This was Girls’Day 2023

This year's Girls' Day took place on Thursday 27 April 2023 and MPIA and HdA participated.

How does an astronomer actually work? 16 female school students from Germany were able to answer this question at the Girls'Day at the Haus der Astronomie (HdA) in Heidelberg. The nationwide Girls'Day, the largest career orientation project for girls worldwide, aims to offer female students a unique opportunity to find out about careers and professions in which women are underrepresented.

At the HdA, participants were able to experience “first-hand” what it is like to be an Astronomer: With the help of two professional robotic telescopes, they were able to observe various galaxies and then edit photos of their galaxy.

For their observations, the girls used 40 cm telescopes from the Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO) network at the Haleakala Observatory in Hawaii and at the Siding Springs Observatory in Australia, provided by the Faulkes Telescope Project and LCO in collaboration with the Haus der Astronomie.

LCO is a non-profit organization dedicated to building and operating a worldwide network of professional robotic telescopes for science and education. The collaboration promotes LCO's goal of providing an inspiring experience in astronomy through the use of its robotic telescope network.

Access to the telescopes was made possible by the Faulkes Telescope Project, an important Global Sky Partner of LCO.

Following the live observation, the participants created their own images from the observation data, using suitable software. They were then able to take home the colourful and detailed images of the observed galaxies.

All the helpers on the MPIA campus would like to thank the participating girls for the commitment and motivation they brought with them and wish them every success in their future endeavours.

General information about the annual Girls' Day on the MPIA campus can be found here.

You can find out more about Girls' Day in general on the official homepage: https://www.girls-day.de/