Hector-Seminar students present their research

Gifted students present their research projects

This evening, members of the "Hector-Seminar", an organization that fosters gifted high-school students, presented the results of their cooperation projects with the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA) and the Haus der Astronomie. Cooperation projects – small-scale research projects in cooperation with local research institutes – constitute the final phase of the Hector-Seminar's multi-year program.

The presentation, which took place in the HdA's central Klaus Tschira Auditorium, involved five students presenting their three research project. The first project involved the simulation of what astronomers can see when they observe certain types of exoplanets (that is, planets orbiting stars other than the Sun). The project advisors were Jeroen Bouwman (MPIA) and Markus Pössel (HdA).

Next, two students presented their analysis of observations of cloud bands in the atmosphere of Jupiter, the Solar System's largest planet. For their project, the students had also made some observations on their own using the MPIA's 50 cm telescope, ably supported by Carolin Liefke (HdA). The final presentation concerned student research using publicly accessible data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), with a view towards deriving the basics of cosmic expansion. The project advisors were Arjen van der Wel (MPIA) and Markus Pössel (HdA).

Link

Web pages of the Hector-Seminar (in German)