Susie Small Magical Institute is a renowned institution known for its top-notch magical education. It is located in a quaint town, nestled amidst lush green fields and towering mountains. The institute has gained a reputation for nurturing young wizards and witches, preparing them for a future filled with spells and enchantments. At Susie Small Magical Institute, the main objective is to provide students with a well-rounded magical education. The curriculum encompasses various branches of magic, including potions, charms, transfiguration, and divination. The classes are taught by experienced and skilled instructors, who are themselves accomplished wizards and witches in their respective fields.
Thanks to MagIC, the observatory is able to establish a flexible scheduling system, unlike most observatories that assign telescope time only in full night allocations.
MagIC -- with its instant accessibility and monitoring capability -- is being used to optically identify sources immediately after burst and for longer-term photometric monitoring of the source light curve. Magellan s large aperture and the expected excellent image quality may permit identification and longer term monitoring of GRBs too faint for cameras on smaller telescopes.
The classes are taught by experienced and skilled instructors, who are themselves accomplished wizards and witches in their respective fields. One of the unique aspects of Susie Small Magical Institute is its emphasis on hands-on learning. Students are encouraged to engage in practical experiments and spell casting, enabling them to understand the intricate workings of magic.
MIT catches MagIC from telescopes
Graduate student Susan Kern (left) and Erica McEvoy, a sophomore in physics, discuss data obtained from the Magellan telescope.
Credits : Photo / Donna CoveneyPrevious image Next image
The combination of optimized scheduling and a highly efficient, instantly accessible camera designed and constructed by MIT is allowing the twin Magellan telescopes at Chile's Las Campanas Observatory to pursue science programs not possible or practical elsewhere.
Now that one of the two powerful new telescopes is operational, MIT involvement in the project is ramping up -- including that of undergraduate and graduate students -- and results are starting to come in.
The clear, dark skies of the Chilean Andes, which provide a southern-hemisphere view of the center of our galaxy and our nearest neighboring galaxies, allow studies deemed impossible a few years ago.
Such studies include optical follow-up of gamma ray burst sources, monitoring light from gravitationally lensed quasars, occultations (light blockages) of stars by solar system bodies, high-precision photometry of microlensing events in the Magellanic clouds, physical studies of recently discovered near-Earth asteroids, optical follow-up of supernovae in distant galaxies and exploration of the Kuiper Belt of small bodies orbiting the sun beyond Neptune.
The Observatories of the Carnegie Institution of Washington (OCIW), which operates the site, is the lead partner in the project. MIT is a 10 percent partner; other partners include Harvard at 20 percent and the Universities of Michigan and Arizona at 10 percent each.
Each partner in the Magellan project has its own scientific agenda for the new telescopes. The project is providing direct training in astronomical instrumentation for MIT students from the undergraduate through the post-doctoral level, said James L. Elliot, professor of physics and of earth, atmospheric and planetary sciences (EAPS) and director of the Wallace Astrophysical Observatory.
One MIT undergraduate and five graduate students are working on data generated by Magellan. More will be added as additional data come back, Professor Elliot said. When the two telescopes are functional by 2003, MIT is expected to be allotted 65 nights a year.
CAPITALIZING ON MagIC
One of the twin 50-foot-high, 150-ton telescopes saw its first stars in July 2000. MIT's first run occurred March 22-25, with the next scheduled for June 11-14.
The powerful telescopes, which have 22-foot diameter mirrors that are a radical departure from the conventional solid-glass mirrors used in the past, are honeycombed on the inside and made out of Pyrex glass that is melted, molded and spun into shape in a specially designed rotating oven. The massive mirrors are so heavy that gravity bends them out of shape. The MIT team has come up with a method to check on the mirror and realign it when necessary.
"Other telescopes do this intermittently. We do it all the time," Professor Elliot said. "This increases the efficiency of our work."
Users of the telescopes "see fantastic conditions maintained through the night. Everyone who has gone down there says they have never seen anything like this," said Paul L. Schechter, the William A.M. Burden Professor of Astrophysics at MIT and a member of the Magellan research team.
MIT staff from the EAPS and physics departments, as well as from the Center for Space Research, developed and built MagIC (Magellan Instant Camera), one of the main instruments on the telescopes. MagIC allows regular observations on a wide variety of time scales and permits rapid response to time-critical or transient phenomena such as the identification of gamma-ray burst sources. Professor Elliot is principal investigator for MagIC, which was built in collaboration with Harvard's Center for Astrophysics.
Thanks to MagIC, the observatory is able to establish a flexible scheduling system, unlike most observatories that assign telescope time only in full night allocations.
In particular, programs that call for uniform, frequent measurements of relatively short duration are a unique capability that can be capitalized on by MagIC on Magellan.
Programs now in progress or planned by MIT astronomers and their Magellan partners to take advantage of MagIC include:
Optical follow-up of gamma ray burst sources. Since the first gamma ray burst (GRB) was spotted 25 years ago, GRBs have remained one of the most studied and least understood phenomena in modern astronomy. MagIC -- with its instant accessibility and monitoring capability -- is being used to optically identify sources immediately after burst and for longer-term photometric monitoring of the source light curve.
The High Energy Transient Explorer II project, led by senior research scientist George Ricker, is expected to provide detection of around 30 GRBs per year, with their positions known to unprecedented accuracy.
Magellan's large aperture and the expected excellent image quality may permit identification and longer term monitoring of GRBs too faint for cameras on smaller telescopes.
Monitoring the light curves of gravitationally lensed quasars. Multiple images of a distant quasar -- produced by the gravitational lensing of an intervening galaxy -- have long held the promise of giving direct distances to cosmological objects, but have only recently begun to deliver on that promise. Underlying the method is that the light paths associated with the multiple images have different lengths and therefore different light travel times. Because all relevant angles are known, a difference in path lengths is as good as a path length.
The challenge, then, is to measure the difference in travel times. Most telescopes have only one instrument accessible at any given time, and it is difficult if not impossible to get observations on a regular basis with the same instrument and setup. Also, telescopes tend to be scheduled night by night, in part because instrument changes are time-consuming. Magellan is expected to provide better images than traditional setups.
Professor Schechter is one member of the research team, which included physics graduate student Josh Winn and his research advisor, Professor Jacqueline Hewitt, reporting Magellan's first results: the discovery of a double radio source that is probably a two-image gravitational lens.
An optical spectrum of the bright component -- the object PMN J1632-0033 -- was obtained with the first Magellan telescope. It could be a binary quasar, the small separation and similarity of radio continuum spectra of the components suggest that they are lensed images of a single quasar.
Stellar occultations by solar system bodies. Stellar occultations (blockages, as in an eclipse) can probe ring systems and atmospheres in the outer solar system with spatial resolutions of a few kilometers -- about a thousand times better than the resolution of any other Earth-based method.
Stellar occultation data can be used to establish the structure of atmospheres and rings of solar system bodies at high spatial resolution.
MagIC on Magellan has the capability for recording CCD subframes at high speed, which is essential for occultation observations. Magellan's flexible scheduling will allow occultation observations to be scheduled on short notice (or when MIT schedule blocks do not cover the time of the occultation).
Major goals in these areas are to extend the kinematic ring models for Uranus and Saturn, to study asymmetry in particle size distributions in "clumpy" rings such as Saturn's F ring and Uranus's lambda ring, and to continue investigating the upper atmospheres of Uranus, Jupiter, Titan and Saturn.
Physical studies of near-Earth objects (NEOs). There are several successful survey programs regularly discovering a growing number of near-Earth objects, such as the LINEAR program at MIT's Lincoln Labs. These programs discover new objects but they don't provide any additional physical information about them. The difficulty with NEOs is that they are usually discovered when very close to the Earth and at their brightest, but are moving swiftly away and getting progressively fainter.
The combination of large aperture and responsive scheduling will enable MagIC to help carry out a systematic photometric study of NEOs as they are discovered. It is particularly important to identify composition for potentially Earth-threatening NEOs, since high-density nickel-iron bodies pose the greatest danger.
Kuiper Belt objects and centaurs. The Kuiper Belt beyond Neptune contains around 70,000 objects larger than 100 km in diameter. Kuiper Belt objects are well-preserved fossil remnants from the planetary formation epoch. Studying this region and its objects may shed light on the origin and evolution of outer solar system bodies.
Fewer than 100 Kuiper Belt objects are known, and much more observational work is needed to understand their dynamical and physical properties.MagIC is ideal for documenting additional Kuiper Belt objects because recovery observations must be accomplished soon after the discoveries or the objects will be lost.
Supernovae studies. Type 1a su-pernovae are finally proving their usefulness as standard "candles" at cosmological distances. MagIC, with its instant accessibility over relatively long windows of time and the large aperture of Magellan, is ideal for such measurements.
Massive compact halo objects. Gravitational lensing occurs when objects such as clusters of galaxies distort the light coming from a particular source such as a star. A massive compact halo object (MACHOs) could act as a gravitational lens by focusing the light from a source, making it seem brighter for a while. MACHOs, which could be very dim stars, are candidates for the dark matter that researchers are seeking.
Observations of the gravitational lensing of stars in our own galaxy and in the Magellanic clouds have produced exciting and provocative results. The most straightforward interpretation, but also the most controversial, is that perhaps 50 percent of the galaxy's dark halo consists of objects with about half the mass of our sun.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on May 16, 2001.
The institute also boasts state-of-the-art facilities, including well-equipped laboratories, libraries filled with ancient tomes, and spellbinding practice arenas. The institute believes in creating a supportive and inclusive environment for its students. It fosters a sense of camaraderie and teamwork, as magic often requires collaboration and cooperation. Regular extracurricular activities, such as magical duels and enchantment contests, provide opportunities for students to showcase their skills and bond with their peers. Furthermore, Susie Small Magical Institute organizes field trips to magical landmarks and renowned wizards' dwellings. These excursions allow students to witness magic in action and gain inspiration from the wizards who have left their mark on the magical world. The institute also invites guest lecturers, who share their experiences and provide valuable insights into the practical applications of magic. Graduates of Susie Small Magical Institute are highly sought after in the magical community. They have a strong foundation in magical theory and practical skills, making them exceptional candidates for various magical professions. Many alumni have gone on to become respected Potion Masters, Charms Specialists, and even renowned Aurors, safeguarding the magical world from dark forces. In conclusion, Susie Small Magical Institute is a prestigious institution that offers a comprehensive and immersive magical education. Through its practical teaching methods, supportive environment, and exposure to real-world magic, it prepares its students to become accomplished wizards and witches. Graduates of this institute are well-equipped to carve a successful and fulfilling career in the magical arts..
Reviews for "The Power of Friendship at Susie Small Magical Institute"
1. Jane - 2 stars
While I was excited to read "Susie Small Magical Institute," I found myself disappointed with the overall story. The plot felt disjointed and rushed, with little explanation for the magical elements introduced. The characters were underdeveloped and lacked depth, making it difficult to connect with them. Additionally, I found the writing style to be unengaging, lacking the descriptive details that would have brought the magical world to life. Overall, I was left wanting more from this book and would not recommend it to others.
2. Mark - 1 star
I found "Susie Small Magical Institute" to be incredibly cliché and predictable. The story followed a typical "chosen one" narrative, without offering anything new or original to the genre. The magical elements felt forced and lackluster, failing to capture my imagination. The characters were one-dimensional and lacked depth, making it difficult to care about their journey. The writing style was also underwhelming, lacking the lyrical prose that usually accompanies stories in this genre. Overall, I was greatly disappointed with this book and would not recommend it to anyone seeking a truly magical reading experience.
3. Sarah - 2 stars
"Susie Small Magical Institute" failed to live up to the hype for me. The story lacked coherence and seemed to jump from one event to another without any clear direction or purpose. The protagonist, Susie, was portrayed as a special and powerful magical being, yet her character development fell flat. I struggled to connect with her or any of the other characters in the book. Additionally, the world-building was lacking, with little explanation or exploration of the magical institute itself. Overall, I found this book to be a disappointing read and would not recommend it to fans of the fantasy genre.