After the metoer shower event (Lyrids) that just past, Perseids is going to take place in August and Aurigids is going to happen in September.
This time, Aurigids is going to be very spectacular and very magnificient! On 1 September 2007, 11:37 GMT, the peak rate will be about 1000 meteors per hour! How stormy is this! This is reason that it’s called a storm instead of shower. However, this might just happen for 15 minutes. On this day, the Earth will pass very near to the center of the dust trails left by the comet Kiess.
Most of the north America and Europe will be in daylight. You guys there got to travel to western US, Canada, Hawaii or Alaska for this event. My timezone is GMT+8, the western part of the sky will still be bright. Anyway, I am going to organise a meteorgazing party on that day.
If you want to know how to clean a mirror or a lens, I suggest you read Dr.Clay’s article first.
I learned all these after I just did my second cleaning (just for fun) again. It’s totally not advisable to clean the optics without absolutely need.
- Don’t clean the mirror or lens if there is absolutely no need
- If you can clean the optics with very soft brush, do it. Afterthat, you judge whether it’s still necessary to clean the optics.
- Dr.Clay judges the capability of the brush by pushing the tiny ends of the bristles hard against the cheek of your face, if you don’t find it pricking, the brush is suitable for optical cleaning. I find this very good.
- I did my cleaning under 0 air flow condition (Fan turned off). I was worried about the dust got onto the surface again.
- Do the cleaning under bright light source condition so that you can see the stains or anything left on the surface of the optics.
- When cleaning, you are advised to clean the optics by doing rotational motion in one direction. Never ever reverse.
- Don’t rub, just softly press through.
- Everything is done softly, no pressure applied.
This event is held by the biggest telescope manufacturer, Meade and the astronomical magazine Astronomy on 21 April 2007. Other than sharing the passion, I think the main objective of joinning this event is to win a Meade 10″ LX200R! 
You are not going to be disappointed this month. There are 4 comets and 1 asteroid as well as 1 meteor shower visible!
Let’s talk about comet first. There are Lovejoy (C2007/E2), 2P/Encke, 4P/Faye and 96P/Machholz. Lovejoy is the comet discovered by Terry Lovejoy in March. It’s moving from Sagittarius to Lyra. At the beginning of April, its magnitude is 8.6 and is expected to brighten about 0.7 magnitude. Encke begins the month in Aries at magnitude 7.6 and moving into Cetus by month’s end.
For more information regarding the comet, please visit Comet Chasing.
The meteor shower, Lyrids is predicted to peak at 2230UT on 22 April 2007. The peak rate is about 25/hour. The radiant of Lyrids is the central of Hercules, four degrees southeast of the third magnitude star Pi Herculis. For more, please read The American Meteor Society.
The asteroid 2007 HA is 300m in diameter and 6.5 LD away from Earth. Its magnitude is 13th currently so you need a pretty big backyard scope to see it visually or you can image it with smaller scope. This movie shows the travelling 2007 HA. This asteroid is discovered by MIT’s Linear Project.
The general thumb of rule to get good astrophotograph is,
Good photo = 6 Good(s)
Good telescope: The telescope isn’t necessary to be expensive or exotic. It just has to be suitable on the object that you image.
Good mount: The mount can support the telescope well and the setup is very well balanced.
Good tracking: The tracking error is supposed to be acceptable with the focal length you are imaging at.
Good camera: Again, the camera has to be a good partner with the telescope. Read this article about what’s a good partner.
Good skill: This means the imaging skill (image taking + processing skill)
Good weather: No wind to cause vibration, no atmospheric turbulence to cause distorted image, and most importantly, NO CLOUD.
Why is there conclusion but no detail of this topic posted? Hehe, the detailed article is still in progress. Summary comes first. 
If you remember, the price of Meade Max Mount rose from $29,999 to $39,999 this January. The price has been adjusted again and it’s effective from 1 April onwards. Not an April Fool job though.
The new price is $49,999. Why did they decide to raise it again? Meade had their Max Mount shown during CES 2007. Several stupid visitors said that the price of this gigantic mount must be around $100,000. The new Meade president was there… you know… their words made the president make this decision. Luckily the price is not $99,999. 
NASA released these animations on 14 March 2007. There are 2 animations, the first is The Columbia Hills region of Mars where the Spirit rover explores and the second is the Victoria Crater where the Oppoturnity rover located.
The animations are created using the photos taken by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)’s HiRise camera.
Thanks to BBC for hosting the videos.
My high school life is going to end on 2008. I’m doing researching of the universities that are good at Astronomy. Below is the list provided by the members at CloudyNights.com
University of Arizona (Tuscon)
California Institute of Technology
University of Texas (at Austin)
Cornell
Harvard
Yale
University of Florida
University of Hawaii at Hilo
University of Illinois
University of Michigan
University of Maryland
Ohio State University
University of Rochester (Western NY)
The universities in bold are my considerations at the moment. Next, I am going to check their academic records and campus.
History: 7 April 2007: University of Hawaii at Hilo is out because of the campus that just have 3000 students.
According to the folklore (traditional belief or legend), the Moon tonight looks like an egg. Have you noticed it? For me, it’s still an egg yolk. I am still observing. 
[Updated]
I think I know why it is called an egg by the folklore. The glare of the Moon was so bright that you can see it. If I am not mistaken, it’s the glare that confused us to figure out that the Moon was oval.
Taken on 2350, 2 April 2007 with Konical Minolta 1/250s Exposure at 480mm fl (12X)
Sorry for the mistake, I was thinking that the date of International Sidewalk Astronomy Night was 19 March. I’m really sorry, the correct date is 19 May.
I hope that all of the amateur astronomers will join us. This will help in spreading the love for the night sky.
Fight for the night sky! Kill the light pollution! Share the knowledge!
