Beyond the Horizon

Cambridge | Unlocking the Secrets of the Sun

Awards & Nominations

Beyond the Horizon has received the following awards and nominations. Way to go!

Global Finalists Honorable Mentions

STEMM With Em: Beyond the Horizon

High-Level Project Summary

This website sheds light on the importance and relevance of science to everybody's daily lives, not only scientists in the lab. Through learning about the Sun and the spacecrafts currently observing it from the corona via texts, photos, quizzes, polls, and activities, readers will develop an understanding of how and why they should show Earth and our universe their support. Sources such as Beyond the Horizon are crucial in raising awareness because their casualness and welcoming spirit engages youths and excited minds who need inspiration and motivation to make change. The gallery and activities section on top of each page's interactive polls will help achieve this goal!

Link to Project "Demo"

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HM_fuqfswKV1IrOGAa-zYvdi6QtFcv3r/view?usp=sharing

Link to Final Project

https://sites.google.com/view/stemmwithem/home

Detailed Project Description

Using Google Sites and other Google applications including but not limited to Slides, Sheets, and Forms as a template for an interactive and virtual workshop for youths aged approximately 8-20, I explored our Sun, the Parker Solar Probe, ESA's Solar Orbiter, other spacecrafts including but not limited to NASA's SOHO, how individuals can learn and become involved in the science world, and why knowledge and understanding on this field is important for everybody everywhere, not just scientists in a lab. This website houses pages, each with their own field of interest and activities such as voting polls, trivia questions, and communal discussions that readers can engage in and learn from in short, relaxed periods of time, such as between classes at school or before dinner-time after work. One page in particular presents multiple games, including but not limited to a DIY craft project, a crossword puzzle, and word search to summarise what the readers have learned on the site. I hope this site is used by eager minds who don't know where to start in the vast field of science and exploration and therefore require motivation and inspiration to spark a passion. In the bigger picture, I dream of our Earth living healthily with minimal damage from the climate change and global warming crises of what will then be the past and I wish my peers protect themselves from the dangers around us that we are learning more and more about every day. I hope this site is a starting place for these journeys to safety and wellbeing.

Space Agency Data

https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/resources/490/our-solar-system/#:~:text=Our%20solar%20system%20is%20made,Neptune%20is%20the%20farthest. : used for "Our Sun" page

https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/sun-age/ : used for "Our Sun" page

https://science.nasa.gov/heliophysics/ : used for "Our Sun" and "Other" pages

https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/parker-solar-probe/ : used for "Parker Solar Probe" page

https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/parker-solar-probe-humanity-s-first-visit-to-a-star/ : used for "Parker Solar Probe" page

https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/parker-solar-probe-images : used for "Parker Solar Probe" page

https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/parker-solar-probe-videos/ : used for "Parker Solar Probe" page

https://nasasearch.nasa.gov/search?query=solar+orbiter&affiliate=nasa&utf8=%E2%9C%93 : used for "Solar Orbiter" page

https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2019/10/Anatomy_of_our_Sun : used for "Our Sun" page

https://sci.esa.int/web/solar-orbiter : used for "Solar Orbiter" page

https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/soho/index.html : used for "Other" page

https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/soho/overview/index.html : used for "Other" page

https://directory.eoportal.org/web/eoportal/satellite-missions/content/-/article/ace : used for "Other" page

https://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/ : used for "Other" page

https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/iris/multimedia/layerzoo.html : used for "Our Sun" page

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/world-of-change/global-temperatures : used for "Our Sun" page

https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Space_Engineering_Technology/The_Kessler_Effect_and_how_to_stop_it : used for "Activities" page

https://www.nasa.gov/connect/ebooks/index.html : used for "Get Involved" page and extra reading

Hackathon Journey

In one word: exhilarating. I don't think I have ever been so enthused about such a fast-paced, intense project before! The "Unlocking the Secrets of the Sun" challenge required sincere dedication, but between a lifelong passion for stars, a weekend free of any social responsibilities, and a website full of resources and learning opportunities, I was willing to give it. The only difficult part of this experience was choosing which challenge to participate in because they were all unique, insightful, and thought-provoking - the friendly layout and vibrant photos of the Space Apps site also contributed to how enjoyable this was. I can confidently say I learned more during this weekend than I ever have in an entire week of school, starting from basic star theory to deeper research about our Sun and how the Parker Solar Probe is exploring further than any other spacecraft ever has. As a full-time student interested in STEMM, I know that short, fun resources are the only truly accessible spaces to learn outside of school due to time and energy restrictions. Using this knowledge, I aimed to create another website designed specifically for students who want to pursue academics outside of the school curriculum. Google Sites was a user-friendly and perfectly suited tool for this! However, I faced setbacks when designing interactive activities because I am new to the world of coding and technology - the biggest obstacle was conducting the extra research of how to use Google Sites and embedding HTML sources into the site in less than 48 hours! Between said research and a few trial-and-error attempts, I solved the problem and ended up utilising the embed option to its limit. Although I was a one-man team, I didn't do this by myself. I would've never had the perseverance to push through my technological incompetencies without the encouragement I received years ago from P Albright about striving for excellence instead of perfection and my current heroes, Dr Gundy and Dr Cardwell, the professors who have inspired me to aim high and never give up. And I cannot finish without mentioning Emma! They're my Sun. I'll always remember the four of you as the inspiration I needed to complete this project and many more to come.