Programs

The Leitner Family Observatory and Planetarium is host to the Yale Summer Program in Astrophysics (YSPA), a program at Yale for 32 rising high school seniors and juniors (high school students who are juniors or sophomores when they apply) who have shown an aptitude for science and math, an interest in astrophysics, and who are considering going into careers in science or tech. The program consists of a two-week online, directed self-study program followed by a four-week residential program. Students at YSPA live together on campus in one of the dorms, take classes at the Leitner Planetarium, learn to program and analyze data in the computer lab at the Leitner Observatory, and use the telescopes at the Leitner Observatory to collect data for their research project. At the end of the program, students write up their results in the form of a scientific paper and then present those results at our YSPA mini-conference.