This is the first try of my astrophotography taking. I chose Jupiter as the object as it was the brighest objects during tonight. It took me around 10 minutes to setup the telescope. Afterthat, I connect my LPI imager to my Dell 640M.
Sadly, the result isn’t encouraging. It seems that I might miss out something in the manual. The result is really poor. Even my Konica Minolta can handle it better. I am quite sad now. I was expecting a much more exciting result but it ddin’t come out at last. Somemore, the sky became cloudy after I took the fifth shot. 
As you can see from the picture above, it’s really poor. I’ll ask the professionals to encounter this. This mustn’t be the shot actually for an experienced photographer. 
On July 3rd, asteroid 2004 XP14 will fly past Earth. It is situated just a bit farther than Moon. To be exact, its distance is 1.1x distance of Moon. XP14 is large enough (600 metres wide) and bright enough (11th magnitude) to see through backyard telescopes as it races across the star-fields of the Milky Way. There’s no danger of a collision, just a nice photo-op for amateur astronomers.
You are advised to use this page to generate the orbit simulation and high-accuracy ephemeris.
A 6inch telescope is recommended for this observation. 8inch and bigger telescopes are the most welcomed! This will be a great event for the astrophotographer as this is an interesting object. It will glide through the Milky Way in only 4 hours, passing many stars and nebulae along the way. You’re supposed to be able to take many combines of photos but time plays an important roll in this event.
So, before you enter this, please make sure that your instruments are precise, if not, you will regret. For me, I don’t dare to do trained drive for my 8″ LX90 as I don’t have a reticle eyepiece, it will only worsen the situation if I don’t have something to center the objects when I do the trainning. For observing tips, you may visit A.L.P.O. Minor Planets Section
Anyway, my Meade 8″ LX90, Meade Lunar Planetary Imager and Dell Inspiron 640M are ready! An observing note about this will not be missed!
Published on
June 26, 2006 in
General.
Oh yeah! I have received my Dell Inspiron 640M this morning! It’s so shinny! I will do a reinstalling of Windows because I don’t quite like all the softwares Dell installed for me. I don’t use some of them. A reinstalling would be great to refresh all the system!
Sorry that I didn’t upload the photos yesterday as I was too tired and fall asleep. Here is the photo!
It shows that this article is posted using 640M. 


Pluto is the well known 9th planets in the solar system. According to the latest discovery, it has 3 moons now.
Now, the 2 latest discovered moons by Hubble Space Telescope on May 2005 have been named as Nix and Hydra. Before, they were originally called S/2005 P1 and S/2005 P2.
Left: The 2 small dots on the picture are Nix and Hydra.
By the way, IAU plans to publish an official defination of “planet†in early September, ruling on whether to call Pluto a planet or a Kuiper Belt Object (KBO). Pluto’s status as a planet has been fragile since the discoveries of KBOs Quaoar, Sedna, and 2003UB313 (informally named “Xenaâ€), which is slightly larger than Pluto. The IAU will discuss the issue at its August meeting in Prague.
Published on
June 22, 2006 in
General.
I’m sorry that I can’t write any article yesterday as I am having high fever, flu and headache. The doctor measured that I was 39 degree celcius. It’s really suffering! I don’t have the appetite to eat. All I can do is to sleep the whole day. 
Published on
June 19, 2006 in
General.
This is a good news indeed! I’ve ordered Dell Inspiron 640M this morning! Hopefully, I am able to get it this week. Then, I can start to do Astrophotography! 
Here’s its specification:
Processor: Intel Core Duo T2400 (1.83GHz)
Graphic Card: Intel GMA950 (Integrated)
Ram: 1GB DDR II 667MHz
Hard Drive: 60GB (Sata)
Wireless Device: Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 Dual Band 802.11a/g 54Mbps Wireless Mini Card
Screen: 14.1″ WXGA+ Ultrasharp(TM) TFT Display with True Life (1440 X 900)
Warranty: 1 Year Limited Warranty with 1 Year CompleteCover Programme
Weight 2.4KG
I also bought Dell Large Backpack which can fit up to 17″ notebook. It looks spacious and robust! How do you feel it? I am just worried about someone will just rob the bag from you as Dell is so famous…
I shall say that its CompleteCover Programme is so wonderful. Your unit can be repaired or replaced if it is damaged by spills, electric surge and even accidental breakage!
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