March 2022. City Academy 8th graders had the opportunity to do some field work last week at the South Physics Observatory at the University of Utah. Hands-on STEM experiences help more young students find an interest in science. Students thought it was interesting that a solar convection current was the size of Texas, and that that the sun produces 1,000,000X the energy of a hydrogen bomb in one second. They were able to look through a telescope to see solar flares and sunspots. They learned that we use different lenses on telescopes to block out different wavelengths of light so we can view the sun without burning our eyes.