1997-98
NEW MEXICO
HIGH SCHOOL
SUPERCOMPUTING CHALLENGE

TEAM ABSTRACT

Team Number:

114

School Name:

Tularosa High School

Area of Science:

Astromomy/Physics

Project Title:

Skyfind

Skyfind will be a project that will predict the path of a small foreign object(such as a meteor) entering our solar system given only the date, the mass, and the initial trajectories, velocities,and coordinates.

Skyfind will take into account the gravitational pull of Sol andf the nine major planets, but will not account for thier moons, or for the asteroids in the belt. It will require many subprograms to determine the location of all the planets at certain times, and to change the locations of those planets as time passes(according to the simulation). If the object enters the orbit of a planet or the Sun, Skyfind will notify the user of this. After this happens, or the object exits our system (pluto's greatest distance from the Sun), the program will end. All through the program, Skyfind will out put the monthly position of the object.

Team Members:

• Jeff Montgomery
• Juanito Makil
• Lorenzo Montoya
• Tony Parker

Sponsoring Teacher(s):

• CLEMENT HUDSON

Project Advisor(s):

• C Hudson
• N Carr