly placed my essay andforms in an envelope andmailed it off to Arizona, an

action which was followed bywhat seemed like ages ofwaiting impatiently for a reply.My eagerness was quickly

replaced by exhilaration whenI received notification from Dr.McCarthy, the camp director,informing me that I had beenaccepted into camp. Then,before I knew it, I was aboard aplane; destination: Arizona, andthe promise of excitement in

the days to come!My first and perhaps greatest

mistake was in wearing a longsleeve shirt on the plane. Irealized with embarrassmentwhat a stupid thing that was todo when I arrived at the TucsonInternational Airport, a sleek andthankfully air-conditionedbuilding full of friendly tan folksdressed in tank-tops and shorts.My idiocy hung even heavierover me when I stepped outsideinto the sweltering 1070 heat,although I got used to seeingthrough perpetual heat wavesafter the first couple of hours.Luckily for me, the temperatureatop Mt. Lenml0n, our soon-to-be residence for the next week,would be much cooler.After meeting the counselors

and other campers, we beganthe drive from Tucson to Mt.Lemmon. There were 29 of usfrom 13 different states andMexico. Our counselors weremostly former astronomycampers, ranging in profession

from astronomers to profes-sors/ educators and some ofthem were students in collegewho were majoring in as-tronomy or physics. We hadplenty of time to get to knoweach other during the two-hour drive from Tucson to Mt.Lenml0n. Whenwe finallyarrived, wehad time onlyto lug oursuitcases to ourrooms beforeDr. McCarthywould showus the build-ings and var-ious telescopedomes thatspeckled the mountain.We watched the sunset from

the roof of the army tower, abuilding where we wouldgather each day to dine and seethe counselors' presentations.The mesmerizing hues of thesunset rivaled the beauty of the

stars and view of the MilkyWay, when night fell. Theseemingly infinite number ofstars sharply contrasted withwhat I was used to seeing athome - 20 stars maximum ona really clear night. I saw formyself the true effects of lightpollution and was stunned.We ended our first day by

driving to the 61" telescope onthe nearby Mt. Bigelow, wherewe spent the night viewingvarious things ranging from theWhirlpool galaxy, to theglobular cluster MIS.The next day we set to work

on writing telescope proposalsfor our research projects. Therewere four telescopes availableto us: the 61", the 60", the 20"and the 12", each equippedwith a spectrometer, a photom-eter or a CCD. I planned topursue two projects, whichwould require the 61", the 60",the CCD and the spectrometer.My first project was a teameffort with two other campers,and it consisted of imagingvarious merging galaxies andrecreating their collision withan online computer simulation.I worked alone on the

second project, a spectroscopicstudy of spiral galaxies toinvestigate a correlationbetween the elementalcomposition of the disk andthe intensity of star formation

taking placethere. Unfortu-nately, becauseof cloudyweather, I wasnot able tocollect any datafor the secondproject, so Iinstead focusedon the firstone.Our group

had managedto image two galaxies: NGC7256, and UGC 10214 (TheTadpole Galaxy). The three ofus were all new to astropho-tography, and we had a lot offun combining the color

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A week ~tAstr~n~t1l~

'~t1l~exposures and editing theimages with a program calledIRAF. The campers wouldtypically spend their daysreducing data collected fromthe previous night (that is, ifthey got any).The cloudy weather that

plagued the sky for most of thenights of camp was quiteupsetting when the time cameto collect data - not just forme, but for everyone's researchprojects. I recall numerousoccasions in which the entirecamp would remain in thearmy tower for the night,playing cards because ofthunderstorms outside. We didvarious activities during timeslike these, including havingdance parties, electrocuting a

pickle, freezing things withliquid nitrogen and buildingour own crystal radios!With 75% of the nights

being cloudy, I am especiallyglad that the skies were clearon the night that we spent atthe LBT.We spent the night inthe lobby, with the researchteams taking shifts to hikedown and use the nearby Sub-millimeter Telescope (SMT).Dr. McCarthy took a group ofus out to go stargazing ataround midnight. I waseuphoric and was treated to aspectacular view of the MilkyWay and countless meteors.The next day, before leaving

for Mt. Lemmon, we took agroup photo atop the SMT,toured the LBT and the nearbyVatican Telescope, or the "popescope," as we playfully called it.Of the three telescopes, Ifound the LBT to be the mostimpressive. Its two 8.4 m.etermirrors seem a lot bigger inperson than when you areseeing pictures of them.

On the last day, we gatheredat the army tower to presentour research projects to theother teams. The projects wereinteresting and varied, rangingfrom imaging an asteroid, to astudy of spiral galaxy morphol-ogy. Unfortunately, many ofthem had been ruined by thecloudy weather as well.On the last day of camp, we

packed our bags and droveback to Tucson for an awardsceremony. All of the campersreceived an award for some-thing goofy they did duringcamp. My prize was a textbookand poster, for balancing anotebook on my head for 20minutes without dropping it.In addition to that, a couple ofother people and I were alsoawarded with space art, forcompleting the observingchallenge, which was basically alist of stars, constellations, andmessier objects to see duringcamp. There was also an awardfor best astrophotography,given to a girl named Katy,

whose work will be displayedin the National Air and SpaceMuseum. We all exchangedemails and promises to keep intouch before saying ourgoodbyes and going ourseparate ways. This was perhapsthe most bittersweet momentof camp, knowing that mynostalgia would soon berelieved, but at the cost of thechance to do more astronomy.I missed the other campers a

lot more than I had anticipated,considering the fact that I hadonly known them for ten days.The sense of unity brought onby the common interest inastronomy was different fromanything I had ever experi-enced before. I enjoyed camp alot despite the clouds' negativeimpact on my research project.Astronomy Camp, for me, was

among the best weeks of my life,an intellectual voyage beyondfun. I recomnlend it to anyonewho is interested in me nightsky.For more information, go towww.astronomycamp.org. *

Clockwise from above: The campers head to theArmy Tower for breakfast. Or. McCarthy, the campdirector, does a demonstration involving liquid nitrogen.The participants write research proposals. The camperstour the Vatican Telescope atop Mt. Graham. Thecounselors prepare the 61-inch telescope atop Mt.Bigelow for the campers to use.