On 4th May our Computer Science and Physics departments were thrilled to host the very first ever Astrophysics Conference at NHEHS. We welcomed students from Greenford High School, Cardinal Wiseman School, Chobham Academy, Sutton High Girls School GDST, Streatham & Clapham High School GDST and South Hampstead High School GDST. 

The conference kicked off with a keynote speech from Dr Christina Schoettler, Postdoctoral Research Associate at Imperial College London, who spoke on investigating the formation and dynamical evolution of stars and planets using computer simulations. Dr Schoettler shared examples of how she uses simulations in her daily work investigating the dynamical evolution of star and planet forming regions before moving on to talk about the planetary systems and how they are affected and possibly altered by interactions in their birth environment.

After lunch, we also heard from three PhD students from Imperial College London. First up was Sophia Zomerdijk-Russell, 3rd year PhD student in Space Physics, who spoke about investigating the Mini Magnetosphere of Mercury with MESSENGER & BepiColombo. Our next speaker was Cara Waters, a 1st year PhD student in space plasma physics who gave a talk titled “The Tiny Satellite and the Killer Sun.” Our final speaker was Zoë Lewis, 2nd year PhD student studying comets and spoke on “Cometary exploration: past and future.” 

The conference also featured challenging Physics and Computer Science competitions. In the Orbital Mechanics section of the competition, students answered physics questions and then had to run a simulation of a satellite in orbit using code. In the afternoon, schools were challenged to create a model of the orbit of the International Space Station, either by editing existing or creating their own code.

In the final task of the day students gave 3-minute presentations on protecting the ISS. Presentations were marked on the quality of the presentation, the scientific accuracy of information and how compelling the proposal was, with additional credit for novel proposals or integration of coded models from the morning computing challenge.

This was their brief:

“Space debris is any human-made object in space that no longer serves a useful purpose. These objects can pose a threat to the International Space Station (ISS) and other spacecraft in orbit. Understanding the motion of space junk around the Earth is therefore an important area of study. About once a year, the ISS takes evasive action to avoid colliding with a chunk of space debris. The most recent manoeuvre happened last week when the ISS boosted itself into a higher orbit to avoid debris from a 2021 Russian anti-satellite missile test. You are tasked with developing a proposal for one thing the five space agencies involved with the ISS (United States’ NASA, Russia’s Roscosmos, Japan’s JAXA, Europe’s ESA, and Canada’s CSA) should do to help protect it from space debris.”

After excellent presentations from students from all the schools, the judges’ decision was announced, with South Hampstead High as the winners. Fittingly, with it being #MaytheFourth, the winners were presented with Star Wars Lego as the trophy!

Thank you to our fantastic speakers, students and staff from all our partner schools for making the conference a great success.

We’re at @nhehs for an Astrophysics conference.
Huge thanks to all involved in organising it. pic.twitter.com/4USePzm2lI

— SuttonHighPhysics (@SuttonHighPhys) May 4, 2023

Competition winners – an astronomical achievement! Some building to be done before this trophy is added to the cabinet… #MayThe4thBeWithYou pic.twitter.com/xw0qQEPdFn

— SouthHampsteadHighSchool (@SHHSforGirls) May 4, 2023