An amateur astronomer blogger highly interested in aerospace, astronomy, astro equipments and other astro related fields. Robin shares the astronomy enthusiasm with people from kids to seniors.
Happy Chinese New Year everybody! Don’t forget to use your telescope as usual as you can. The great wonders of sky are waiting for us but our body aren’t.
Here are my greetings for everybody!
金光灿烂迎新年
茂盛花开四季春
祝你新年诸事福
你的希望一定成
新年事事定如意
年年都比今日强
快快乐乐似神仙
乐得红包拿不尽
Venus and Jupiter are at their closest angular distance early this year. On 1,2 Feb 2008 dawn, we will get a spectacular view of both the brightest planets on the eastern sky, so close that they’re just 0.6° apart.
Check out your starchart, Stellarium, Starry Night, The Sky or S&T online starchart to check the rise time of both the planets. You don’t need any equipment to join, just a pair of eyes will do. However, a digital camera can photograph this wonder.
Asteroid 2007 TU24 is flying past the Earth by 1.4 lunar distance (538,000 km) on 30 January at 4:33pm UT+8 . The 250m-wide space rock is not going to collide with Earth. The magnitude of TU24 is 10th so a telescope with at least 76 cm can reveal the asteroid.
This will be the closest approach until the next century. It’s also the asteroid’s closest Earth approach for 2,000 years. Asteroid 2007 TU24 was discovered by the NASA-sponsored Catalina Sky Survey on Oct. 11, 2007.
That’s totally sad as the chance that 2007 WD5 will hit Mars is dropped to 0.01%. Let’s hope the 1 in 10,000 odd will come true. Anyway, I will still setup my planetary setup (LX90 + QHY5) to monitor the Mars. Please hit.
More info at NEO, JPL, NASA
In the next 20 years, NASA will be laying the groundwork for sending humans not only beyond Earth’s orbit, but further into to space than they’ve ever been. The next key steps are:
Though nearly 50 years old, NASA is only beginning the most exciting part of its existence.
Source:NASA
HAPPY NEW YEAR! Wish everybody has a wonderful 2008. At least, there are few great astronomical events waiting for us. At least, January is favoured with 3 fantastic events.
Continue reading ‘Happy New Year 2008 - Amazing Events Are Waiting For Us’
When I received this planisphere, my first impression was “Wow, this is a big guy!”. Well, it definitely is. Starfinder is published by DK Publishing which retails for USD30. Starfinder contains a mounted planisphere, a 72-page hardback beginner’s guide to the night sky, a red light and 44 constellation cards. For USD30, they sound cost-effective.
Continue reading ‘Review: Starfinder - Best Handheld Night Sky Learning Tool’
On 19 Dec 2007, 7:45 UT+8, Mars was at the closest approach to us until 2016. I was having my birthday party on the 18 Dec night. Sadly, the clouds were jealous that the Goddess of the Wars, Mars was going to celebrate my birthday with my fellow friends. 
This color image was assembled from a series of exposures taken within 36 hours of the Mars closest approach with Hubble’s Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2. More about the info of the image is below.
I saw 16 Geminids on the 15 Dec night. They’re so cheerful and mostly are fireballs. Geminid meteor shower is really well known for fireballs. Don’t miss it next year.
I was watching the meteor shower with 4 CHHS Astronomy Club members. It’s very nice to enjoy the show with friends. My sisters joined us very shortly after they heard us screaming. Haha.. it’s really a cool show. Meteor shower is definitely one of the best phenomena that everyone on the earth can enjoy without any expense. 
I just find out that my record doesn’t have any scientific value so I decided not to expose my Geminids observation report on the 15 Dec night. Look at International Meteor Organisation Visual Report Page. It drove me away from reporting… You might say that I’m not suitable for science. However, I prefer a report that the public can make, not just amateur astronomer and even the professionals.
Whoa! It was really fantastic this midnight. I started my observing since 1:40am UT+8 14 Dec. The cloud rolled in since 2.00am and was carried away by the wind soon. Another huge cloud rolled in just after several minutes but the strong wind blew it away again.
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