Caroline with her pink telescope in the SLoS studios
To borrow one of her favorite words, what’s really “cool” about Caroline Moore isn’t that she’s the youngest person to ever discover a supernova (and an incredibly rare one at that). What’s really cool about Caroline is that she discovered that supernova… and she’s such a teenager—a smart, self-aware, funny teenager who’s living a real-world double life way cooler than Hannah Montana’s:
“Well, at school, I’m an average student. I’m doing after-school activities just like everyone else, hanging out with my friends on the weekends. I ski and do plenty of normal kid things. And then on other days, after the school doors close, I’m doing a phone interview for NPR. Or I’m coming down here to New York—I just came from school, came right down here [to the SLoS studios] to do this interview with you. So, I’m living both styles of life. In just a couple weeks, I have my sophomore formal. And then immediately after that formal dance, I have to leave to go up to Boston to receive an award. So, I’m living both lives at this point. And I’m enjoying it.”
Caroline told us that there have been some downsides to her discovery. There can, of course, be jealousy when you’re a fifteen-year-old who’s already been honored at the White House. And it can feel pretty weird for Caroline to have other people think they know her when they’ve actually only just met:
“My friend has a new boyfriend, and it was the first time that we ever formally got introduced. I was like, ‘Hi, I’m C—’ and he was ‘You’re the girl who found the supernova!’ It was like, ‘Yes, I am. My name’s Caroline, by the way.’ Yes, sometimes I don’t actually have to say much about who I really am, because most people in my school already know who I am. We have a science hall and when you walk by, it’s just human nature to look inside there. And I can’t do that anymore, because people point their fingers at me, and say, ‘That’s the girl who found the supernova.’ So, I just walk down the hall and try to make sure no one sees me. But I’ve gotten pulled into classes, and asked, you know, ‘Tell us about your supernova.’ In the meantime, I’m trying to get to my own science class.”
So given that her newfound celebrity can be an issue, we wondered whether the girl who sings Katy Perry in the shower before being interviewed by Rachel Maddow has any regrets:
“There’s never been a time that I wish I didn’t find a supernova. There’s good and bad in everything, and sometimes the bad outweighs the good. But in this case, the good is much better than the bad.”
Like we said, Caroline’s cool.
Watch her videos, follow her links, ask her questions.
