Congratulations to Himalee Gadher, Rose Bolcato, Lola Potts, Eve Keeling and Lily Smythe from Year 9 Science Club who took part in the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory Space Weather Competition. They created artwork using chromatography to represent the Northern Lights, which are caused by interaction of charged particles ejected from the sun with the Earth's upper atmosphere.

Their entry was a winner, scoring top marks in the 11-15 age category.

The judges remarked that there were many high calibre pieces of art and writing and they had difficulty in picking the winners, but that it was an “enchanting” time spent looking through all the entries.

The girls will receive prizes, kindly donated by RAL Space and the European Space Agency (ESA ECSAT & the ESA Climate Office). They will also have a tour of the Met Office Space Weather Operations Centre, one of only 3 facilities of its kind in the world (the tour will either take place in person within the next 18 months, or as a live virtual event). Their winning entry will be also be displayed in an online gallery. 

Well done!

Dr Nickerson and Dr Lai