Q: How did you first get into astronomy?

A: I got into astronomy through online friends during the summer after my 9th grade. They always talked about how astronomy was such a good subject to learn during your free time. As a result, I got peer pressured into doing it when they added me into a group chat.

Q: What first steps did you take in learning astronomy?

A: Although I didn’t learn it well enough, I started by skimming an online course that turned out to be useless. However, this course did provide some of its sources which were useful, so I started looking at those sources to see if I was actually interested in astronomy.

Q: Have you ever encountered any obstacles in your experience with astronomy?

A: I was interested in astronomy until I failed the open exam for the astronomy olympiad, However, I decided this summer to retry it. I decided that I should give astronomy another try.

Q: What did your experience in the astronomy olympiad teach you?

A: Don’t skim over solutions. Actually look at and learn from them or you’ll just be wasting your time.

Q: Are you interested at all in the observational side of astronomy?

A: Yes. I would jump on an opportunity to do observations with professionals.

Q: Have you ever done any observational or practical astronomy before?

A: Yes. I looked at some NASA recording data and used it for my science fair project on gamma ray bursts. The data recorded the time it was observed and many important data values that make up the GRB. A mentor helped me handle the code for this project.

Q: What did your research experience teach you?

A: The whole entire research process. Finding the dataset and interpreting the dataset to reach important conclusions.

Q: What further steps in astronomy do you plan on taking now?

A: I plan on finding a proper professor to help me understand all of the equipment used in observational astronomy. 

Q: Overall, what benefits has astronomy had for you?
A: I have a broader understanding of what goes on above us.