A Brightly Shining Star

By Kelly Cummings
OSSD Science Fair Coordinator
November 2003

 

 

First Place: Junior Division

"Effect of Skyglow on the Visibility of Stars"
Jacob Rucker Grade 7
Rhodes School
Advisor: R. Hunker
(will receive a HeNe Laser
from Melles Griot)

 

 

 

 

Many of our Judges were impressed with the effort and work demonstrated by student Jacob Rucker. Jacob made a number of "runs" across the county at night to photograph the sky from different locations. He had a map of the sites and results from many different nights of photography. By digitizing the prints with a scanner and then using an imaging processing application (Photoshop), he demonstrated the differences in skyglow on the ability to see the stars at different sites. There may have been some room for error in some of his methods, but he was well aware of where it might occur and how to modify his experiment to reduce it in the future. Jacob was well versed in all aspects of this work and had obviously put in a lot of effort.

 

 

After sending out the OSSD Awards, it was a pleasure to receive back a note from Jake:

Dear Mr. Cummings:

Thank you and the Optical Society of San Diego for presenting me an award for my science fair project. For now I am saving the money in the bank, but I will probably use it to rent a digital camera for research on my next year's project.

I enjoyed reading your website and am attaching my abstract for posting as you would like. Also, you asked if I have received any other awards, which I have. I am pleased to say that I also received professional society awards from the Mount Laguna Observatory Association, San Diego Astronomy Association, and International Darksky Association (IDA) - San Diego Section. I also won the 2nd place award in Physics and Astronomy at the California State Science Fair (see picture) and have been nominated for the international IDA award and national Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge, which results will be announced later this year.

I really appreciated that you and your colleagues asked me in-depth questions about my project at the fair and also offered some suggestions, in particular Ned Briggs's input about using Excel. Thank you and the Optical Society of San Diego for participating in the GSDSEF and for recognizing and encouraging students like me.

Sincerely,

Jake Rucker

Jake, you're very welcome! We all hope to see more of your good work in the future. I've added some links to other awards won by Jake.

Kelly Cummings
OSSD Science Fair Coordinator

 

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CALIFORNIA STATE SCIENCE FAIR 2003
Category Winners in Physics & Astronomy

Second Place

Jacob J. Rucker,
Grade 7
The Rhoades School, Encinitas

"Quantifying the Effect of Skyglow on the
Visibility of Stars"

 

 

 

California State Science Fair 2003
Category Awards Physics & Astronomy
Junior Division

From left to right are: Alex D. Doo (Honorable Mention), Thomas J. Powelson (Third Place),
Jacob J. Rucker (Second Place), and Marlis Gnirke (First Place). (CSSF Photo)

 

 

Jacob receiving his award and congratulations from a CSSF official.

 

(Photo by Rucker)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Advisor: Ms. Roxanne Hunker
School: The Rhoades School, Encinitas
http://www.rhoadesschool.com/

 

Kelly Cummings, OSSD Science Fair Coordinator, presents the Melles Griot HeNe Laser to Roxanne Hunker of The Rhoades School in Encinitas.

In the background is the plaque that the SD Science Fair awarded Ms. Hunker; recognizing her as "Science Teacher of the Year" at the Greater San Diego Science and Engineering Fair.

Best wishes to Roxanne Hunker for continued success with all her students.

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National Science Finalist!

September 17, 2003

To the OSSD:

We are so pleased and proud to share our exciting news with you that Jake Rucker has been chosen a finalist in the national 2003 Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge for his project “Quantifying the Effect of Skyglow on the Visibility of Stars”. (See Jake's project)

Winning at the California State Science Fair qualified him to enter this national science competition, along with thousands of other entrants across the country. Jake was named among the 400 semifinalists in August, and today it was announced that he is one of the 40 finalists!

He travels to Washington DC in October for this wonderful, week-long event, where he will present his project at the National Academy of Sciences and also participate in team challenges hosted by leading scientific institutions throughout Washington DC

It is with great appreciation that we send our good news and untold thanks to all of you, whose recognition, counsel, and encouragement have made this incredible opportunity possible for Jake.

Yours sincerely,
Julie and Jeff Rucker

(Editors Note: I received this note on September 19, 2003 and wanted to share it with all members and supporters of the Optical Society of San Diego's Educational Outreach efforts. We all wish the best to Jake Rucker for continued success in his academic pursuits.--- Kelly Cummings; OSSD Science Fair Coordinator)

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CSSF Students Named as Semifinalists in the Fifth Annual Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge

21 CSSF Students Named to Elite 400

(August 13, 2003) - 21 participants in the 2003 California State Science Fair have been named as semifinalists in the 2003 Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge. In total, 24 California students have been named semifinalists, including 3 California students who qualified through other science fairs in California which are DCYSC-ISEF affiliates. The DCYSC is a national science competition for students in grades 5-8 created by DCI and Science Service to encourage the exploration, understanding, and communication of science among the next generation of America's youth.

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CSSF Students Named as Finalists in the Fifth Annual Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge

Seven CSSF Students Named to Final Forty

(September 17, 2003) - Seven participants in the 2003 California State Science Fair have been named as finalists in the Fifth Annual Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge. With eight finalists in total, California has more finalists in the DCYSC than any other state this year, with Texas and Florida next with five each. (The eighth Californian who was named as a finalist was in fifth grade, and hence was not eligible to enter CSSF.)The finalsts were chosen last month from among 400 semifinalists from 45 states and the District of Columbia.

The Final Forty will travel to the nation's capital and compete for more than $100,000 in college scholarships and other awards in science competitions on October 19-22. The finalists will participate in challenges selected in celebration of 100 years of flight, including air travel, wing dynamics, fuel efficiency, and aerospace. Rocket cars, spy copters, and gliders will play a role in the competition which will be taped for broadcast on The Discovery Channel.

The DYSC is a national science competition for students in grades 5-8 created by the Discover Channel (Discover Communications, Inc., DCI) and Science Service to encourage the exploration, understanding, and communication of science among the next generation of America's youth. The DCYSC finalists from California are:

• Bates, Samantha L. Belmont
• Feeny, Dana A. Woodside
• Fisher, Bobby Corralitos
• Koh, Justin Bakersfield
• Reid, John G. Redlands
• Rucker, Jacob J. Encinitas
• Saris, Patrick J.G. Calabasas
• Simpkins, Taylor Huntington Beach

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CSSF Students Win at the Fifth Annual Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge
Three CSSF Students Receive Special Prizes

(October 22, 2003) - Four Special Prizes in the Fourth Annual Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge have been awarded to CSSF students, who were chosen from among 40 finalists, who in turn were selected from 7,300 students nominated this year. Justin Koh received the Channel Dream Science Trip Award, Patrick Saris received the Department of Commerce Award for Youth Technology, and Jacob Rucker received two awards, the Discovery Kids TV Star Award and shared in the Discovery Channel Team Prize.
(http://school.discovery.com/sciencefaircentral/dysc/finalists/disc_winners.html)
(http://school.discovery.com/sciencefaircentral/dysc/finalists/profiles/rucker_jacob.html)
(http://school.discovery.com/sciencefaircentral/dysc/news/challenges.html)
(http://school.discovery.com/sciencefaircentral/dysc/news/copter.html)

 

 

The following was taken from the Discovery Channel Web Site:

Jacob is fond of all sports, especially basketball. He also plays the alto saxophone in a jazz band and enjoys camping, river rafting, skiing, and launching model rockets. He'd like to pursue a career in computer science. "I enjoy programming, and from watching my father, it seems to be a really fun job," he says.

Jacob says his mentor is Roxanne Hunker, "my fabulous science teacher for four years, because her enthusiasm for science is contagious."

Skyglow, caused by excess light from urban centers, obscures the visibility of stars and is an increasing problem for astronomical observations. Jacob lives in the San Diego area, where the climate is dry, the skies are clear, and there is accessibility to remote mountains—ideal conditions for night-sky observations. However, light pollution in that area hampers the visibility at the nearby Palomar and Mt. Laguna observatories. Jacob wanted to test whether it was possible to predict the impact of skyglow based on a site's distance from an urban center.

From sites of 30, 60, 75, and 124 kilometers from the urban center of San Diego County, Jacob took 120 photographs of the zenith on nights of similar weather and moonlight conditions between August 2002 and January 2003. He developed and scanned the images into more than 500 computerized bitmap files. Then he wrote a computer program to convert the bitmap files into pixel arrays with pixel intensity values ranging from 0 to 765. He averaged, graphed, and compared the intensity intervals to mathematically correlate the change in intensity (brightness) as a function of the site's distance from the urban center. Jacob concluded that the observable, visible light from stars remains below 50 percent until nearly 35 kilometers from the urban center and does not improve to 90 percent visibility until more than 70 kilometers away. Thus, there is a serious threat to the astronomical observations at the Mt. Laguna and Palomar observatories.

 

The DCYSC is a national science competition for students in grades 5-8 created by the Discovery Channel (Discover Communications, Inc., DCI) and Science Service to encourage the exploration, understanding, and communication of science among the next generation of America's youth.

For further details about the competition, including pictures and stories of the different opportunities provided to its participants, and profiles of all of the finalists, please see the official DYSC website at www.discovery.com/dysc or the Science Service site at www.sciserv.org/dysc.

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Teen's skyglow research wins honors at national competition

By Amy Horton
COMMUNITY NEWS WRITER
San Diego Union Tribune
October 29, 2003

DEL MAR – He gazed at a million stars while camping at Borrego Springs, but when he returned home to Del Mar, the stars disappeared. The mystery intrigued 13-year-old Jacob Rucker, so he began investigating the phenomenon called "skyglow." His research resulted in two awards at the Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge Oct. 19-22, 2003 in Washington, DC (http://school.discovery.com/sciencefaircentral/dysc/news/20031022.html). The fifth annual national competition honored 40 top middle school students from 16 states who competed for the title of "America's Top Young Scientist of the Year." Jacob won the Discovery Kids "TV Star" award and the Discovery Channel team prize award. These honors earned Jacob a role on Discovery's "Strange Days at Blake Holsey High" and an archaeological excavation trip to Mammoth Site of Hot Springs, ND

Before he left for the competition, Jacob said he expected to have a blast, especially during the team-based experiments. "I get to actually use rocket-powered cars, blow up jet fuel, and everything there looks really fun," he said. "I also get to meet some new people, too, and I'm not going to be doing homework."

Jacob, an eighth-grader at The Rhoades School in Encinitas, was invited to the event by the Discovery Channel after winning second place in physics and astronomy at the California State Science Fair in May and first place in astronomy at the Greater San Diego County Science and Engineering Fair in March. Jacob's project, "Quantifying the Effect of Skyglow on the Visibility of Stars," explored the effect urban light pollution has on the visibility of stars. The field work took months. Sky conditions required moonless nights and no marine layer. Jacob then created a mathematical formula for the impact of skyglow based on the site's distance from San Diego. His formula was recognized by several professional astronomy associations, including Mount Laguna Observatory. After all, Jacob's research concluded that San Diego's skyglow is an increasing threat to observations at the Mount Laguna and Mount Palomar observatories.

Jacob credits Roxanne Hunker, his science teacher and mentor at The Rhoades School, for giving him guidance and enthusiasm. Hunker, in return, said few students are as bright, hardworking and well-rounded as Jacob. "I've seen him grow and take on the responsibility that really a college student would take on," she said.

The Rucker family nurtured Jacob's scientific journey in many ways. His sister, Jess, 15, a student at Torrey Pines High School, paved the way by winning science awards when she attended The Rhoades School. Mother Julie, a retired micro computer company executive, and father Jeffrey, a computer scientist, have supported Jacob by driving all across the county so Jacob could capture the stars on film. "We're just terribly proud of him, of course," Julie Rucker said. "This project is really neat. It's not only scientifically good, it has an importance. So I always felt very strongly that he'd do well."

While his interest in astronomy and physics may take him to another galaxy, Jacob said his plans include going to Torrey Pines next year – unless he receives another kind of invitation from the Los Angeles Lakers. "I really want to be a professional basketball player," he said.

 

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OSSD Judges at
2003 San Diego Science and Engineering Fair

This year's judges included (left to right) Donn Silberman, Sergey Egorov, Ned Bragg,
Kelly Cummings, Jim Menders and missing from photo, Graham Brewis.

Thanks to all of these OSSD Judges for their efforts and contributions.