Warwick Valley High School student featured in Google, Inc. commercial

Warwick — Recently, local residents watching a recent Yankee game on national TV were surprised to hear Warwick mentioned in a Google, Inc. 90-second commercial and then discover that it was all about the accomplishments of Caroline Moore, a senior at Warwick Valley High School. In November 2008, Moore, the daughter of Bob and Nancy Moore and a freshman at that time, was catapulted into international fame following the discovery in her backyard observatory of what has now been named Supernova 2008ha in galaxy UGC 12682. She became the youngest person in the history of astronomy at that time to discover a supernova, which is a stellar explosion where a star, much like our own Sun, has been burning helium. After running out of that fuel, the star burns and depletes all its hydrogen, starts to collapse and finally explodes. Discovery leads to opportunities Since then, Moore has had an unusually busy schedule for a teenager. She was the special guest speaker at the World Science Festival in New York City, twice invited to events at the White House and a guest on radio and TV shows including programs nationally broadcast on PBS, Fox News and MSNBC. She is also the winner of numerous awards including iOptron’s Young Astronomer of the Year and a first place in the prestigious 2010 Jack Horkheimer/Parker Award for exceptional service in astronomy. And the list goes on and on. Articles that she has authored have been featured in periodicals such as Sky and Telescope and Astronomy Technology Today. Moore has also been asked to serve as an ambassador for the Celestron Telescope Company and is featured in Celestron’s ad for their new SkyProdigy telescope. Besides meeting with the President and First Lady, she also had an opportunity at one White House event to chat with Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon and Sally Ride, the first American woman in space. And just this past summer Moore was asked by The United States State Department via the United States Embassy in San José, Costa Rica to tour that country and give a series of talks and telescope donations at Costa Rican high schools and universities. Google calls But Moore was not quite prepared for her most recent appearance on the television commercial sponsored by Google Inc., a multi-national public corporation well-known by almost everyone who searches the Internet. “I knew they were coming to the house,” she said. “But I’ve done so many TV interviews before that I wasn’t concerned about someone pointing a camera at me. But when I came home that day last June, I was in for a shock.” Moore explained that besides the sophisticated lighting, cameras and sound systems there were about 40 people running around including producers, directors, make-up artists and what-have-you. “I had just come back from taking a test and I was wearing sweat pants and had no make-up on,” she recalled. “I had to change quickly. They offered their make-up person but I decided to handle that task myself. They took four days to finish the commercial.” Moore’s family is not sure how Google Inc. selected their daughter to appear in a commercial promoting the benefits of its search engine. But just enter “Caroline Moore” in that same search engine and her name pops up on several sites including Wikipedia, the popular free encyclopedia. Diverse interests Although astronomy has occupied much of her time since she was 10 years old, it is not the young woman’s only interest. Moore is a trained classical and jazz vocalist and she attends the New York Summer Music Festival, one of the world’s most prestigious youth music programs. She is also an avid skier, a certified professional ski instructor and a member of The Professional Ski Instructors of America. At present Moore aspires to stay in the field of science. Her interests include medicine, psychology, and of course astronomy, but she said that she is also considering music, politics, or history as future careers. One thing is certain. Whatever Caroline Moore decides to do, she will do it well. Google To view the Google, Inc. commercial online go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch And search: Caroline Moore: Supernova 2008ha