Summer Internship in the Space Museum AU LAP HANG

I worked at the Space Museum this summer from 26 May to 1 August. I helped setting up the iObservatory in Sai Kung; preparing exhibitions in the AstrPark; holding astronomical demonstrations and updating the Planet Finder. Besides, I visited its library frequently for its literature.

Setting up the iObservatory The iObservatory is located at the Lady MacLehose Holiday Village. It hosts a robotic telescope system which will later open for public use. What I have done are basic procedures in setting up a telescope, including mounting and aligning 2 auxiliary refractors on the main 24” reflector; re-balancing the telescope; and doing polar alignment for the equatorial mount, with the aid of software. We adjusted the polar alignment several times and after each time, we examined the result by taking CCD images. Since the work is only possible in good weather, I have only spent 4 nights at the observatory for the polar alignment. On the other hand, I also estimated the corrections to be made for the offset of the dome and the telescope.

Preparing exhibitions in the AstroPark The AstroPark is near the western dam of High Island Reservoir. It is planned to build star gazing facilities (large binoculars, pillars for mounts, long benches) and exhibit models of ancient Chinese astronomical equipment. I drafted the exhibition descriptions for the equipment. I also helped checking the design of an analemmatic sundial by calculating the angular positions of each hour, as well as the month marks.

Holding Astronomical Demonstration On 28 June, the Space Museum was invited to hold a session on introductory astronomy and space science for the Massmutual Jr. Space Camp. I did a presentation in a portable , which was controlled by script commands written before. During the presentation, a very brief picture of the universe was introduced.

Updating the Planet Finder The Planet Finder is a simple tool to identify the positions of planets in a particular time. The current version is capable to give fairly accurate positions from 2001 to 2010. With the aid of ephemeris software, I worked with Mark Kwan, a student helper from the University of Hong Kong, to update the Finder such that it works from 2009 to 2018.

Reading astronomy literature There is an internal library in the Space Museum for reference. During the 2-month internship, I borrowed books on objects, all sky survey, computer algorithms for astronomy and introductory cosmology from this library. Reading these books is like an unorganized astronomy course, in which I recognize some less well-known topics in astronomy. Although it is not related to my works, I think it is still a valuable experience during the internship.

Afterthoughts Working in the Space Museum is really a special experience for me as it is very different from normal amateur astronomy, in the sense of both practical skills and “hard” knowledge. In the practical aspect, I got some taste of setting up special equipment, in which dealing with unexpected conditions is more important than common sense or planned working procedures. In the knowledge aspect, it is a good opportunity to visit “cold” topics in astronomy including the mechanisms of ancient Chinese astronomy equipment, ephemeris and sundials.

Afterthoughts Working in the Space Museum is really a special experience for me as it is very different from normal amateur astronomy, in the sense of both practical skills and “hard” knowledge. In the practical aspect, I got some taste of setting up special equipment, in which dealing with unexpected conditions is more important than common sense or planned working procedures. In the knowledge aspect, it is a good opportunity to visit “cold” topics in astronomy including the mechanisms of ancient Chinese astronomy equipment, ephemeris and sundials.