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<P><?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on"><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Sutherland</SPAN></B></st1:PlaceName><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 11pt"> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">High School</st1:PlaceType></SPAN></B></st1:place><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 11pt"> is this year’s
national Astronomy Quiz winner<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">A team of
four Grade 7 students from <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Sutherland</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">High School</st1:PlaceType> in the <st1:State
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Northern Cape</st1:place></st1:State> won the
national AstroQuiz 2010 finals this year. They beat students from eight other
centres around <st1:country-region w:st="on">South Africa</st1:country-region>
at the Quiz finals, which took place at the South African Astronomical
Observatory (SAAO) in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Cape
Town</st1:place></st1:City> on Friday, 29 October.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">The <st1:City
w:st="on">Cape Town</st1:City> team of <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Observatory</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Junior</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">School</st1:PlaceType>
came second and Phororong Primary from <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Gauteng</st1:place></st1:State> took the third
place.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">The teams to
make it to the finals have all come through four gruelling rounds of competition
at the centres where they participated in AstroQuiz 2010. Aimed at Grade 7
learners, the first round at each centre involves teams of four learners. Four
quiz rounds reduced this to one team from each centre. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>More than 3000 youngsters participated in
the first round of the Quiz this year.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">The AstroQuiz
competition has been funded by the South African Agency for Science and
Technology Advancement (SAASTA) since 2006. <BR><BR>The nine participating
centres were the Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (HartRAO) and
SciBono Discovery Centre in Gauteng; Boyden Science Centre in the Free State;
the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) in the Western Cape and the
Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) in the Northern Cape, Unizul Science
Centre in KwaZulu-Natal, Mondi Science Centre in Mpumalanga, North West
University (Potch Campus) Science Centre in North West, and the Vuwani Science
Centre in Limpopo Province. The project was initiated by Sci-Bono and funded by
SAASTA during Astronomy Month 2005 and expanded to these nine centres by SAASTA
since then.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">The questions
were tough, but fair,” says Philip Steenkamp of the winning team. They had to
answer questions about habitable exoplanets, the size of the sun, planetary
nebulae and many more, and were only four points short of full
marks.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">The winning
team took home a telescope with accessories and software for their school, a
fancy pair of binoculars for each of the team members and their teacher,
Encyclopedia Britannica and Cosmic Africa DVDs. There were many other prizes for
participants in the finals and all receive<SPAN
class=236523610-02112010>d</SPAN> a gift pack from
SAASTA.<BR><BR><STRONG><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">The finalists in the
AstroQuiz 2010 competition were: </SPAN></STRONG><B><BR><BR><STRONG><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">HartRAO:</SPAN></STRONG></B> Phororong Primary School
(Gauteng)<BR><STRONG><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Boyden
Observatory:</SPAN></STRONG> Unicom Primary School (Free State)<BR><STRONG><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Unizul Science Centre:</SPAN></STRONG> Dundee Primary
(KwaZulu-Natal)<BR><STRONG><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">North West Science
Centre:</SPAN></STRONG> Potchefstroom Central School (North West
Province)<BR><STRONG><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Mondi Science
Centre:</SPAN></STRONG> Ndawonye Primary School (Mpumalanga)<BR><STRONG><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">SALT:</SPAN></STRONG> Sutherland High School
(Northern Cape)<BR><STRONG><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">SAAO:</SPAN></STRONG> Observatory Junior School
(Western Cape)<BR><STRONG><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Sci-Bono:</SPAN></STRONG> Weltevreden Park Primary
(Gauteng)<BR><STRONG><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Vuwani Science
Centre:</SPAN></STRONG> Pietersburg English Medium Primary (Limpopo)<BR
style="mso-special-character: line-break"><BR
style="mso-special-character: line-break"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>