This January, the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias is hosting, for the third time, the ‘MIT Astronomy Field Camp’, the historic scientific camp that the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) offers to its students of planetary sciences and astronomy with the aim of providing them with the real experience of working in a professional observatory. On this occasion, nine students have been at the Teide Observatory, in Tenerife, since 7th January, where they have carried out various astronomical observations.

Dr. Michael Person has been the coordinator of this activity that began in the year 2023 with the first camp in Tenerife, that has meant the beginning of a new chapter in the history of this renowned camp that has been celebrated for more than four decades. The initiative is part of the scientific projects and the collaboration that MIT and the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias have maintained for years, as occurs, among others, in the framework of the SPECULOOS network and its Artemis telescope at the Observatorio del Teide. On this occasion, the students were also accompanied by the outgoing Director of the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences at MIT, Dr. Rob van der Hilst.

For several weeks the students of this prestigious U. S. scientific institution have had access to different telescopic facilities of the Observatorio del Teide with which they have made observations for their research projects. Last Friday, they also enjoyed historical talks about the IAC and the Canary Island Observatories, plus a guided tour, given by the IAC outreach specialist Dr. Nayra Rodríguez and the IAC researcher Dr. Pere Luis Pallé. Before leaving the island on 29 January, this Monday they visited the Main Headquarters of the IAC where they presented the scientific results they have obtained during these weeks which, on many occasions, have become the subjects of their doctoral thesis.

After Michael Person's presentation on the experience of the MIT Astronomy Field Camp, Zimi Zhang gave a talk on ‘Determining the rotational periods of Koronis Asteroids’; Prajna Nair, who gave a talk on ‘Categorization of Early-Stage Supernovae using Photometric Templates’; Emily Albornoz, with ‘Ongoing Astrometric Investigation of the Companion Brown Dwarf Around M Dwarf G196-3’.

These talks were joined by Jayna Ekelmann and Fatima Abbasi with ‘Photometric Variability and the Rotational Period of near-Earth object (887) Alinda’; Jan Toomlaid with ‘Flow-Up Observations on Exoplanet Candidates Around Early- and Mid-Type M Dwarfs’; that of Matthew Nunez, with ‘Rotational Light Curves of Uranian satellites’ and that of Amius Marshall-De-Ath and Kaylee Barrera who have given ‘Characterizing the Photometric Variability of the Triple Brown Dwarf System VHS1256-1257’.