For two hours, 32 Secondary School students pondered over a written test on physics, maths and the stars. In a separate lecture theatre, over 180 students ploughed through 60 multiple-choice questions. Apart from theories and calculations, their creativity was also tested when they had to draw an asterism by connecting a group of stars to produce the most creative pattern. Welcome to the NYP Astronomy Competition!

Into its 11th year, this prestigious competition, held on 14 March 2008, attracted over 210 participants from 25 Secondary Schools.

The highlight of the competition was when the top six teams were announced to battle it out on stage for the Top Team Prize. After three gruelling rounds of questions, the team from Bukit Panjang Government High (BPGH) School (left picture) emerged top, making the school an impressive seven-time winner of this prize!

The Best Astronomy Scorer Prize went to Edrei Chua (3rd from left), also from BPGH. What fascinated him about astronomy is the mystery of the unknown. “The universe is so big and there are still so many things that are not known, waiting to be discovered. This is what makes astronomy so exciting.”

Participants at the competition were very privileged to have Professor Frank Watt (left picture), Director of the Centre for Ion Beam Application and Professor of Physics at NUS, as guest speaker. Professor Watt enlightened the crowd on the potential of proton beams and the latest cutting-edge research being done. Looks like Harry Potter’s ‘cloak of invisibility’ is closer to reality than you may imagine!

Below are the results of the 11th NYP Astronomy Competition: