The Year 11 Trinity College student won the 2014 Australian Gemini Astronomy Contest after he nominated an object in the Southern sky for the Gemini Observatory to image.
“For one of the leading observatories to take a photo of an object chosen by a high school student is a huge honour,” Samuel said.
The Gemini Observatory consists of a pair of telescopes – one on top of Cerro Pachon in the Andes Mountains of Chile and the other on Mauna Kea in Hawaii.
Australian Astronomy Observatory and Macquarie University Professor Richard McDermid visited Trinity College on September 9 to speak with astronomy students and present Samuel with his award in the astronomy contest.
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READ NOWSamuel received a professionally processed image of the object Interacting Galaxy “NGC 7727” after writing a winning explanation of why it would be interesting to photograph.
A panel of astronomers, educators and science journalists chose the winning entry.
Trinity College is the only school in the Southern Hemisphere to have its own Robotic Telescope.