From August 23rd to September 4th, our team has the privilege of hosting and mentoring a group of high school students as part of the 7th edition of the Magurele Science and Technology Summer School (MSciTeh). This year, the summer school's theme was "The Applications of Science for Security and Safety," a subject that allowed students to explore the intersection of cutting-edge science and real-world applications.

Our specific focus within this broader theme was on "Space Safety - Detecting Asteroids from Astronomical Observations." Over the course of the summer school, the students learned about the importance of tracking near-Earth objects and the technology used to detect them.

Throughout the program, the students assisted to a variety of presentations by their mentors, covering essential topics in astronomy, astrophysics, and data analysis. They worked collaboratively in teams, developing both their technical skills and their ability to communicate complex scientific ideas effectively. The interaction was a two-way street; as mentors, we were constantly inspired by the students' enthusiasm, curiosity, and fresh perspectives.

One of the highlights of the summer school was the night of August 26th, when students, accompanied by some of their mentors, engaged in hands-on astronomical observations. Using an ATIK 16200 CCD camera, they captured images of the asteroid 16 Psyche. These images were then processed and analyzed as part of their research projects. This practical experience gave the students a taste of real-world scientific research and the challenges that come with it.

As the program draws to a close, we cannot wait to assist the students' presentations on September 3rd. During this session, they will showcase their research findings, which will be evaluated by participating STEM teachers and researchers. Each research topic will nominate a mentor, who will participate in the voting process as part of the judging procedure.

The "Magurele Science and Technology Summer School" has once again proven to be an incredible platform for nurturing young scientific talent. The knowledge, skills, and experiences gained by the students during this program will undoubtedly serve as a strong foundation for their future academic and professional endeavors. We are proud to have been a part of their journey and look forward to seeing where their passion for science takes them next.

This year, our group participated to Space Fest, an event dedicated to space activities, which gathers  at the same place astronauts, scientists and representatives of the aeronautical industry. As this year was it’s second edition, we stepped up our game as well. More about the event can be found here,

We showed up with a gravitational wave simulator witch we used not only for showcasing how gravitational waves are formed, but also for describing the type of signals LISA will detect and how it will emit alerts to other observatories once a gravitational wave is found.  We invited visitors of all ages to help us with our citizen science project: we challenged each of them to make their own waveform by throwing a lighter ball on a stretchy fabric which already had a heavy ball on it. The lighter ball would start insprialing around the heavier one until the two objects “merged”. The deformations of the fabric were recorded with a video camera and each movie clip was afterwards analysed and transposed in a waveform. We also connected the fabric to a computer so that an audible signal would be made when a wave would move close to the LISA mockup.

For those of you who created waveforms on our simulator, the waiting time is finally over! We processed all the signals you created and now it is finally time for you to discover what your distortion in space and time looks like!

When analysing the recorders, we used a python code which is publicly available here.  The formalism we used for computing the waveform is presented in the poster below (click on the image to enlarge it):

The gravitational wave you can see here is the ideal model, but the universe always amazes us with all kind of more exotic waveforms. So do not worry if your waveform doesn’t look exactly like the one in the poster; it only means that you were a more eccentric source yourself ;) .

All you have to do now is to PUSH THE BUTTON! ;-)