Kathmandu, April 30, 2017: Harsha Rauniyar and Sashwat Guragain from Rato Bangla School have been declared the winner of the ‘Cassini Scientist for a Day Contest 2017’, that Nepal Astronomical Society (NASO) conducted from January 3 – February 24.
Similarly, Pujan Siwakoti and Samir KC from Xavier International College have bagged the second position, whereas, Bibek KC from British Model College managed to secure the third position in the competition.
The Cassini Scientist for a Day contest challenged students from class 5-12 to become NASA scientists studying Saturn. Participants were asked to examine three possible observations taken by the Cassini spacecraft and tasked to choose the one they think would yield the best scientific results. The choice, then had to be supported in an essay. The essay could be on any of the three topics: Enceladus’ Plumes , Titan’s Lakes and Saturn’s Hexagon.
The entries were evaluated by a three-member jury panel comprising of Suresh Bhattarai, Manisha Dwa and Sudip Bhattarai. The essays were evaluated in terms of plagiarism, word limit, presentation style, grammar, critical thinking, and research.
All the three winners will be provided certificates for their achievements, and the winning essays will be published at www.nepalastronomicalsociety.org/cassini and www.solarsystem.nasa.gov. Along with this, the winning schools will be invited to a teleconference/video conference with Cassini scientists.
