Astrocamp by Katie Carrell

In March I went to Astrocamp in Southern California. This was a great educational experience! We took a 5 hour bus ride to the camp. After settling in we went to our first class which was Atmosphere and Gasses. In this class we did an activity where we built a marshmallow man and then put him inside a vacuum chamber. First we made him larger by adding air to him and then we made him small again by taking air away. We also did an activity where we got to play with dry ice. During this class we learned about the gases in our atmosphere. Our next class was called Micro Meteorites. During this class we learned the definition of a meteor and that 20 tons of micro meteorites fall a day. We got to hunt for micro meteorites with a magnet, and then we looked at what we found under a microscope. That night we went up to the upper telescopes. While there we saw Jupiter and the Orion Nebula. When we finished looking through the telescopes we went inside to their observatory. While there we saw pictures of nebulas, planets, and clusters that they had taken with their camera.

The next day we started our day with a class called Solar Energy. In this class we got to look at sunspots and play with solar powered cars. While there we learned about what sun spots and solar flares looked like. After this class we went to a class called Lights and Lasers. Here we learned how different gasses look when under a black light and how a laser works. After lunch we built our rockets. The rockets were made out of plastic soda bottles. After everyone finished building their rockets we launched them. Mine stayed up in the air for 5.9 seconds. That night we made star charts. The star charts were planetarium style.

The next day our first class was Micro Gravity. In this class we learned what it is like for astronauts to work in space where there is no gravity. We had to build a satellite with pipes while not talking and having to float in the water. After that we went to the planetarium. We learned about the constellations and where they appear in the sky. The staff then told us stories about the constellations. After we finished this class we had to leave for home.

This was a terrific experience that was also educational. If I ever am granted the chance to go back I will because the experience was so wonderful. Visit www.guideddiscoveries.org for more information.