Shares and cherishes the gorgeous night sky, the everyone's property.
The UK Minister for Science, Lord Drayson, gave an opening address at the European Week of Astronomy and Space Science meeting held last week at the University of Hertfordshire, UK. The Minister spoke to Astronomy Now, an IYA2009 Media Partner, about why he thinks astronomy is important.
Source：IYA2009 Official Website
My high school life is going to end on 2008. I’m doing researching of the universities that are good at Astronomy. Below is the list provided by the members at CloudyNights.com
University of Arizona (Tuscon)
California Institute of Technology
University of Texas (at Austin)
Cornell
Harvard
Yale
University of Florida
University of Hawaii at Hilo
University of Illinois
University of Michigan
University of Maryland
Ohio State University
University of Rochester (Western NY)
The universities in bold are my considerations at the moment. Next, I am going to check their academic records and campus. 
History: 7 April 2007: University of Hawaii at Hilo is out because of the campus that just have 3000 students.
Look! The transparency is so good now. This photo was taken at 4:15PM yesterday. It was going to rain soon and it did. The air is so fresh as it was rainning just now. If I am not mistaken, the monsoon season has come. Oh well…… my stargazing is not so smooth. May be I will have quite a few super clear nights. Let’s wait for it!
By the way, I am having my last paper on Monday. I am not sure whether I can post an article on Sunday. Sorry to all my loyal readers.
Light pollution in Malaysia
Light pollution, we hate it but some of us have to live with it especially those who live in suburban and urban areas. If you want to know how severe it is, try to look at the photos above. These are for those who live in South-East Asia and Malaysia, you may refer to The night sky in the World for yours.
To know more about the scale on the left, please visit John Bortle’s Light Pollution Scale.
I previously said that the light pollution in Kluang is affecting my observing but the image tells me that the pollution is totally near to zero. I shall say that the road lamp and my neighbours’ lamps are affecting me instead of the previous thought.
The largest Moon this year has a special name, Harvest Moon. It’s called so due to the days without electricity, farmers depended on this Moon as a light source to harvest their crops.
Why is this the largest Moon? Aren’t they always the same in sizes? The Moon we see today is around 12% larger than before as the Moon is near perigee, the side of the Moon’s lopsided orbit that comes closest to Earth.
Sadly, I am too tired to get ready my imaging platform. How lazy I am! Even if I have my astronomical equipments ready, the Moon covered by super thick clouds is impossible to be a great subject. These days, I am busy working on establishing my school Astronomical Club. I am totally exhausted.
Zodiacal light is sunlight reflected from countless tiny grains of space dust orbiting the sun. These grains are sprinkled among the orbits of the planets, making a vast dusty pancake as big as the Solar System itself.
For people in the Northern Hemisphere, the next month is a great time to see Zodiacal light because the dust band is oriented nearly vertical at sunrise.
Left: Zodiacal light imaged by Ratkowski
I haven’t came across this scene before as I am living in a basin. Sadly, I won’t have the chance most likely to view it .
One of the subgroups in International Astronomical Union (IAU) has now defined a new defination for Planet. If most of the positive votes go to this defination on 24 August in the meeting in Prague
(1) A planet is a celestial body that (a) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape, and (b) is in orbit around a star, and is neither a star nor a satellite of a planet. Make it simple, it’s the object must be in orbit around a star, while not being itself a star and the object must be large enough (or more technically correct, massive enough) for its own gravity to pull it into a nearly spherical shape.
(2) We distinguish between the eight classical planets discovered before 1900, which move in nearly circular orbits close to the ecliptic plane, and other planetary objects in orbit around the Sun. All of these other objects are smaller than Mercury. We recognize that Ceres is a planet by the above scientific definition. For historical reasons, one may choose to distinguish Ceres from the classical planets by referring to it as a “dwarf planet.â€
(3) We recognize Pluto to be a planet by the above scientific definition, as are one or more recently discovered large Trans-Neptunian Objects. In contrast to the classical planets, these objects typically have highly inclined orbits with large eccentricities and orbital periods in excess of 200 years. We designate this category of planetary objects, of which Pluto is the prototype, as a new class that we call “plutonsâ€.
(4) All non-planet objects orbiting the Sun shall be referred to collectively as “Small Solar System Bodiesâ€.
However, many are not satisfied with this defination. There is rumour that Moon will most likely be another planet as Moon orbits the Sun in a wobbly way just like the Earth wobbles around the Sun due to the Moon’s proximity. Therefore, Earth and Moon maybe another double planets.
On the bright lunar morning, the sky is always dark due to the absent of atmosphere which is as black as midnight. Isn’t it an astronomer’s paradise? No. Not a single star was visible. The glaring, sunlit ground ruined the man’s night vision. Only Earth itself is bright enough to be seen, luminous blue and white, hanging overhead.
Based on this conclusion, we know that a dark sky is not enough. A dark environment is needed too. However, we can’t really find a dark site in urban areas due to the high growing light pollution.
What about on the lunar night? Could an astronomer bear the cold temperature which may be as low as 40 K? I wonder anyone of us could. Don’t you think that a special designed suit is able to eliminate this problem? Everyone of them must feel incovenient in observing, I guess. What about establishing an observatory on the Moon? I am sure that space based telescope like HST is much more better as the observatory will be an easy target for the asteroid.
Thanks to Maximilion for bug hunting. 
This is very important to every astronomers but easy to learn. Calculating the magnification always helps you to know the current situation and get the best view of the objects. For every celestial objects, there are always the most suitable views (magnification) for it. Let’s back to the topic, I shall discuss the most suitable views in the coming days.
The formula is very easy.
Fo: Focal length of telescope
Fe: Focal length of eyepiece
Let’ say, I am now using a f=2000mm telescope with f=26mm eyepiece. The magnification value will be 2000mm/26mm= 77X. Therefore, I am now having a 77X magnification.
Do you know what is a moonquake exactly? It’s just like the earthquake on earth but normally they last longer. The longest earthquake was just lasting less than 2 minutes but most of the shallow moonquake can last more than 10 minutes! 
Just another question is raised. What is a shallow moonquake? There are at least four types of moonquakes. According to NASA, they are
Deep moonquake is happened about 700KM below the surface of moon and most probably caused by tides. Thermal quakes are caused by the expansion of the frigid crust when first illuminated by the morning sun after two weeks of deep-freeze lunar night. Shallow moonquakes are only happened 20KM or 30KM below the moon, thus, it’s the most dangerous. 
According to NASA, between 1972 and 1977, the Apollo seismic network saw twenty-eight of them; a few “registered up to 5.5 on the Richter scale,” says Neal. A magnitude 5 quake on Earth is energetic enough to move heavy furniture and crack plaster.
The scientists are not sure about the cause of the shallow moonquakes as well as the place where they happen. They have to know this as the lunar bases must be built on the safest spots. They are going to implement 10 to 12 seismometers around the whole moon to find the safest spots.
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