CoderDojo bright sparks to make cosmic history

Five Cork students aim to make astronomical history by snapping a picture of space using a telescope operated remotely from a flight to San Francisco.

The five students are Cork CoderDojo members flying on the inaugural Aer Lingus Dublin to San Francisco flight departing this afternoon. The five have live access to robotic telescopes in California as part of a dual education sister city partnership developed by Cork Institute of Technology’s Blackrock Castle Observatory (CIT BCO). Students Áine Ellen O’Neill, Ruth Whelan, Emily Mary Ray, and Andrew Barrett, all aged 13 and Matthew Mallen, 12, have been selected to give Mayor Ed Lee of San Francisco a lesson in coding as part of the five-day trip.

Shortly after take-off tomorrow at 12.20, the five will use the airline’s wifi to connect to the telescope in the Portola Valley to take images of space before dawn breaks on the west coast.