I am a journalism major. So naturally, when the opportunity to be a part of a three-year paid internship in science presented itself, I jumped up and took it. Though it is not in the field I wish to enter after college, it's money and it's also something I am still interested in. Oh, and did I mention money? I got this opportunity as a freshman, something that is not all that common.

Over the past couple of weeks, I have worked at an observatory, mostly working with planning lessons for our project which will take place over the next 3 years. That part for me was interesting. Most concepts in astronomy are visual, as you may expect. Astronomy is us looking to the cosmos for answers about our universe, something made a bit difficult for me as I am visually impaired. So, when the concept, of photometry was introduced, I admit I had my doubts.

Photometry is the measurement of the intensity of light. So naturally, the concept is visual by its very nature. When I discovered I would be learning it as part of my summer internship, I was openly skeptical of my ability to understand it and understand it as a concept, let alone to be able to use and apply it to a project that used this science as its framework.

The first problem is there is no real way to make light into something that is non-visual. For most science, there is a way to represent concept through tactile models or other ways in which things can be felt rather than seen, an imposable feat when it comes to light and its intensity. These same concepts apply to almost everything related to light, whether it be filters and CCD cameras, or telescopes themselves, representing visual concepts in an understandable way is not easy. Naturally, this can become extremely frustrating when it directly interferes with what I'm trying to do as a part of my internship, it holds me back from being as up to speed as everyone else, and that is not easy to manage.

IDATA, the project I am with, is seeking to change these things. IDATA itself stands for Innovators Developing Accessible Tools for Astronomy. The project's goal is to develop a photometry based photo processor for the Skynet network of telescopes around the world, so that students and astronomers can gain actual data from photos of the stars. Though processors like tis already exist, none of them work with screen readers or any other means that people with low vision can use, and that's just not fair to us. So, I'm working this internship, this project, in order to contribute to something that is making a whole new field accessible to those with visual impairments, a field that most would laugh at the idea of, astronomy. The stars contain so much more than just colors, they tell us the story of our universe, and I want to be able to hold that key just as the rest of science already does. I want to be able to take an image, extract real data, and use it to do real science, and IDATA seeks to change that.

As we move through this project, I hope to further my own understanding of our universe in the same way that sighted people do. Yes, I'm a journalism major, and I don't plan to change that. But if I can do my part to further another field, open a door for some hopeful kid now, someone who is going to be the next big name in science, I want to do that. I want to know that the work I do here is going to make a differed cue. So, I'll struggle to understand photometry, I'll work to teach it in a way that makes sense, so the next kid, the next intern, the next scientist to be, doesn't have to. I will blaze that trail if it means space and our study of it becomes accessible. You don't have to see the stars to understand our universe, and I want to make sure everyone, regardless of vision, has an opportunity to peruse every dream, even if that field is astronomy.