Everyone is welcomed! Global Astronomy Month 2011 @ MCKL Schedule

Go beyond the hour–Light pollution

As you all know by now, it’s on 26th of March this Saturday at Planetarium Negara from 8 to 10 p.m. The Earth Hour is from 830-930, we hope that they will turn their lights off longer so that we can have more stargazing uptime. Weather permitting, I personally would really like to see what it feels like stargazing in the middle of KL.

View Larger Map

 

On a side note, I hope this event will raise some awareness of this thing called LIGHT POLLUTION.  

Yeah, it deserves a big title because it’s a really big issue for all us astro junkies out there! Even from our stargazing spot in Kajang last week, there was a permanent patch of light in the sky coming from the mighty Kuala Lumpur. And do you know what is the comment I received most when I’m in the initial phase of starting this club? Yeah, it’s light pollution all right.

We’re fighting the good fight for the forgotten night sky. But of course, you will quote factors such as safety concerns, driving safety, aesthetics and such. But, after all these factors, there are still some lightings that can be reduced. Is it really necessary to light the whole KLCC in white every night? And the Yes Cube at Jalan Bukit Bintang? The streetlights could also use the more efficient ‘shoebox’ design rather than open ended designs that is very much ineffective at its job and made stargazers see red over them.

Even Fred Schaaf mentioned this in the very first night of 40 Nights to knowing the sky!

Help us fight the good fight. After Earth hour, commit yourself to reduce your photon footprint as much as possible, from changing your lighting designs, reduce unnecessary outdoor lighting, and petition big buildings to stop illuminating their buildings except for the airplane warning lights.

After all, the Universe has already provided us a much more stunning and enthralling night light in the sky – the cosmos.

Stargazer Society Star Party II 18.3.2011

Astronomy compels the soul to look upwards and leads us from this world to another. Plato

On the night of a super-full moon in perigee, we gathered at Simpson’s place. Our aim is mainly to expose club members to what stargazing really looks and feels like, and of course targeting several planets, identify constellations, and try our luck on some deep sky objects.

Initially it was the worst of the worst – thunderstorm. We took refuge at McDonalds and took the chance to give a comprehensive briefing on how to use the telescope, courtesy of Simpson’s Orion SpaceProbe 130 ST-EQ.

At 11pm the sky started to clear, we started our session which features the Spring sky. Stars were barely visible, but the main constellation of Virgo, Crux a.k.a. Southern Cross, and Big Dipper is visible. Saturn is rising up along with Spica, and with a 130x aided by Barlow lens Simpson bought recently we got this pic (on crap camera lah)

It is Saturn all right, in the scope Titan is also visible as a small dot.

The moon

Going on is the summer constellations with Scorpio, Sagittarius, Lyra, and Aquila. The last part of the Summer Triangle, Deneb is not up yet. Well this calls for a trip this July! : D We also observed binary stars about below Vega, star of Lyra and the twin Mizar-Alcor at the handle of the Big Dipper.

The ‘last but not least’ staple is the Morning Star Venus, with magnitude of brightness –3.36 it certainly outshone all other ‘stars’ around. Zooming in with a telescope gives the phase of Venus, now currently at a half-Venus phase. It shone way up until the morning.

Conclusion journal entry :

18/3/2011                      Friday                       Cloudy

-virgo, crux, big dipper, carina, lupus, scorpio, Sagittarius, lyra, aquila

-lagoon nebula, mizar-alcor, binary star below Vega, M7 open cluster

-moon, saturn, venus in half phase.

Here’s to more clear skies and starry nights! : D

MCKL SS 17-2-2011 The Origin of the Universe Presentation

This is the presentation on the Origin of the Universe, concerning Big Bang, Anthropic Principle, Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation and more. Enjoy. Any Questions goes in the chatbox.