During last week I participated as a volunteer (helping in observation and data reduction) at the 34th International School for Young Astronomers (ISYA) which was jointly organized by the International Union of Astronomy (IAU), University of Cape Town (UCT) and the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) and hosted at the headquarters of SAAO in Cape Town. The school mainly concentrates on observational astronomy encompassing topics like stellar astronomy, galaxies and cosmology, instrumentation, and public outreach.
In addition to the lectures and other activities done in Cape Town, the participants spent one week of observing using SAAO's small telescopes at Sutherland (near to where our 3 × 1-meter and 3 × 0.4-meter telescopes are being installed). During the day time the participants reduced and analyzed their data and finally when they are back to Cape Town, they presented their findings. They also had a chance to visit the different facilities at the observatory site including LCOGT's facilities.
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In addition to helping in the observation and data analysis, I gave a presentation for the participants about the LCOGT mission and the facilities that will soon be available for public outreach and education as well as science purposes. I also gave a brief description about the Agent Exoplanet citizen science program and many of the participants were very excited and keen to take the Agent Exoplanet activities to their respective community.
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During the one week stay in Sutherland, I visited schools in the town and gave a presentation to the various schools about LCOGT activities, the robotic facilities and how they can be used to different activities students can participate in (such as asteroid search and astrophotography). I gave tours of the LCOGT facilities to two groups of school kids and their teachers explaining what the facilities are for and how schools in South Africa benefit from the different program LCOGT is running at the moment. Overall, there was a big excitement among all the people who heard the news that robotic telescopes that can be used for educational purpose are coming to South Africa and Africa. Many are looking forward to using them to drive education and public understanding of astronomy in their community. Most importantly, my visit created an opportunity to plan more organized future activities not only in Sutherland but also in the neighboring towns in the near future.