Astronomy pupils are over the moon

ELEVEN Chadderton pupils are jetting out to China tomorrow on a school trip that is out of this world.

The Year 11 astronomy students from Radclyffe School are teaming up with counterparts from their sister school Tianyi High in Wuxi City on a major science project.

Both sets of pupils have been mapping craters on the moon’s surface since April. During the visit to Jiangsu province they will share data and prepare reports to be published in an international journal of science education.

Highlights will include the Purple Mountain Observatory in Nanjing and observatories in Suzhou and Wuxi, as well as helping the Chinese to access the remote telescope on Tenerife run by Bradford University.

The party is being led by Radclyffe teacher Dr Robert Scott whose specialism is lunar geology.

He will also deliver lectures while in China and said: “Observations of the moon tell us that it has been bombarded by meteorites in the distant past.

“By measuring the number of craters on its surface our students hope to find out when this bombardment slowed down to the level we see today.”

Radclyffe assistant head teacher Ian Mulley, who is also accompanying the students, visited Tianyi High School last year to establish the links with China.

The British Council has helped to fund the latest eight-day trip with a £5,000 grant and Mr Mulley said: “It is going to be terrific for the pupils to have this on their CV when they apply to university. But there is a lot of work involved and they have got to produce the goods for the reports. I expect they will be excited but tired when they get back. This is a unique opportunity for our students to share in research which will contribute to the sum of the knowledge of mankind.

“Our connections with China are very important to us and we have recently twinned with a middle school in Suzhou to broaden our presence. The opportunities which these links provide put our students at the forefront of educational co-operation.”