MUST WATCH: Sun in HD

Published on April 23, 2010 in Astro Video and Solar. View Comments Tags: .

Jaw dropping high defination prominence on Sun captured by NASA SDO (Hubble for the Sun)

NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) has beamed back jaw-dropping images of the sun and they have been released on 21 Apr 2010. There is a video with the prominence above in high definition (HD) at First Light of the Solar Dynamics Observatory which you must not miss. Even experienced solar physicists said that they learned new things by just watching the videos.

There are also videos showing solar flare and magnetic field on the sun surface.

Offtopic: Talking about HD, the hype is almost everywhere. Sooner or later, there might be HD eyepieces, HD mounts, HD bla bla bla…

Orionids 2009

Published on October 20, 2009 in Meteor Shower. View Comments Tags: , .

skymap_orionids_northWhat does the third week of October mean to us? Yes, as indicated by the title, the earth is passing through the debris stream left by the Halley Comet. As a result, earthlings get the chance to watch the spectacular Orionids. The rate is about 60 meteors per hour.

As usual, the best time to watch meteor shower is before the dawn.  This year is especially good since the moon is almost new, no moon light will interfere the show. As you get under the night sky, you will notice that the winter constellations (for northern hemisphere) are up which makes the sky spectacular again. For example, Orion, Gemini and Taurus. *I love winter celestial objects the most, especiall the Great Orion Nebula.

Set your alarm and enjoy the shower.

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Some Random Shots in Australia

Published on September 16, 2009 in Life. View Comments Tags: , .


Twilight in AustraliaThe first twlight seen in Australia :P

Sydney AirportSydney Airport

Burning cloudBurning cloud. This photo was taken on the way to Canberra

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9 Weeks Australian

Published on August 31, 2009 in Life. View Comments

satellite image of australia 300x282 9 Weeks AustralianAustralia

[Posted on 31 Aug 2009] Time is really passing swiftly, I have been living in Australia for 9 weeks. So far, everything is going well. Hmm… not really.

I just had my first mid semester exams today. I was not in the mood to do revision on Mechanics and Electronics. A deep voice told me that I have learnt these things before but it’s obvious that I do not really know much about them. The funny thing is I am in a financial dilemma that if I could not get any scholarship to pay for my tuition fee and accommodation, I will end up going back to home after my first year. Robin, you should really think of your situation seriously. All you have to do now is to secure a scholarship, in other words, get good grades. Yes, I know. The motivation that carries me so far since high school has somehow disappeared. The enthusiasm is lost.

I need to find a new direction and redirect myself. Blogging is a good way to slowly set my new sail. Revive and readapt!

I will post up the photos I took on the way to Sydney from KL, Canberra and at ANU before Wednesday.

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MICSS Science Camp 2009

Published on June 9, 2009 in Astronomy Malaysia and Events. View Comments Tags: .

天工开悟-TianGongKaiWu

Theme of MICSS Science Camp 2009 – 天工开悟

Attending to MICSS Science Camp 2009 in Foon Yew High School, Kulai as a counsellor was a great pleasure. I can focus more on making friends instead of striving hard for prizes. Most importantly, it was a great chance to widen our perspective on science and to realise what we have in mind is just a fraction of the whole puzzles.

leechiawei robinlee sunweihsin 300x200 MICSS Science Camp 2009

From left to right: Chia-Wei Li, Robin Lee and Wei-Hsin Sun

The main program of the science camp was the lectures by renowned professors. They were Prof. Wei-Hsin Sun, Prof. Chia-Wei Lee and Prof. Shun-Fen Tzeng. Their talks covered topics ranging from astronomy to life science. It was a pity that they were not given enough time to go deep into their exciting stories. However, I think their talks were impressive enough to encourage us to dig into them ourselves.

The second night of the camp, I joined Dr.Chong from USM for the “Night talk”. I was really amazed that he is so energetic and passionate. I can hardly find anybody else on par with him. He gave us a talk on the topic – The Search for More Extra-solar Planets – E.T. Where Are You? Wow! Interesting huh? Yeah, jia bueh liao! (Hokkien).

stargazing night one 300x200 MICSS Science Camp 2009

Dr.Chong pointed us the Alpha Centauri. Wow!

Right after that was stargazing party. It was even more fun with the present of Dr.Chong. He was like a boy running on the field with endless energy. He distributed lots of star charts and almanac to us and showed us the constellations by green laser. He also showed us the Meade MySKY which functioned as an electronic starchart. I was his assistant but I went away to take Prof. Sun’s autograph. Haha… Sorry about that Dr.Chong. Back to the stargazing party, the telescopes were not as many and powerful as last year. The weather was not very nice though. In fact, it was not a failure but it was not great enough to allure people to pursue astronomy as a hobby.

water rocket with drchong 1 300x200 MICSS Science Camp 2009

Dr.Chong said, “Fuiyoh… Don’t underestimate this cheap-looking water rocket. It can fly up to 150 meters high! No joke!”

Earlier the day, I also joined Dr.Chong for the mini water rocket DIY session. I loved to learn from him. He was such a high spirit, energetic and humorous professor. I can’t help laughing throughout the workshop. He is a real funny guy. The water rocket can be made under RM5. We just need plasticine, masking tape, wood made chopsticks and 2 7-up bottles. The launcher can be done with RM20. The designs of the water rocket and launcher are proven to be effective. I will ask for Dr.Chong permission if I can upload the guide of making water rocket.

The Universe movies were visually nice. However, most of us were not happy with the Bahasa Malaysia dub. The movies would be more interesting if they were played in English.

I have a little complain here. The food was considered below average. It was oily and boring. The breakfast, snack and supper were almost the same for the whole week. Some said that it’s not green to use paper plate (Yes, we had our food with use-and-throw tableware). Do you think it will be greener if we use reusable tableware? Save trees and petroleum or water? Discuss, please.

science camp team7 4 300x200 MICSS Science Camp 2009
Congratulations! You guys did a great job! I am really proud of being the counsellor of Team 7.

I will have a gallery working later which shows all the photos I took. Stay tuned!

C02 Emission, Birth and Death Rate of Your Country

Published on May 28, 2009 in Earth. View Comments Tags: , .

co2 emission rate 300x175 C02 Emission, Birth and Death Rate of Your CountryScreenshot of BreathingEarth.net

I just stumbled across this interesting facts about the earth and I think it shall worth a read. BreathingEarth tells us about the CO2 emission, birth and death rate of human on Earth by country.

In Malaysia, every 55.6 seconds, a new life is born and every 4.1 minutes a person dies. 1000 tonnes of CO2 is emitted every 3 minutes.

I accidentally came across the facts of Spain. The birth rate and the death rate are exactly the same which is 1.3 minutes each.

The country that releases the most CO2 is United States of America which is every 1000 tonnes of CO2 per 5.3 seconds, second by China at 6.4 seconds. Wow… terrific… I think if we do not reduce carbon emission promptly, disasters are ahead of us soon.