Astronomy Day Celebrated in USC
Photograph by Angelo Nico Daroy
The USC Astronomical Society and the Carolinian Physics Society held Astronomy Day today at the Philip van Engelen Building in the Talamban Campus. Students from Cabancalan National High School, Philippine Science High School – Central Visayas Campus and Babag National High School participated in the event. The whole-day occasion was intended to raise awareness regarding astronomy and cosmology.
Kicking off the event was the showing of episodes of the scientific documentary series Cosmos: A Spacetime Journey. The show features renowned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson discussing various topics in astronomy and cosmology.
The event proceeded in the afternoon with a short lecture highlighting recent milestones in astronomy. Additionally, a few of the scientific figures responsible for setting the foundations of physics and astronomy — namely Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Max Planck and Michael Faraday — were introduced to the audience. Lastly, the contributions of space exploration in other fields of study, including medicine, were presented.
A quiz bowl about astronomy and cosmology then followed the said lecture, where pairs of students from the participating secondary schools competed. The three representatives from the Philippine Science High School won the first, second and third places.
According to Adrian Abac, chairman of the USC Astronomical Society, Astronomy Day was organized in celebration of many achievements and events in physics and astronomy this year, namely: the International Year of Light 2015 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); the New Horizon spacecraft’s arrival on Pluto; the Dawn spacecraft’s arrival on Ceres; the centennial celebration of the formulation of the theory of general relativity; and the 25th year of the Hubble space telescope.
