Today, I got my first taste of what Astronomy Club will be like, and it looks like I will be in for four years of silliness. From making the slides look like a screen from Smash, animation silliness and the reflection page causing problems, I suspect this will be a fun four years here. I'd probably like it to be a bit more serious.
20 March - The diagnostic test was tough; I didn't know half the things it was talking about. Stargazing was fun, though. I spent the night laughing at names like Fucik, Africa and Ohio.
27 Mar - Learning about the solar system was fascinating. I learnt some things that I did not know before, specifically the planets' structure, radius, duration of orbit, etc. The Blooket was fun as well, though I got 11th. Nothing much to improve here.
3 Apr - All the trigonometry was confusing. Still managed to understand it, thankfully. All the other stuff covered was interesting, though. I actually enjoyed learning about it. For example, I learnt about Kepler's Laws, two of which I already knew. I also finally know what Lagrange points are, so there's that. Nothing much to improve here.
17 Apr - The presentation was quite entertaining. All the jokes were funny, and I actually learnt quite a few things, including the history of space programs. Much less math this time around, which I appreciate. I'd definitely like to see more of these lessons, though the presentation was a little rushed because of the time constraints.
24 Apr - The presentation on binary stars was quite entertaining and informative, though the fact that they didn't allow us to use Google Docs was a big pain in the arse, just like the Google Site is doing with my typing cursor. The Blooket was also fun and was a good test of our knowledge. It's a shame I got 19th, though. The gravity lab was also fun to play around with, though I only managed to complete level 1. Overall, it was a fun experience.
8 May - The presentation on electromagnetic theory was fun, though short. The rest of the 2 hours on radio antenna lengths was interesting, particularly the part where there was a tutorial on how to make your own antenna. This'll very likely be shorter than I wanted because little happened. And because I have to put this in...
145 MHz
Antennae length - 0.9838m
Dipole leg length - 0.4919m
Wavelength - 2.0675m
433 MHz
Antennae length - 0.32945m
Dipole leg length - 0.16472m
Wavelength - 0.6924m
3 July - I went through orbital mechanics, and it was actually quite interesting. We covered Kepler's laws and how he derived them, and I finally got my KSP account. A lot more interesting than 10 July.
10 July - Finally back online. Well, not much happened today. There were 2 presentations that covered the same thing, and an uninteresting Blooket. Definitely one of the more uninteresting CCA days.
17 July - The presentation on stellar mechanics was interesting. The activities Mr Tan talked about seemed interesting, like the space camp. Playing around in KSP was also interesting, though nothing unusual happened today other than the speakers not working for whatever reason. Overall, just another CCA day.
31 July - 2 presentations today. Both quite interesting, but it really felt like my brain shut off for the 2nd one. Had to do some Googling for that one. Nice overall, though shame about my placing in the Kahoot, as well as today seeming a little more silly than usual.
14 Aug - 2 presentations today. Both were pretty interesting. They also had a Kahoot and a Blooket, which I did well on. The Universe Sandbox demonstration was interesting. Thankfully, Aadvaith's laptop survived the extreme lag spike of a supernova.
28 Aug - Well, this was different. I had to plan a presentation. It was a nice challenge working with my teammates to make it. Shame that we were rushed to present though.
23 Oct - Last Astro session after a long break for EOYs. Not exactly much, but it was definitely exciting to hear the developments that are coming in 2025 and 2026. The test was also quite hard, not sure how I managed to get a 61%.
8 Jan - We're back after our holidays. Not really much today, just a briefing on the upcoming programs and other CCA things, and a short lesson on the Solar System with some quizzes and a Kahoot.
15 Jan - Well, that was weird. It started normal, with Mr Tan telling us what was coming up. Still, then some bizarre things happened, as half the people in the room left for some reason, Gavriel assigning a calculus assignment to be completed, and a lot of doing nothing.
22 Jan - Another normal lesson. This one was on the rest of the solar system. There's not really much to say here except maybe it shoun't go so fast. The radio scavenger hunt was fun, though we didn't find anything.
5 Feb - Back from CNY. Another normal session. We discussed events and did some presentations on asteroids, though weirdly, I had trouble keeping awake during the second one. The presentation was fun, though we didn't get to present. Jeopardy was also fun, though.
12 Feb - Another normal lesson. We presented our presentations from last week, covered the moon and the seasons, and played Blooket. All in all, another normal week.
19 Feb - This lesson was interesting. We had a bonding session and an activity right out of the gate. The water rockets were fun, though we only got 9 points. Then we had a quick lesson before I had the luckiest streak of my life in Blooket. I swear I wasn't cheating. I got ~42*10^9 crypto, then got blocked. Fair enough. There were a few (relatively easy) questions at the end.
By making the angle as close to optimal as possible.
It increases distance up to a point, where it starts declining.
It increases distance to a point, where the rocket just explodes.
For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. It applies here as the water goes out rapidly due to the compressed air, applying an equal and opposite force to the rocket, making the rocket fly.
26 Feb - Had a very engaging talk on solar weather and how it affects us. I understood what it is and its effects on our lives, like taking down the power grid. Lots of interesting photos as well. I feel like I better understand what goes on in the sun. I got a cool sticker as well.
5 Mar - Nothing much, really. Just a summary of the content we've learnt so far along with some questions to test us to go along with it. I got more entertainment from my table partner being sabotaged by his friends for not paying attention. I also discussed Astrigue with my group mates.
12 Mar - What a way to end the term. A Universe Sandbox activity with a lot of fooling around and funny moments. We were supposed to create our own habitable planet, and present. We fooled around and created some eyesores, some supernovas, and everything in between, with Dexter's laptop dying for good measure. Shame I couldn't sign in, though.