Astronomy Camp is a science

summer camp A summer camp or sleepaway camp is a supervised program for children conducted during the summer months in some countries. Children and adolescents who attend summer camp are known as ''campers''. Summer school is usually a part of the academ ...

hosted by the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

's Alumni Association, and run by astronomer Don McCarthy. Many of the early camps took place at the Mount Lemmon Station Observatory atop

Mount Lemmon Mount Lemmon, with a summit elevation of , is the highest point in the Santa Catalina Mountains. It is located in the Coronado National Forest north of Tucson, Arizona, United States. Mount Lemmon was named for botanist Sara Plummer Lemmon, who ...

, near

Tucson, Arizona , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

. On Mount Lemmon, the campers have access to a 12″, 20″, 40″ and 60″ telescope, and on the nearby Mount Bigelow site, a 61″ telescope. In recent years, the camp has also taken place at the

Kitt Peak National Observatory The Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) is a United States astronomical observatory located on Kitt Peak of the Quinlan Mountains in the Arizona-Sonoran Desert on the Tohono Oʼodham Nation, west-southwest of Tucson, Arizona. With more than ...

, where the students have access to a wide variety of telescopes, including the 90″ Bok Telescope, the

ARO 12m Radio Telescope The ARO 12m Radio Telescope (ARO12m or KP12m) is a 12-meter dish located on Kitt Peak, approximately from Tucson in Arizona at an elevation of . History The original dish was built in 1967 under the umbrella of the National Radio Astronomy O ...

, and a variety of smaller instruments. At both locations, the telescopes and other equipment are used for hands-on learning and research on a variety of astronomical topics. Campers are encouraged to propose their own projects and collect the data necessary to answer their research questions. Don McCarthy won the American Astronomical Society Education Prize in 2012 in part for his work running Astronomy Camp.

Location

*Mount Lemmon observatory: *Kitt Peak observatory:

References

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External links

Astronomy Camp Homepage
University of Arizona Summer schools