Thanks to the St John’s Opportunities Fund, Isabella Castel-Branco was able to travel to St Andrew’s over a weekend to represent the Durham Astronomical Society at a forum organised by the Institute of Physics.
FUSE is an annual meeting in which students from universities across the UK are brought together to represent their schools’ Physics and Astronomy societies. Over the course of two days, various informative (and fun!) activities were held for us to meet and exchange ideas.
Successive conferences were held by the hosts and volunteers to give insight and tips on running large-scale events, essentially spreading awareness on the most common difficulties encountered and how to overcome them. Then, less formally, there were social meals and panel sessions for everyone to mix and exchange on a personal level. It very rapidly became friendly, and I learnt more than I could have imagined: we conversed about social event ideas, trip organisation, night-sky observation sessions as well as astronomy-related videogames, planetarium art tech and so much more.
Our stand was adorned with AstroSoc fleeces, stickers and the poster for our most recent trip to Kielder Observatory. It seemed that the number of attendees for our observation sessions is what surprised other societies most – on a good night, we host up to 120 attendees!
Whilst stargazing was in the plans and what I expected to do most, it was Scotland, after all – the only observable objects in the sky were clouds. Still, we visited the grand James Gregory Telescope, the largest of its kind in the world. Seeing it spin and calibrate just before our eyes was amazing and its sheer size was impressive. The counterweights (i.e. the extra attached masses that stop it from swivelling, wobbling or toppling over) alone weigh more than a ton and the telescope itself is approximately four meters high and one meter wide! Astronomy students there are allowed to use it for projects, just as we are in Durham with the Physics roof-top telescopes.
Being invited both as a participant and listener was an excellent opportunity, as it allowed me to meet others for future collaborations whilst also bringing so much back to Durham, including knowledge and enthusiasm, which I am excited to apply next term. In our free time, we also thoroughly enjoyed everything St Andrews had to offer by visiting every street and even going for an early morning swim as a group on St Andrew’s Day!
I am deeply grateful to have met so many interesting and friendly physics and astronomy students in such a setting, making it an unforgettable experience.
Thank you sincerely to the St John’s Opportunity Fund for the support.
Image Credit: Isabella Castel-Branco.
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