CFHT UM2025 - Presentation Details
Abstract Details
Title: Watch How Science Happens Live! Shadow the Scientists at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope
Presenter: Viraja Khatu
Abstract:
2025 marks the inaugural year of Shadow the Scientists (StS) at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT). Born in the early times of the COVID-19 pandemic, StS is an initiative of the University of California Santa Cruz that offers a platform for students and the general public to witness how science happens in real time. People have the opportunity to engage with scientists as they are working on their science. Most StS events are organized remotely via Zoom so that people, even across borders, can connect and learn in the comfort of their armchair. Over the course of its five successful years, the StS program, which broke ground with its first session in Astronomy, has expanded to other disciplines such as Tropical Forest Ecology and Oceanography. During CFHT StS sessions, we showcase how our Remote Observers perform night-time observations remotely from the control room at our headquarters in the town of Waimea. Remote Observers, singlehandedly, perform every task starting from weather check, telescope and observatory safety checks to sending observations to the telescope control system to preparing and distributing a night report to the CFHT observing team. In the poster, I will present content from our initial StS events and what is in store for the near future.