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Caroline El Khoury

ASTRONOMER IN RESIDENCE

Caroline El Khoury

June 20 - June 26, 2022


Caroline El Khoury profile picture

Caroline graduated from the University of Toronto with a degree in Physics and Astronomy. In 2019, she received a research grant to work as an intern at ASTRON – and from there was inspired to continue doing research, but to begin a journey that involves a lot of outreach! Caroline took her love of astronomy and hiking and started a social media page (@caroline_elkhoury) where she showcases all her adventures.


Read Caroline’s blog posts as an Astronomer in Residence:

It took about a 7 hour drive! Super excited for this week! It was so dark and the sky was full of stars. It’s not every day you get to be far from light pollution and see this kind of sky!

I had a fantastic sleep. I woke up early to the sound of birds and the middle of the forest. I’ve heard great things about Killarney’s hiking trails!

I decided to hike one of the trails nearby called the Granite Ridge Trail – which is a 2.7 km loop and brings you to see the La Cloche Mountain Range!

Such a beautiful view. I sat in the granite rock and enjoyed some snacks.

11:30 am – I returned to organize for the Astronomy programs I’ll be hosting this week.

Thursday I will be giving a presentation on the Life and Death of Stars and doing a bit of story telling about some constellations. Some Arabic stories.

On Friday I will be using a solar filter to observe the Sun, will briefly talk about sun spots.

At night there will a tour of the night sky! Similarity on Saturday night.

1:00 pm – The skies are clear and blue, it’s a super hot day! It’s a good time to test out some of the observing hardware for the first time.

I checked out the 10’ telescope for a bit and I’m super excited about it.

Telescopes at Killarney Park
Killarney Park

5:00 pm – I briefly searched for the solar filter for the 10’ telescope. I finally found it – it’s in a box shaped almost shaped like a pizza box.

6:00 pm – I went out to the town of Killarney to try the local Herbert’s fish and chips place since they are worlds best. Highly recommend this local gem.

I met up with some locals and chatted a bit about the observatory in Killarney Provincial Park and they were interested in coming by my shows!

After dinner, I went to check out the Big Dipper monument near the Mountain Lodge. How fitting for this week!

Killarney Park

7:30 pm – I’m back at the apartment, having a tea and working on my Astro talk for Thursday.

It’s been a lovely day, I can’t wait for the rest of the Astronomy adventures and hikes I will do at the park!

My stay is over, thanks everyone who came along for our live tours! We had wonderful dark skies up here, hope the next folks get some lovely weather as well!

Caroline’s photos as an Astronomer in Residence:

Week 4, June 2022:


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