I had no idea where to go for my site visit. We had to go to a place where we would learn about our topic. But the closest solar flare observatory that we knew of was down in Puerto Rico. But then at the last moment, my mom had an idea…
The Natural History Museum. The Museum had a planetarium where there was an exhibit on the sun. My family wasn’t sure if the exhibit would have any facts about solar flares, but going to the Museum would be way easier than flying to Puerto Rico. So on last Sunday afternoon, we set off.
We got in the car and zoomed towards the Museum. But just as we got on the highway, my mom had remembered we had forgotten a notebook, so it seemed like I wouldn’t be able to take any notes. But then my mom and I remembered that the museum had a gift shop where we could pick up a notebook. Before I knew it, we arrived at the museum.
After eating a gigantic black-and-white cookie in the cafeteria, picking of a notebook and pen in the Museum gift shop and an exciting butterfly detour (It’s not every day that a butterfly lands on your hand for seven minutes and another one lands on your head for two), I was ready to start the site visit.
We looked around and quickly found the interactive sun exhibit. I began to look through some telescopes, to see only my eye and then my mom shouted “Nate! Over here!” I walked over to the part of the table my mom was pointing at. I walked over and saw exactly what I was looking for.
I asked my Mom for the notebook and began to write. I learned so many new facts. Did you know that the sun emits more radiation when it has more sunspots? While I was note-taking, my dad took pictures of all the fact boards and the room around me so we could have some documentation for the site visit.
After I finished note-taking and after a short stop to the Planet Earth room, it was time to go. However, I left with a good number of photos and two pages of notes. All in all, I’d say it was a pretty successful site visit!