As in the recent past, one of the winner teams of the international contest Catch a Star visits Calar Alto Observatory. Marta Kotarba, with her teacher Grzegorz Sęk, from Poland, shared with us three nights during which they were able to get close to Calar Alto facilities and the daily work at a modern astronomical observatory.

Catch a Star is an international contest run by ESO and the European Association for Astronomy Education (EAAE). Every year, the Spanish Council for Scientific Research offers a trip to Calar Alto Observatory and to Granada city as the second prize. This year's winners were Marta Kotarba and her teacher Grzegorz Sęk, from the school IV Liceum Ogólnokształcące im. Tadeusza Kościuszki, from Poland.

Marta's project "Galaxy Zoo and I" tells how she joined the website "Galaxy Zoo" to study galaxies and help astronomical researchers understand the structure of the universe.

Our guests visited all the telescopes of the Spanish-German Astronomical Centre, and their ancillary facilities as well. During three nights they had the chance to live at the mountain in the same conditions as the professional astronomers coming here to perform their scientific work.

Marta has begun her university studies on physics and astronomy this year. We hope that his visit to our facilities has reinforced her interest for science. Hopefully, we will find her involved in professional astronomical research in a very near future.

© Calar Alto Observatory, September 2009                                This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it