Astronomy Night

On Wednesday, 21 August, the Science Department hosted the annual Year 7 Astronomy Night which proved to be an exceptional evening. The night was deliberately planned to coincide with both National Science Week 2024 (this year’s theme was Species Survival: More Than Just Sustainability) and the learning about all things space which all Year 7s are currently studying in Science. The evening started with a delicious sausage sizzle prepared by the Science Department who were assisted by Year 10 students who volunteered their time to give back to the Mazenod community.

Many boys at Mazenod are passionate about Astronomy and Physics as evidenced by the many questions being asked to our guest presenters, Matt Woods (Tour Administrator/Senior Astronomer) from the Perth Observatory and Mazenod Old Boys, Alessandro Paduano (Class of 2015), Callan Wood and Chris Lee (Class of 2017).  Their passion and interests lie predominantly in radio astronomy; however, they gave the most insightful presentation on pulsars and black holes.

Unfortunately, due to the weather and significant cloud cover, the star gazing had to be cancelled.  Despite this, all those in attendance learnt something new about the amazing and mysterious Universe in which we live, thus achieving 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 inspiring night, the Year 10 student volunteers, Matt Woods from the Perth Observatory and Alessandro, Callan and Chris for their elaborate presentation on radio astronomy, telescopes, and black holes.

I, along with the entire Science Department, look forward to hosting the Year 7 Astronomy Night again in 2025!

Andrew Rasano

Head of Science