Year 7 Astronomy Night

On Wednesday, 23 August, the Science Department hosted the annual Year 7 Astronomy Night which proved to be an absolute exceptional evening. The night was planned to coincide with both National Science Week 2023 (this year’s theme was Powering Future Industries) and the learning about all things "space" which all Year 7s are currently studying in science. We started with a delicious sausage sizzle prepared by the Science Department assisted by some Year 10 students who volunteered their time to give back to the Mazenod community. Many boys at Mazenod are passionate about Astronomy and Physics, evident by the many questions asked to our guest presenter, Callan Wood, who graduated from Mazenod in 2017. He is completing his PhD after studying Astrophysics at Curtin University. Callan’s passion and interest lie predominantly in radio astronomy and he gave the most insightful presentation on his current area of research in astronomy including black holes.

After Callan’s presentation, the Year 7 students along with their families were taken to the top oval where six telescopes were set up for the night. There were several volunteers from the Perth Observatory who arranged three of their high-tech telescopes so that each person could see the planets such as Jupiter, Saturn and the Moon, not to mention the amazing sight of the Southern Cross! There were three telescopes from the Science Department that were assembled by Mr Tuohy for viewing these celestial bodies. 

All those in attendance learnt something new about the amazing and mysterious universe in which we live, one of the goals for organising the night. I would like to sincerely thank the hard-working and dedicated Science team for all their help in creating a truly magical night. We appreciate the help of the Year 10 student volunteers, Perth Observatory volunteers for setting up and explaining the use of their high-tech telescopes and Callan Wood for the elaborate presentation on black holes and sharing his life journey in the field of astronomy. We look forward to hosting the Year 7 Astronomy Night again in 2024!

Andrew Rasano

Head of Science