Last year, I started to explore different fields in science like biology and physics by doing online courses, talking with people working in this field and reading articles and the news. 

The biggest recent astrophysics developments have been the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and imaging black holes. I started researching these topics to develop my understanding of their importance and impact. JWST was launched in December 2021 and took six months to reach its orbital location. This kept me interested over a long period of time. I counted down the days to the launch and then waited impatiently till the first pictures were released. They were astounding and revealed details of the universe that had never been seen before. 

Its easy to get lost in admiring these pictures but its even more interesting to understand how these pictures were taken, the instruments used and the science that they would enable.

In the first semester, there was an invitation to submit articles for the school STEM magazine. I had the ideal topic and lots of information that I had already collected. I decided to write an article on the JWST. I quickly wrote and submitted a 10 page article including every single technical detail I could find. I also hand drew all the diagrams using Procreate.

The feedback from the magazine editors was positive but the article was too long and too technical for a school magazine. Cutting out large parts of the content to bring the article down to 3 pages was more difficult than writing the original article! However, this surgery was succesfully completed and the article will shortly be published. 

Fortune favors the prepared mind! I knew and researched about the JWST out of interest. I had already collected a lot of material. Although I had to plan how to organise my information, I did not have to look for background information. However, the editing to reduce the article size was not anticipated. Therefore, I now realise that I need to add a buffer to account for unforseen circumstances.

When I was collecting material on the JWST, I was the intended audience. But when I was writing the article, the audience was other students who may not have the familiarity that I had. Thus this activity has helped me learn how to change my tone and writing techniques to better suit my audience.