Elaine P. Snowden Astronomy School

Over the holidays I was fortunate enough to be selected as one of twenty year 13 students nationwide to attend the Elaine P. Snowden Astronomy School at the University of Canterbury. This was a six-day course during which we attended lectures and did a spectroscopy lab at the university, as well as being shown around the physics, engineering, and geology departments. We met current students, researchers, and professors in all of these fields.

We also visited Mount Cook Village to learn about the geology of the mountains and glaciers in the surrounding area. The highlight of the trip was getting to go down to the University of Canterbury’s Mt John observatory in Tekapo for two nights and being able to look through and work with some of the telescopes there, including the 1-metre McLellan Telescope and the 0.6-metre B&C Telescope, which we used to make images using different spectra. Some of the structures we looked at were the Orion Nebula, Tarantula Nebula, and Dark Doodad Nebula.

Overall, it was an amazing experience and I would highly recommend applying for a space at the Astronomy School to anyone interested in studying physics or astronomy!

(Shown: B&C Telescope, Mt John)