ASTRONOMY & SPACE SCIENCE Early in 2018, the College held a fair for the Year 7s to showcase extracurricular activities. The astronomy scholars were part of the fair and, amongst other things, showed off some of the virtual reality (VR) software. This resulted in 45 extra students appearing at the Wednesday Astronomy Club. We were victims of our own success and, sadly, we could only take half of these students to Camp Kelly for the first Year 7 Astronomy Camp which caused anguish for students and parents alike. For the students who did go, it was a great night with clear skies. William Matar (11.5), the Year 11 Astronomy Scholar, with the help of the website, heavensabove.com, pointed to American and soviet satellites as they passed across the sky. James Henshall (12.2) and Baily Hughes (12.4), Year 12 Astronomy Scholars, took the brunt of the evening’s work, star hopping with the 16-inch Dobsonian telescope to show the Year 7s the best of the night sky. At the end of Term 1, the observatory telescope camera was sent for a service. This meant that for most of Term 2, students were unable to use the observatory. In the end, it wasn’t an issue as the weather was so awful that there were very few clear nights for astrophotography. In June, Mr Peter Zurzolo and the Trinity Fathers for Others group visited us for an evening in the College observatory and a first glimpse at the new VR Lab. Mr Paul Valentino from The Fathering Project was also present and talked about the impact fathers have on their children’s lives.
Mr Bill Cooper
For Science Week, the Astronomy Cub students hosted Junior School students from St Peter’s Primary School in Inglewood for a day of astronomy activities. There was also enough time to let them fly in virtual reality. Ms Clare Magee, the GATE Coordinator wrote, “our kids are buzzing, they had the best day! Thank you so much for all your help. We have featured it on our School Blog already and it will go out in the newsletter next week. Thank you once again. I am hoping we can make this an annual event.” In Term 4, the Astronomy Club boys attended the UWA lecture ‘When Galaxies Collide’, given by Professor Lisa Harvey-Smith about the inevitable explosive arrival of the Andromeda galaxy, travelling at 400,000 kilometres an hour towards the Milky Way and the future of our galaxy six billion years into the future. Finally, Sri Krishna (Sri) Dharmapuri (10.4), was awarded the Astronomy Scholarship for 2019 and was also the successful applicant to represent Australia in 2019 at the United Space School in the USA. For his research project next year, Sri is going to delve into the maths of astrometry. Last year an object from another star, named Oumuamua, passed through our solar system and caused quite a stir. Sri is going to look at the data and try and understand the controversy. Mr Bill Cooper Head of Astronomy and Space Science
TRINITY COLLEGE ANNUAL 2018
This year, the Junior School camp was timed to take place on the evening of a total lunar eclipse. Once again, the weather gods were not on our side and most of the night was 8/8 cloud with occasional patches of rain. Aside from that, the evening was a great success with planetariums being built and rockets made and launched.
Trinity Fathers for Others Astronomy Night
Junior School camp winners and Astronomy Scholars
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