The International Olympaid for Astonomy (IOAA)

Students from John Monash Science School recently participated in the International Olympiad in Astrophysics and Astronomy (IOAA) in India. They completed a 5 hr theory exam, a 4 hr data analysis task, an observing task (using telescopes, star maps and a planetarium) and a group task measuring the dark matter at the centre of the galaxy with a horn radio antenna. They competed with 62 other countries from around the world. One of the team members received a Silver medal in the competition.

Lachlan McGiness (ASI Physics director and OzGrav outreach officer) and Dr Penelope Hale (JMSS) lead the team of 5 students, marking and moderating exams and participating in open discussions with other leaders about challenges in astronomy education.  

The team had support from the Astronomical Society of Victoria through Colin Pickall who spent many hours explaining celestial mechanics and telescope systems to the group as well as running an observing session. Additionally, Dr Tanya Hill from Melbourne Planetarium (at Scienceworks) ran a session introducing students to Northern Hemisphere constellations and improving their observing skills from the comfort of an armchair. We are very grateful for this support and look forward to continuing these relationships for the next team(s).

This was the first year that Australia participated in this Olympiad and we are interested in developing a national competition to select next years team.  The next Olympiad will be held in Vietnam in 2026 and there is also a junior Olympiad (<16yrs) being held in Thailand. The proximity of these competitions and their timing at the end of the school year provide an amazing opportunity for students to participate in Astrophysics and boost the profile of Astronomy education in Australia.

~ Isabelle Goode, Alison Hurst, Neko McTaggart, Henryk Przychodzen and Michael Tikhanov