Morning Coffee & the Planets

Five planets in one night.. I'm missing four more to complete the Solar System collection. With the KK Wide Scan II 30mm eyepiece, the stars never looked better. July 2001 : ..and the exhibition's public tour continues to the schools. Mars' perigee has come and gone. A dust storm is brewing on the red planet's surface. A partial lunar eclipse this month (July 05, umbral eclipse starts 9.35pm- Maximum eclipse at 10.55pm - umbral eclipse ends 12.15am Singapore time) and a fading comet Linear in Cetus-Pisces region. 21-22 July 2001 (Johor, Malaysia)

A weekend trip out with friends. The morning march of four planets has been a topic for a while. The slogan should have been: "Get a natural high. See stars and planets. (No caffeine added.)"

Using the WYO FluoroStar100 f/8 with KK Wide Scan Type II 30mm, a 2-inch eyepiece with an 84-degrees field of view.

A crystal view of the universe and I have never been this up close and personal with the stars. One look through the Wide Scan II and you'll fall in love with the stars all over again.

Higher magnifications with a 2x barlow and 5mm eyepiece. The rough observation report is:
Mars
Surface details were fuzzy at best with the barest smattering of dark markings. A thick mass of rain clouds sweeping in from the west side; It barely skimmed past with lightning hints of what it could bring..
clouds,
Mars again,
clouds again,
distant lightning,
more clouds,
Mars,
Zzzzzzz......
ohh!! Stars!!
Hyades, Aldebaran in Taurus, and Saturn
Is it turning our way? because it looks as if we're gonna be able to see the other side of the rings behind the planet.. bands striped across its surface.. Cassini divisions visible..
M45 Pleiades, Taurus
Swell little cluster.. it never fails to look good.. :) stars filled from edge to edge.. I don't see distortion, I don't see coma and colour rendition with the Wide Scan II eyepiece is just *so* fine! my gosh, the view is absolutely stunning.. you get the whole view of the Pleiades cluster inside this babe. You know how some people describe the Pleiades as a group of blue fireflies.. I never knew what that meant till now.
M31 Andromeda galaxy, Andromeda
This is a real beauty.. central core brightness with the glow of diffusing arms gently swirled around it. Dang.. I forgot to take note of M32, M110..
M33 Pinwheel galaxy, Triangulum
Somewhat fainter than M31, more round and the central core was relatively bright.. it was only 2/3 the size of M31.
Venus
Bright waxing gibbous phase.. slightly more than half. I don't see any clouds on the atmosphere.. I hear about them, I don't see them. Dang planet's just too bright. :)
Jupiter
Major band lines across the body, no GRS visible.. 4 satellites as per usual serving.. :)
Mercury
Ahh! Finally.. it was almost the same distance from Jupiter as Venus is. It was nervy trying to figure if it was ever going to rise before the sun did. The sky was lightening up considerably. Finally, my friend's hawk eyes caught something that had almost the same magnitude as Saturn just above the distant trees. That was exciting. A look at Mercury showed half phase.. wow indeed.
Comet Linear
Tried to hunt for comet Linear, but gave up craning to see through the finder. It was directly overhead.

Binocular-wise, I swept through the clusters of the Milky Way through Auriga, Perseus, Cassiopeia, Cepheus. I caught sight of some familiar pieces like the Perseus double cluster. As for the others I got too lazy to check in with an atlas. It was just an appreciation session.

I could recognize the square of Pegasus, the star of Alpheratz that joined Andromeda to it. The Summer Triangle constellations of Cygnus, Lyra and Aquila to the Northwest. Cassiopeia, Cepheus, Perseus to the North. Taurus and Orion rising.

I mused out loud my wonderings about what other constellations flew to the South above us. I never was much of a Southern Sky-smart person beyond Crux and Centaurus. Vincent threw me a mock look of shock and horror, "You don't know?! How can you not know?!" *lol!*

I figured that if I didn't memorize all the constellations or DSOs, it'll be more fun searching it out on the field. Sure it makes for a little work, but that's the fun part. To see half the known universe as an astronomer would; To see the other unknown half as a new initiate to the stars will. Somehow this balance strikes a perfect chord with me. I don't mind not knowing everything in the universe. :)

Vincent sighed that I was undermining my full potential as an astronomer. I think I'm just too laidback mentally. (Turns out to be Pisces, Aquarius, Capricornus, Piscis Austrinus, Cetus, Grus.)

Orion was rising with the sun, too late to see much. Now if I could have caught this planetary moment with a waning moon, the scene would be perfect. Well, can't have everything in the universe. (I got a new moon.)

By Lin . 22nd July 2001, Sunday.

AstroBASH!VI : Of Rain & Stars

"How does one make a pact with the skies to be both full of stars and NOT rain at the same time? Then again it's the monsoon season and no one bargains with the weather. Pegasus and Andromeda overhead, Orion to the east, Gemini and Cancer rising from the seas, water splashing into our upcast eyes; Not too bad really." 27-29 November 2000 (Air Papan / Teluk Godek, Mersing, Malaysia)

27th November, Monday : Talk about a bad building design. The Singapore checkpoint at Woodlands wins hands-down for being the most unfriendly place for any tourist to get lost in. Due to some unfortunate circumstances, Woei Jiin & I had landed ourselves in a rather inconvenient (but most enlightening) situation in which we had to experience first-hand the Checkpoint system on foot, towing with us some 40kg of equipment.

We dropped off at the taxi stand at Woodlands checkpoint. I figured I would go ahead and try to locate the bus terminal. Bad move. I did not know that the main control area was planted a good 500metres away. It was an endless path of corridors and stairs and doors before one even meets a customs officer to get some directions. I took a good 15 minutes at brisk pace, telescope in backpack, before I found the officer.

That aside, I returned to the taxi stand to fetch Woei Jiin, and trekked back again. By which time, I absolutely LOATHE the building structure.

Passed through the checkpoint, hopped onto the public bus 170 to Larkin. No problems with the Malaysian customs. ("What's inside?", "Camping stuff.", "Ok.") Next, a 2-hour cab ride to Mersing. Along the way, dense gray rain clouds lumbered sluggishly across the sky. The cab was hit with a heavy downpour once. We arrived at 1.30pm, Air Papan Resort.

7.30pm, Venus punched a powerful beam of light through the thin veil of clouds in the west. 8pm, the Pegasus square and Andromeda opened a glorious window of stars among the clouds. A slight smear of M31 could be seen. Woei Jiin and I tore down to the café to announce the good news. Everyone was still having their dinner. Barely 15 minutes later, the clouds rolled in again.

8.45pm, the weather took a turn for the worse. Ferocious winds whipped in from the South China Sea, creating a low-level sand storm with the minute silicon dioxide particles from the beach. We heard that Choon Guan had set up his C5 at the beach and were heading out to warn him when I recognize an all too familiar drone that was increasing in volume: Incoming Rainstorm! The few who had started their observing sessions at the beach were scampering for cover. The few of us who were heading out to warn them, froze, caught on to their actions, turned tails, and sprinted for shelter. No sooner had we reached cover, a flood of rain pelted down.

Less than 15 minutes later, only a slight drizzle remained. The downpour had created small artificial rivers that were flowing swiftly past our line of chalets towards the beach. Indents in the ground were now miniature mud ponds. Woei Jiin & I made our way to the AstroBashers' lodge.

The clouds remained temperamental for the rest of our stay. By 11pm, a couple of us decided to take our chances and ventured out. Clear patches of stars were visible. Sometimes there was a thin veil of high clouds, other times, total smoke-out. For the next 3 hours, binocular hunting and naked-eye observations were the best options for these unannounced hit and run rain drops. Orion, Canis Major, Gemini, Perseus, Taurus, Auriga, Eridanus and Cancer. The Praesepe cluster basked beautifully above the eastern horizon.

I had attempted several times to bring out the GPDX & WYO. The clear patches were just too tempting, plus Jupiter and Saturn were right overhead. We managed to snitch a glimpse at Jupiter before the jealous clouds swooped in. Half the time, I was teetering on uncertainty; My senses on hyperdrive for any hint of rain. I was shifting the equipment in and out of the chalet when I thought I felt drizzles. The whole situation got the better of me and I swore I would never stargaze telescopically again in the monsoon season until I get a JMI observatory tent.

The first night was still loads better than the second. We took periodic naps throughout to awake to either a black sky with no stars or heavy downpours.

But dang the skies! The AstroBash party was still a hit largely because of the spirited camaraderie, and the cheery folk who took the lousy weather in their stride. They could always found something new to amuse themselves and everyone around them. In my many trips up to Air Papan, it was the first time I noticed the teeming beach life. Four guys squatting on the beach, looking with intense concentration at the sand; That piqued my curiosity. Crab-catching. Ah.

Soon it became a full-fledged event as more people noticed the few of us peering intently at the sand. It became a practical session on seashore life. There were hermit crabs, a starfish (dead, i think), a small soft-shell crab, a couple of sea snails, and even more seashells. There were monkeys overland too. Woei Jiin and I caught a few rummaging through our trash can.

The Committee did a great job of trying to keep the rest entertained when there were no stars to see. Thanks for the memories, everyone! Hope to see you all at the next Bash.

By Lin . 3rd December 2000, Sunday.