On 22nd April 2009, Earth will pass through a debris stream left by the Comet Thatcher. Thus, we are presented the Lyrid Meteor Shower. The peak of Lyrid Meteor Shower is predicted to be 10-20 meteors per hour. Howerver, the number could increase by five- to ten-fold as the Comet Thatcher’s tail has never been mapped in detail. Therefore, there lies a possibility that an outburst will happen. This has happened in 1982 when observers counted 90 lyrids per hour.
When to watch? As usual, the best time to watch is before the dawn or sunrise at around 4am to 5am. Good luck!
The diffraction pattern of the 8″ LX90AT with the broken corrector plate
The image of the Hadar (Beta Centauri) through the broken 8″ LX90AT. Look, the star image is no longer pinpoint.
Saturn delivered by the 8″ LX90AT with the broken corrector plate. It looks like the Saturn is being engulfed by a black hole.
Now, the main character~
Did you ever try to break your scope before? I doubt you dare. I maybe the first LX90AT user with the cracked corrector plate.
Here the story begins.
If anyone remembered my previous post about disassembling the LX90AT, you should know why I removed the corrector plate. Yes, I dropped a toothpick into the OTA from the visual back. All of the nightmare started from here. I bought a Purosol Optical (PO below) and their microfiber cloth as I planned to clean the corrector plate. In the end, I cleaned the primary mirror as well because the PO claimed that the solution was enzyme based and would not hurt the coating. That’s true, just that the microfiber cloth left quite a lot of fiber behind.
Continue reading ‘Cracked Corrector Plate: LX90AT’
In celebration of International Year of Astronomy 2009, we, the Kluang amateur astronomers have gathered to organise one of the greatest star party in the name of 100 Hours of Astronomy during the first weekend of April.
Below is the venue and the date. All the starparties start from 8.00pm and end on 10.30pm.
- 3 April – Giant Superstore, Taman Sri Kluang
- 4 April – Kluang Mall Entrance
- 5 April – Kluang Mall Rooftop Carpark
What are we going to observe? The famous ring planet – Saturn, Great Orion Nebula where the new stars are born, the seven sisters – Pleaides, the brightest star – Sirius, our Earth very best friend – the Moon and more!
The telescopes serving your eyeballs during this weekend are 8″ Meade LX90, Orion SkyQuest XT8i, Celestron Celestar 8 and a few little refractors. Join us tonight and make it a memorable night!
In support of Earth Hour 2009, the tallest twin tower in the world – KLCC, the longest bridge in Malaysia – Penang Bridge, the center of Malaysia government – Putra Jaya and many other government facilities, state government, landmark buildings have agreed to switch off the light for an hour on the night from 8.30pm and 9.30pm on 28 March 2009.
The stats of the Malaysian Earth Hour is on the official website.
What’s the best thing to enjoy during this one hour interval? STARGAZING! Absolutely! This will be the best time to enjoy the night sky with minimal light pollution. Have fun!
Click to enlarge the image
On 24 February 2009, a rare quadruple Saturn moon transit was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope for the first time. The biggest Saturn moon is the Titan which is the most significant one in the photo. It’s even larger than the innermost planet – Mercury. The other 3 moons are Dione, Mimas and Enceladus. Scroll to the bottom for the picture which has the moons labeled.
Continue reading ‘Quadruple Saturn Moon Transit Captured’
After the long wait since 1 Jan 2009, the admission decision is finally out 1 hour and 40 minutes ago.
Continue reading ‘MIT Admission Decision 2009′
At last, the Asian Science Camp 2009 official website is finally online.
This year, Asian Science Camp is hosted at Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan. I’m not sure if it’s in the campus of University of Tokyo. I’ll find it out. I just found out through Wikipedia that Tsukuba is considered part of the Greater Tokyo Region. More to come later. Well, the first priority is to get the ticket to the camp.
Expectedly, the theme of ASC 2009 is Physics and Chemistry. The science camp is not only excited because it’s hosted in Japan but also the lecturers and the professors who will attend this event. They’re the most eminent scientists! The participants are sure to learn a lot!
| Rajagopala Chidambaram |
Principal Scientific Advisor to the
Government of India |
| Leo Esaki |
Nobel Laureate in Physics 1973 |
| Makoto Kobayashi |
Nobel Laureate in Physics 2008 |
| Masatoshi Koshiba |
Nobel Laureate in Physics 2002 |
| Yuan T. Lee |
Nobel Laureate in Chemistry 1986 |
| Ryoji Noyori |
Nobel Laureate in Chemistry 2001 |
| Koichi Tanaka |
Nobel Laureate in Chemistry 2002 |
| Chen Ning Yang |
Nobel Laureate in Physics 1957 |
How to participate? You’ve to contact the person-in-charge of your country. Who are they? Here you go! Good luck!
Galileoscope™ is now on sale at USD15 @ Galileoscope official website.
What’s a Galileoscope? In celebration of International Year of Astronomy 2009, a team of leading astronomers, optical engineers and science educators developed a high-quality but low-cost telescope kit. At just USD$15, you can own the Galileoscope which is even better than the one used by Galileo Galilei himself since 1609.
Continue reading ‘Galileo Scope Ready To Ship’
Comet Lulin is approaching us! It’s approaching us! I’ve never been such excited blogging here!
On 24 Feb 2009, Comet Lulin is going to pass the Earth by just 60.8 million km. Could you imagine that? At apogee (farthest), the Moon is 0.4 million km from us. Check out the sky map below to look out the comet!
Click to enlargeMany have already been out at the backyard busy imaging the great comet. The gallery at SpaceWeather.com is growing faster and faster when the day comes close to 24 Feb. Comet Lulin is a green tinted comet. You will see it as a greenish patch on the southern sky. The telescope will show you even more. From some degree, the comet even looks like a sword with its tail and anti-tail.
What if you’re going to miss the show due to the weather? No worry, Coca-Cola Space Science Center is going to broadcast the view through their 16″ Schmidt Cassegrain telescope. It starts at 1530 GMT on 23rd Feb 2009 until 1000 GMT on 24th Feb.
Comet Lulin is a great discovery with the collaboration of Chinese and Taiwanese. More story later, the comet is drawing my attention. 
