Summer SAVY 2017, Session 5/Day 1- Computational Astrophysics (Rising 6th/7th)

Posted by morganr1 on Monday, July 17, 2017 in SAVY.

On our first day of Computational Astrophysics, we got into coding right away! We started by talking about why astronomers have to write computer code. The students came up with the basic “ingredients” we need in order to build a solar system – or anything in our Universe. The students told me about their experience with computer programming. I was truly impressed and surprised how many of these students had coding experience! I didn’t really start writing code until college, so it’s awesome to see that all of them are way ahead of where I was at that age. We discussed and practiced how we can mathematically describe where objects are in the Universe. Then the students began coding using VPython. They started by practicing the basics of the language, getting used to all of its details. We made spheres and arrows and the students practiced moving these objects in multiple directions. Some of them even started putting together their Solar Systems! We’ll soon be discussing the physics behind why and how these objects move, but everyone is off to a great start. Writing computer programming isn’t always easy, but I can tell that these students will all be great at it!

Mr. Adam Szewciw