ITB Students Initiate Popular Astronomy Presentation: From Space Exploration to Tracing Gold in Space
BANDUNG, itb.ac.id – On Sunday (17/3/2024), students from the Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB), who are part of the Astronomy Olympiad Coaching Team (TPOA), held a public presentation at the Center for Advanced Science building, ITB. The presentation covered popular astronomy topics, ranging from space exploration to the formation of gold in space.
TPOA, the organizing body, is a team responsible for managing the National Science Olympiad (OSN) in astronomy for high school levels and also trains Indonesian representatives for the International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA).
This presentation was delivered by second and third-year astronomy students who are members of the TPOA technical team's cadet program. The TPOA technical team will handle the instrumentation and observation aspects of the astronomy OSN. Registration for this technical team is open biennially to ITB astronomy students.
The educational program for the technical team broadly consists of delivering astronomy olympiad material and presentations to the general public. The training aims to ensure that the technical team can effectively communicate astronomy topics, typically during the public nights held as part of the astronomy OSN event sequence.
The popular astronomy presentation held that Sunday morning was divided into five topics: Space Exploration, Mars as a New Habitable Planet, the Crescent Moon, Searching for Habitable Exoplanets, and Tracing Gold in Space.
The Space Exploration segment focused on human expeditions to the moon and the advancements in telescope technology through the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The significant astronomical knowledge gained from JWST technology was also discussed in detail.
The discussion continued with the Crescent Moon, starting from its initial identification, methods of determining the crescent moon specifically in Indonesia, tools that can be used for this purpose, to common misconceptions about the crescent moon in Indonesia.
The third topic covered the Search for Habitable Exoplanets, starting from the assumption of carbon-based life as on Earth. The presentation also discussed how astronomers find exoplanets and how these planets are classified.
Equally engaging was the fourth presentation on Mars as a Potentially Habitable Planet. From the history of Mars exploration to the issues of relocating human colonies to Mars. After the presentation, an interesting discussion arose, noting that for now and for some time to come, humans are not yet ready to live on Mars. However, the enthusiasm for Mars exploration is high, aimed at studying rare elements on Earth and the potential to mine them from Mars.
Lastly, the presentation discussed Tracing Gold in Space. The speaker first talked about the chemical properties of gold and then connected it to its creation in stars.
The overall presentation was interactive, enhanced by the presence of two ITB astronomers, Dr. Hakim Luthfi Malasan, M.Sc. and Evan Irawan Akbar, S.Si., M.Si., which made the discussion more engaging.
Reporter: Wildan Zaki M (Management, 2025)
Translator: Anggi Nurdiani (Management, 2024)
Editor: Firza
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