In my previous account I explained the reason for my lack of time currently (my study) but then, I’m always greedy when it comes to time. In any case, here are the pictures of ASTRON’s open day, I meant to show a little sooner.
It was a great day! Nice weather, lots of interested people and a good atmosphere. I got an ASTRON sweater and sat behind a computer. The Zooniverse team was too busy with their newest project to send me login-codes-on-cards, so instead I handed out lots of pieces of paper with our web addresses written on it. Worked fine too.
There was a little boy named Peter, who asked: “May I learn here?” and Dana (who’s age is “almost eight”) classified for what seemed like hours. I also explained Hubble Zoo to a big sister, who then went to tell her little brother how he could be an ‘astronomer for a day’. But our Zoo was popular with adults as well. Lots of them had already heard of my discovery and two visitors who introduced themselves as Wendy van Dijk and assistant, came up to me saying they’d recognised me from the pictures. They were saying to each other ‘go ask her something’, but instead they just wanted to say hi. Sweet eh?! I also posed for some pictures and smiled when I heard people talking about the Hanny’s Voorwerp poster behind me, without realising ‘that Hanny’ was standing right next to them.
But there was a lot more to do of course! One of my favourites was Michiel’s comet show. Like a ‘Mad Scientist’ he explained what comets are by producing them on stage. I loved his enthusiasm. And his teaching skills left lots of people in awe. While carefully touching the homemade comet a woman in the audience responded with a “wow is that really true?” to one of Michiel’s facts. Isn’t learning great?!
If you weren’t there, you missed a good Sun-day out. I expect lots of people went for an autumn walk in the forest after some snacks, being a little wiser on what the dishes in Dwingeloo do and what the newest developments are. Have a look at ASTRON’s account for more pictures and make sure you attend next time!
Pictures: Hanny van Arkel.
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Nice account and pictures of what sounded a great day!
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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by ASTRON -Mike Garrett, Hanny van Arkel. Hanny van Arkel said: Finally, here's some pictures I took at @ASTRON_LOFAR's open day: http://bit.ly/bTeClr [...]