SIN YONG QI

Today, I learned we could get a new perspective by exploring space. I felt it was fun, but it got boring and mind-consuming towards the end. I feel that the activities would be more fun if we did more things that we couldn't do unless we were in an astronomy club. In conclusion, it would be better if we did more special activities.

Today, we presented a slide about why we should explore space. I learnt many insightful information such as the fact that many things we do are inspired by things in space. I also learnt may facts about habitual moons and planets such as europa, one of Saturn moons actually has a high chance to have a salt water ocean.

Today we learn more about the solar system such as the fact that the sun is a yellow dwarf star. We also learn about why pluto is not a planet and Astronomical units. I feel it would be better if they had more trivia about the planets and more pictures. There was also a presentation about the moon but i felt that it was rather boring slides on the moon would be better if there was more images and if the presenter did not read off the slide.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aDcbQUeSrCrByd4xFlJiSK6l44575NeI1Tri3J4nA24/edit

Today there was a lecture on an equation and circular triangles. Although I didn't understand much, I felt that it was relatively interesting. I feel that it would be better if its standard was set to the secondary 1 level so we could understand it better and find it more useful. Mr Tan also talked about a programme and some interesting topics. 

Today we learnt about how rockets work and the brief history of it. Some of the things we learnt are like how the rocket engines work and how adolf hitler used V2 rockets to attack as revenge. We also learnt some other history of rockets such as how a rocket only flew 1 metre before falling and exploding. I also noticed that when rockets fall, they cause a big explosion. The session can be improved by making it more interactive and ingesting more humor, but I was better than any other session as there were attempts at humor which is good.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1hAzYct5Ll03S1Z0wScdvyJYaRSH9KLY6h7Aph5fwSyw/editr#slide=id.g26ec9bfccfd_0_33

Tadya we learnt about Binary star systems and how they orbot and move. Some of the things we learnt are how disk fragmentation works and blueshift and redshift. Also that stars can be invisible to us and x ray binaries. We also learnt about astrometry, which is measuring changes in the position, direct imagging, which is looking at binary stars with a telescope and others. It could be better if it was more interactive.

Today, we learned about electronic theory, radio observations, and EM pollution. We also learnt that EM waves consist of radio wave, microwave, infrared light, visible light, ultraviolet, X-rays and gamma rays. Unfortunately, because the front did not have any seats left, i was unable to take down most of the notes. It would be better if they could also screen share the the projector at the back.

Today, we learnt about galaxies and all their types, such as spiral galaxies, elliptical galaxies, etc. We also learnt about the Milky Way's neighbours, such as LMC and SMC. We also talk about why certain galaxies look different, as well as the parts of the galaxy. We also learnt that satellite galaxies have older stars. This was a better session than the others, as the presenter gave us time to copy the facts.

Today, we learnt about space phenomena such as tides, solar flares, aurorae, solar eclipses, lunar eclipses, etc. It was a good lecture with some comedy, but not enough. I also learnt about time, such as TT, UTC, TAI, etc. While both talks were fine, I would prefer to do hands-on activities since we joined SST for that. One of the activities that the EXCO can add is using Steam so that the students would be more engaged.

Today we learnt about nuclear physics. Somethings we learnt is the parts of the atoms which are the Proton, the Neutrons, the Protons and that electrons orbit the neutrons and protons. We also learnt about mass defect, binging energy, radioactivity, neutrinos, atomic fusion, electrostatic repulsion, atomic fission, decay of atoms, ionising energy from the first presentation. For the second presentation, we learnt about interstellar medium such as dust, H II region, 21 CM radiation, nebulae, dispersion measure, pulsars, and faraday rotation. The first presentation was great and very engaging, however, the second one was not as engaging.

Today, we did the exam, and this time, I understood almost all of the questions, but I still did not know the answers and scored 47%. I plan to revise and read more about astronomy to increase my score. I also learnt about the new structure for next year, and I think that it is a very good improvement as it ensures that majority of the members will get to attend competitions and pass.

Today, we learnt about comments, asteroids and meteoroids. Asteroids are larger and made out of more metals compared to meteoroids. Asteroids are also usually found in uniform orbits in the asteroid belt, while meteoroids are scattered around the solar system.  We also briefly touched on the formation of the solar system. It forms when a Solar Nebula collapses into itself, and gaps in it mean a young planet is forming. The remaining young planets that were not large enough exist at the asteroids in the asteroid belt. The first presentation was interesting, but the second was less engaging.

Today, we had multiple presentations by multiple groups about various topics, such as Why asteroid mining is worth the cost, Why asteroid mining is not worth the cost, Why we should continue naming planets after methodological gods, and Why we should not continue naming planets after methodological gods. A few of the presentations were poorly done, but some were well done. We also discussed the moon's surfaces, composition, and layers. We learnt that the Apollo Missions gave us much we know about the moon. The moon has a dense metallic core, and 83% of the lunar surface is made of anorthosites forming the lunar highlands. Maria are craters filled with lava that appear darker as the lava is rich in iron, and iron is less reflective. It was good that the presenters stopped to let us take down notes for most of the slides.

Today, we launched the water rocket outside the science labs outdoors. Even though my group had gotten the most damaged launcher, we managed to score 14 points in just 4 launches. Based on what I saw, filling the bottle to around 1/4 to 1/6 yielded the best results. This could be because, with more water, the water rocket becomes heavier and less efficient; with water filled to around 1/4, it is more efficient as it is not too heavy to fly, nor lacks water to push itself off the ground. Newton's 3rd law, "For every action (force) in nature, there is an equal and opposite reaction". Hence, when the water from the rocket hits the ground, the rocket is pushed forward as the opposite force from the water impacts the ground, so they are action-reaction pairs.

Today, we had a talk about space weather by a distinguished guest who works at NASA. He talked about how the earth's magnetic field protects us, forming the aurora borealis. If we did not have a magnetic field, we would be lifeless like Mars, stripped of its atmosphere and water. He taught us the difference between solar flares and CMEs, solar flares being faster and CMEs being slower but covering a larger area. He also talked about how a CME or solar flare would affect an astronaut's health. It would also reduce the lifespan of satellites. We also got free NASA merch :D. It was a great talk as we could ask questions. I liked how he let us ask questions, allowing us to understand things better. I feel like our EXCO can learn from this and let us ask more questions. Questions still need to be controled though or the presentstion will be overrun with question.

Today, we had a lesson summary. It was a good recap of the topics we covered, but it was rushed due to the ICT Helpdesk staff taking a long time to come over and fix the projector. We recapped about the solar system, its origins, earth-like planets, comets, meteors, and asteroids etc. I enjoyed the presentation as the presenter used drawings to help us explain, and he also asked questions to make sure we were paying attention. His drawings were very simple but effective. However, the audience (students) was not attentive and led to the presenter stopping multiple times which disrupted the flow of the presentation and led to a more rushed presentation. We as the audience, can improve by cooperating more to finish the presentation quickly while understanding what is taught.

Today, we had a lesson about habitable planets and learned that habitable planets need an atmosphere and liquid water and that they need to be in the habitable zone to have a chance to sustain life. We also had a fun activity where we had to use Universe Sandbox in groups of 3-4 and try to make a habitable planet. We used a random rocky planet and added water and oxygen, adding a magnetosphere to keep the atmosphere intact. We also accidentally added a ring of Earths around it, which ended up displacing the moon and made it orbit the star instead. In the end, the planet had a life probability of 0.00306%. But since we had a ring of Earths around it, technically, we had a combined probability of life of 4000%. I liked that we got to use most of the session time to do the activity, and I hope that there will be more activities like this.

Today, we had a lesson about the Doppler effect and the equation for it. The equation for Doppler shift is f' = f * (v ± v₀) / (v ± vs). Using this, we can calculate the velocity of objects in space and the red or blue shift. We also played NASA Space Voyager the Game. While it was fun, it was a bit confusing and difficult to play, due to a lack of cards, only 3 being available after everyone had their hand cards.