Sidewalk Astronomy Night @Titiwangsa 29102011

It's been a long time since our last outing... and yesterday(just now?) we just had our second sidewalk at Tasik Titiwangsa!
It's a huge event as this is organized by Planetarium Negara, so there were more clubs joining the sidewalk astronomy event today! The participants includes :

• ANGKASA (National Space Agency)
• Starhunter Astronomical Society feat. William Chin
• Starfinder Astronomical Society feat. 14 inch bazooka
• Starfield Instruments Supply
• Choon Kiat from Perseids Telescopes Penang
• Mr Shahrin Ahmad from FalakOnline
• and MCKL Stargazer Society!

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We arrived at 7pm for preparation etc. Thanks to Nixon and Adrian for fetching members who got no transportation to there!
Sky was still bright at 7... but when Kee Onn started to set up the telescope it was already dark =P
You know...
He can set it up in the dark! wow~!
No need light! (if we on the light then will become the light pollution lol)
Our nice president also helped all of us to register~ so all of us got a nice goodies bag from the Planetarium Negara and also our dinner...www (stands for ‘haha’ in Japanese 2ch language)

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The event started at 8pm sharp! (SO PUNCTUAL AH MALAYSIAN)
There were Emcee who introduced to the public about the sidewalk, and also announcing who participated in this sidewalk.
The Emcee kept on asking people to register and for those who registered will get a number and can join the lucky draw session!
However, all of us did not get the any number for the lucky draw Orz except Joy! =)
If i not mistaken there were total 5 session of lucky draw!
Besides, there were quizzes for the public too! It's in Malay language... ^^
I think they can get a prize if they answered it correctly!

As usual, VP Adrian takes all the spotlights! This beautiful board about light pollution is made by Apple Ying Yi, our talented handicraft member! Too bad our place was not strategic, there were no light sources to read the board (epic fail).

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It's the first time in my life to see so many telescope at the same time actually haha.
The biggest one is 14inch! According to Mr president it costs the same price as a car!

Here are some of the many telescopes that were featured that night.

This red thingy looks funny. Its an Astroscan Plus, a no frills ideal beginner telescope (http://www.scientificsonline.com/astroscan-plus-telescope.html). The tripod stand must be homemade though. It looks like a Doodle heheh

This long white telescope is of the Starhunters. Pic features from left, Chrono Fong, ???, William Chin and Simpson. Notice the blue box down there? It’s a treasure, the Sky and Telescope Seven Decade Collection DVD!

William’s scope.

A few Meade LX800’s I think from the National Planetarium. “Musytari” is Malay for Jupiter and Bulan for Moon. It has AutoStar features, no less you expect from the agency! With these scopes sidewalk should be done every Saturday!

Some other scopes. This might be Starfield’s if not mistaken.

Kok Ming skodeng from a random scope lol!

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At first we tried to focus on the Moon! Last quarter?
Well the image in the telescope is upside down lah....
After that we changed our "stalking" target to Jupiter!
The largest planet in our solar system!
Using the telescope we can even see the 4 largest moon of the Jupiter which is Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto!

This is what Nixon managed at the eyepiece. Saw Jupiter and his moons?

Besides these two main attractions there was another one!
It's the Summer Triangle!
By joining the Altair, Vega and Deneb you can form a huge triangle in the sky =D
The dimmest one is Deneb but it's still bright enough for us to recognize the triangle!

Towards the end of the event Simpson introduced us some of the famous astronomy players in the Klang Valley!
I realized we're the youngest among the crowd  LOL
Well the weather was a but cloudy... so both the Moon and Jupiter was not always available...XD
Overall it was a very nice experience for amateur like me!
Thanks for everyone who came and made the outing so fantastic!

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As usual, Japanese time! (actually u guys got remember or not!?)
天の川（あまのがわ）：ama no gawa
Meaning: Milky way
Example: 晴れた夜には天の川が見えるよ。 You can see the milky way if the night sky is clear.

The smiles were worth it–SS maiden Sidewalk event

First off, what are ‘sidewalk’ events?

Sidewalk ^[1] or Street Corner Astronomy^[2][3] refers to the activity of setting up a telescope in an urban setting on a for profit or non-profit basis as an entertainment or for public education. Examples of people setting up telescopes on urban streets for public astronomical viewing go back well into the 19th century and maybe even further. In more recent years sidewalk astronomy has come to be more associated with altruistic individuals or groups offering views of the night-time sky as a free public educational service.

Because the sidewalks tend to be in light-polluted areas, sidewalk astronomers often coordinate their activities at times when brighter celestial objects like planets, the moon, and bright stars are visible. During the day, sidewalk astronomy often includes use of a solar filter on the telescope to allow people to view the sun.

As you can see, credits to Wiki lah.

And well, Malaysia typically doesn’t have much experience on these fantastic events here. We were disallowed from setting up at our initial place, KLCC park. The managements there didn’t just break our event, they broke the hearts of 7 members that decided to come to support us! Moving on, we left this shithole and went on to Titiwangsa Park. 

We didn’t expect many people…. but the crowd that came was just the right size! Everyone got a chance to view the Moon through Simpson’s reflector, and some got to experience Chrono’s guide to stargazing pep talk!

Our on-the-spot task separation : Simpson does the scope guiding, pointing to the Moon and making sure the kids (and adults) doesn’t poke the eyepieces.

After they have wowed in wonder, Chrono will step in and ask, “Did you see the craters? Did you saw that there’s some places that are brighter and some darker? The ancient people thought that the brighter ones are land, and the darker one the seas of the moon! Well actually, the dark sides are large, dark, basaltic plains, formed by ancient volcanic eruptions.”

If they show interest, we move on to Chrono’s guide to Scorpio. We will usually start with “What is your horoscope?” Regardless of the answer, Chrono proceeds to take the star chart and ask “Do you see the three stars forming a line there? And the red star? Yes…yes! They’re actually the head and pincers of Scorpio!!!”

“Now look at the star chart, notice the shape… yeah its exactly what it is on the sky right now! Okay, now look at this – you see this ‘twin’ stars? (I did not say Double!) the stars is the tail of Scorpio! Now look up – do you see it? Yes yes that’s it! You saw the first constellation with your own eyes!”

That’s how it goes… And one thing we learnt from the people’s initial reaction – they thought that we are going to charge them for the viewing! Next time a big FREE placard is necessary. And the “DO NOT TOUCH” label on the telescope served us ‘quite’ well, it is Simpson’s idea after someone from his neighbourhood literally poked into the eyepiece and made him froze in bewilderment.

Other things we prepared is a copy of Chrono’s presidential star chart lol, a Moon map and our Facebook Group name, the link to Stellarium (www.stellarium.org) and a link to a basic star chart (www.midnightkite.com/starcharts.html).

The Moon map was especially apt considering there was a gigantic crater that can be seen  from the telescope, the Ptolamaeus crater (http://www.google.com/moon/). Oh, and what caused craters? Our layman’s explanation is “they’re caused by asteroids in outer space colliding the Moon. Sometimes, they’re actually heading for Earth but the Moon intercepted them! The Moon acts as a bodyguard for us! Without the Moon the Earth would’ve been finished!”

Overall it was a really good and satisfying experiece! Especially the smile on their face when they saw the Moon through the scope, or after they managed to recognize Scorpio…. especially if their horoscope is the dear old scorpion! Although we closed shop at 11p.m., it was worth it!