Mars was 88 million km away from earth when photographed by Hubble Space Telescope
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.
Continue reading ‘Mars Closest Approach & My Birthday’
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.
14 Dec 2007
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.
Continue reading ‘I Saw 24 Geminids! [Updated]‘
Geminid meteor shower is at best for most of the Asia countries on the upcoming 14-15 December. Attention, no equipment is needed for watching meteor shower.
When, where, how and why to look?
Continue reading ‘2007 Best Meteor Shower for Asians - Geminids’
Chang’e-1’s First Release by China
This is a bit late but late is always better than none.
Chang’e-1 was launched on 24 Oct 2007 at Xi Chang Satellite Launch Site. It’s China’s first lunar orbiter. Following Japan’s Kaguya (Goddess of Moon in Japanese), Chang’e-1 is the second lunar orbiter owned by Asia countries. By the way, Russia is planning on a robotic lunar mission in 2009.
Continue reading ‘First Image by Chang’e-1′
Comet tail disconnected from 17/Holmes nucleus [by Thorsten Boeckel]
Comet 17P/Holmes gives us surprise again. The comet’s tail disconnected from the nucleus. It’s believed to be caused by gusts the solar wind which trigger magnetic storms around the comet. This phenomena is not rare, it happened on Comet Encke earlier this year.
Amateur astronomers are monitoring this comet each night. What about you? Since my last observation, the sky has been cloudy until now.
Below is the direct quote from SpaceWeather.com regarding the satellite of Holmes.
Continue reading ‘Comet 17P/Holmes: Tail Disconnected’
Building Burnt?
I wonder whether the lightning stroke anybody. I never see a thunderbolt being that low. Chicago must be well known for this fierce natural phenomena. More photos at Lightning by Chicago over Lake Michigan
It seems like I haven’t found the best setting to image 17P/Holmes. I just got a very noisy (offset too high) image with no detail. Time to go to CloudyNights.com to ask the community why.
Anyway, I really enjoyed the comet last night. Although the clouds are still there, I could still easily spot it by its “nebulosity”. I found that the telescopic view (8″ LX90 2000mm) was more spectacular than the the binocular (Meade 9×63mm). If you had watched Armageddon, you would quickly recognize the comet as the asteroid in the movie. It looks so threatening to us but it’s not going to collide with us. So, NASA doesn’t have to send Bruce Willis to drill a hole there.
All right, good weather is gone again. Let’s hope the sky will clear soon.
WOOOooooHoooOO! It’s so wonderful that a heavy downpour happened in the evening and most of the clouds are gone now. What’s the “star” tonight? Well, Comet 17P/Holmes is the “star” for the whole week and the next whole week. I’m watching it now. Sure, my laptop and Meade LPI is going to record it down and show it to my fellow friends. They are just too busy with the upcoming SPM exam (the O’ level exam).
Happy Halloween everybody! Here are my younger sister, Dion Lee’s artworks! Enjoy~
Continue reading ‘Happy Halloween!’
17P/Holmes is getting bigger. Imaged by Eric Allen. Click to view the animation.
Comet Holmes 17P is getting bigger and bigger. At the same distance as of Jupiter, it’s now bigger than it. Imagine! It was at magnitude 2.3th measured by Dr.Clay on 28 Oct 2007. It was 255 arc seconds across on the same time. If you are interested in the photometry result, you may refer to COMET OUTBURST: Comet 17P Holmes More facts below…
Continue reading ‘Comet Bigger Than Our King Planet - 17P/Holmes’
Latest Comments
RSS