NewVIc students excel at cosmic conference

Five NewVIc students were awarded joint second place for “best research” at a cosmic conference on Monday.

The teenagers competed against London and Essex college students at the Queen Mary University of London event and presented research findings to support a post-doctoral project run by astrophysicist Dr Martin Archer.

Michael Jones, Asif Sadequee, Mughees Hassan, Zain ul Abidin and Migen Mytafi analysed satellite data for low frequency waves generated by the interaction between the Earth’s magnetic field and solar winds.

They said: “Mars has a magnetosphere but a very weak one, which is why it is red. The earth’s magnetic field protects us against the solar winds.”

The students had a choice between doing a presentation and creating a poster but opted for the former, receiving an “appreciative response from the physics academics in attendance”.

They said: “We wanted to boost our presentation skills, and it also gave us the option of producing a range of visuals.”

Their teacher, Tony Dunn, said: “We expect this to mark the start of an on-going collaboration with the Queen Mary physics department.”