The following (emails) were written by members of the Astronomy and Astrophysics, Summer 2000 during the first day of the program. Some elements may have been removed for various reasons, but the text that remains is in the student's own words.
Interesting, learned about galaxy collisions and planetary orbit.
-Dayu
Today we talked about gravity and colliding galaxies. We did several spreadsheets and galaxy
models. Then we went on the internet and watched galaxies collide. It was a lot of fun and it was
really challenging..
-Sophia
I liked learning about the effects of gravity on things, such as when galaxies crash and how they
effect each others shape. I also liked doing the math to figure out the orbital paths of objects,
instead of just guessing.
-Ronnie
Today's activities were alot of fun! I enjoyed stimulating galaxies and making galaxies crash into
each other. I also had fun using the GalaxSee program to make mini models of the Earth, Sun, and
the Moon.
-Jabeen
I enjoyed today's activities very much. The galaxy simulator computer program was very cool. The
problems were challenging but fun to work on, and when I finally found the right numbers, I really
felt like I had accomplished something. I can't wait to come back tomorrow!
-Nelly
Today's class was vey interesting. I learned a lot of things about space and astronomy. Most of
this stuff is new to me because I'm a rising 9th grader(I haven't learned a lot of this stuff
yet.) By Wednesday, I hope to have this stuff down pack (understand,etc.)I really enjoyed today's
class.
-Le'Roy
The colliding galaxies were fun to watch and really pretty. making models of the Earth and Sun and
Moon on GalaxSee was fun too. The day was a little slow to start though, with the whole ball
dropping activity, but the rest was really awesome
-Nan