I was selected to attend 2018 Elaine P. Snowden Astronomy School organised by University of Canterbury from 16 to 20 April.

It is held annually, and consisted of lectures and labs at the university in Christchurch and a trip to Mt John Observatory at Lake Tekapo. Only 20 students are chosen each year from all over New Zealand (preferably Year 13 but exceptional Year 12 students would be considered), and all fees are covered!! Although astrophysics may not be something I will do at university, this camp has exceeded all my expectations about what a science camp could offer and astrophysics is absolutely the coolest thing to do in the world!!

I started off this journey by meeting young genius minds from all over, e.g. Auckland, New Plymouth, Nelson, Dunedin etc. We had several theory-based lectures at the university first, which prepared us for the star observation at Mt John Observatory later. The lectures were taught in the first-year course in university, but they were all intriguing instead of being dry and dense for me, such as “Music of the Stars” and “Catching Neutrinos with Ice Cube”. There were certainly a lot of challenging and complex mathematics and physics that I did not know before. I enjoyed this and it satisfied my curiosity, leaving me with many ideas I want to explore independently or later in tertiary study. We departed for Lake Tekapo on Day Two and had our first star observing at night. However, the cloudy weather was a bit disappointing. But we had a good tour around the observatory. Seeing all those huge optical telescopes in real life was like a dream came true. We didn’t stay for long as we planned but we had such fun playing in heavy snow at 1 o’clock in the morning. 

The next day we went to Aoraki Mount Cook and went up to the observatory at night. Fortunately we had a clear night and had the chance to operate the telescopes to observe different celestial bodies, which was just amazing! Also, a girl and I were lying on the ground outside while everyone else were sitting inside by the heater, and we just looked at the night sky for hours. We saw more than ten shooting stars and watched the sky rotate over time. You couldn’t imagine how breath-taking it was when the stars in the sky above was like a duvet covering you, unless you lie down and let them surround you. Eventually, almost everyone, including teachers, joined us and lay down in a line, which was ‘spectacular’ to see. The night at the observatory was definitely my highlight of the camp. Back to Christchurch, we had more lectures on cosmology and black holes. I personally found the last lab activity very interesting where I calculated the speed of the stars as they moved towards or away from us using red-shift and blue-shift on  software.

Apart from all the things I have learnt and experienced, what I miss most about this camp is the atmosphere of learning. Many of the students I met were already doing maths paper at university or have gained scholarships at Year 12. I feel so lucky to be able to work with so many talented and like-minded peers and I have learnt a lot from them.

There have not been many participants from Otago Girls' and I encourage any girls who are passionate about astrophysics/astronomy to apply for this camp. Essentially good grades on physics and maths are required but don’t be put off by the number of students they choose. Your curiosity and interest are the most important strengths. Check this link  to see a video made by one of the participants this year - Carl Abi Nakad.