boys, who are intrigued by their discoveries. Their interest is further engaged by a field trip to the Mt John Observatory at Lake Tekapo, the first of which took place in 2018. In July, Anna took a second group south to the University of Canterbury facility, where they enjoyed spectacular views of galaxies, individual star clusters and, in particular, Jupiter. They also looked at some of the distinctive geological features of the Mackenzie region and atmospheric features, finding their studies and observations very relatable in an environmental context. “Once you know the basics of how the atmosphere operates and how it does its work, then you can begin to understand climate change and to look at what we’re doing now that’s different from before, and its ramifications.” Year 13 student Lachie Hazlett rates Earth and Space Science as one of his favourite subjects and says he found the visit to the Mt John Observatory and Tekapo an absolute highlight.
“To see Saturn and Jupiter was really cool, and it put into perspective how small Earth is compared to everything else in the cosmos. I loved being able to see the different galaxies that you can’t see with the naked eye. It was very exciting.” The group spent one day walking up the Roundhill Ski Area track, measuring wind speed and air temperature as they climbed. “It was really cool to see how fast the temperatures dropped – about 10 degrees in 100 metres.” They also spent time at Dark Sky Project, learning about the measures Tekapo has taken to keep the skies dark and make the night sky accessible to all, by reducing street lighting and adopting other measures to minimise light pollution.
“To see Saturn and Jupiter was really cool, and it put into perspective how small Earth is compared to everything else in the cosmos.” Lachie Hazlett
College Issue 37 2019
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