Date: 15 December 2006
Time: 0057 UT+8
Venue: Home garden
I was quite lucky that I was able to watch 4 Geminids after the peak (13 December 2006). The interval of the appearance of the first 2 Geminids was around 30 seconds. No equipment was used during the meteor shower watching.
Afterthat, I setup my LX90 to observe the “Tonight Best”. It’s the guided tour written by Meade. Every of the objects observed are Messier Objects. They were M35, M36, M37, M38, M42 and M45 (Pleaides). I was supposed to be able to see M1 (Crab Nebula) but the tour showed me M42 (Great Orion Nebula). M42 was in greenish tone. I would say it’s always the best nebula for visual enjoyment as this is one of the nebula which you can see colour.
M35, M36, M37, M38 and M45 are open cluster. There were really a lot of stars in the view. It’s very fantastic, especially the M37 which has the greatest amount of stars. The arrangement of the amount of stars from high to low is as follow. M37>M38>M35>M36>M45
I observed Saturn as well! The view is not so great as it’s still low in the sky but it’s getting higher and higher, so no worry. The time is coming soon.
Leonids Spotted: 2
Date: 18 November 2006
Time: 0500 to 0610
Direction: [Read the article below]
One word to describe the scene, WOW! Although I didn’t see 100 meteors per hour as predicted as I am not in the peak time zone, I am very happy with the result. This is the second time in my life. How many have you seen?
Continue reading ‘Leonids Report 18 November 2006′
Time: 11:45PM UT+8
Date: 16 November 2006
Direction: South to north
Meteor Spotted: 1
Observing Duration: 1 hour
You aren’t going to believe it! I spotted a Leonid which travels from south to north. It looked like a burning fireball. I thought it was firework. After it disappeared in the sky, I just realised that it’s a meteor. However, I am not sure whether it’s Leonid since it’s two days before the predicted date. Anyway, prepare a mat in your garden or your favourite dark site and stare at the mysterious sky! There is no surprise that you can spot 100 meteors per hour.
The sky yesterday was extremely clear. I was playing with my LX90 but seems like it didn’t favour me as it’s kept in the cabinet for an extra long period. It’s time to have some tune-ups.
You aren’t going to waste the ability of a GoTo capable telescope in this event, are you? Sun doesn’t “move” at the speed of stars.
The movement of the stars from east to west across the sky is caused by the rotation of the Earth. The movement rate is called sidereal rate. The movement of the Sun is slower 35% than the sidereal rate. So, you have to slower the tracking rate of your computerized mount (either an EQ mount or a fork mount).
For a Meade GoTo telescope, you have to change the tracking rate from “Sidereal” to “Custom”. The path will be Setup>Tracking Rate>Custom. As suggested by dick who is always active in modifying Autostar II firmware, the custom rate has to be adjusted to -3 FOR MOST OF THE UNITS. If your autostar controller is either StarGPS patched or dick patch kit patched, you can enter -3.5 for a more precision tracking rate.
For others, the tracking rate is suggested to altered to -3 as well. If this doesn’t work, try to find out another figure around this.
Beware of using an unfiltered telescope to point to the Sun, it will cause severe damage to both of your telescope and your eyes.
By a very rough counting, 5 bright stars were spotted last night. The haze is cleared but the clouds are brought here by the monsoon. When I just done setting up my telescope, the Moon was blocked by my house. So, there’s no Moon’s photo. How I wish I have an observatory on a mountain top! It’s rainning now when I write this. Tonight will be another clear night with some clouds.
Last paper tomorrow. After this, I can write a lot again. 
Well, my stargazing sessions are either ceased by the cloudy skies or the hazy skies. Now, the haze here is unhealthy to one’s health. Some are suffering from sore throat, flu and more. The mountain in the photo is Gunung Lambak. You can hardly see the mountain’s outline due to the haze. Please, don’t burn anymore next year.
From what you see from the left, the Moon is not in a bright yellow tone. Instead, it is shown in sulphur wavelength. (I’m not sure about it, can anyone check it for me?) I am quite sure that the substances in the hazes made it. If you are my loyal reader, you are sure to figure out that these hazes are caused by the Indonesian farmers. They’re burning the forest as they found that this is the cheapest and easiest way to plant their crops. Their stupid minds are killing the globe. Someone has to stopped them!
Seems like the days to the end of ground astronomy are countable since the skies will not be transparent anymore.
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.
Everytime I organize a stargazing party, the skies conditions were always bad. Yesterday, we’re supposed to do “moongazing”. Yes, the Moon did show up. However, it’s just 10 minutes and later covered by the thick dark clouds. I haven’t ready up my setup yet during that time. Again, my classmates were disappointed again. Things are not so smooth these days.
At 23:30 on 11 September 2006, I saw a bright cloud. My first thought was it’s a noctilucent cloud but it’s not in blue tone but red. Fortunately, I took the photos this time rather than just watching the event until to the end.
As you see from the photo on the left, it was so bright which was totally different than the other clouds. I just can’t close my mouth and keep shouting. Just in case you don’t know, you can click on the image on the left to enlarge it.
However, just after 7 minutes, miracle showed up. Take a look on the close-up above. The cloud didn’t brighten up itself. It’s the Moon!
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