Science News
ISSAbove installed at Marian Catholic College
For as long as our students have been alive, there have been humans continually inhabiting low earth orbit.
The International Space Station regularly passes overhead and has astronauts and cosmonauts from all the nations that collaborate in the science that is performed there.
The problem has been that it's really hard to know where and when to look up at the sky to see the ISS.
Now, Marian has installed an ISSAbove, a computer system based on a Raspberry Pi microcomputer that is showing students where the ISS is located, when it will pass overhead, what the Earth looks like from space and who's onboard at all times.
Next time you're heading into the library, look up and see where the International Space Station is.
Marian Catholic College proves the Earth is Round!
Every equinox the International Astronomical Union supports the Eratosthenes Experiment.
Eratosthenes was an ancient Greek philosopher who not only proved the Earth was round, he calculated the circumference of the planet.
A number of interested students went out to the main quad precisely at noon on Monday, 23rd September.
Why noon? That's when the sun will be at its highest in the sky, casting the longest shadow.
Why Monday? That's the spring equinox when the day and the night will be precisely the same length.
Based on our calculations, the meridional circumference of the Earth, i.e. the distance around the north and south poles is 40,320km. This is really, really close to the accepted value of 40,008km.
For more information, have a look at http://eratosthenes.ea.gr/ where you'll find that Marian Catholic College is the only school in Australia that has participated.
Dr Elijah Marshall
Science teacher
STEM Coordinator
2018 STEM X Academy alumnus/ 2019 STEM X Academy mentor
Year 10 Science
Yr 10 students had the opportunity to use a hand held police speed radar during science. As part of the On the move topic, students learned about velocity, car crashes and car safety and were able to appreciate the technology of a speed radar on Wakaden st as they compared the velocity of passing cars to the speed limit.
Ms De Paoli
Science Teacher