Stargazing on the green rooftop

Never underestimate the captivating power of a clear night sky. Since the last Sidewalk Astronomy at Yew Tee MRT station (check out our post here) (which attracted over 300 people in 2 hours), Scobbers headed out for an outreach event again last month. NIE’s Bachelor of Science Club (BSC) invited SCOB on our Facebook Page (Do like it if you haven't done so!) to conduct a stargazing session for the student teachers.

On 25th March 2014, Scobbers Alfred and Kin Guan brought starmaps (you can download them for free as well on SCS website) and a Celestron C8 telescope for the event. The venue was set at NTU’s School of Art, Design and Media (ADM) building. For those who have been there, the iconic curved rooftop is covered by grass patch completely. More importantly, the unobstructed view of the night sky was terrific. We were thrilled by the excellent choice of the stargazing spot.

Image Credit: NTU School of Art, Design and Media

At the start of the event, Kin Guan gave a short talk on the night sky to the audience who were enjoying pizzas at the same time. A tutorial on how to use the starmap was given as well as easy identification of stars and planets. After that, Alfred and Kin Guan manned the C8 telescope for viewing. We pointed out constellations using green laser pointers as well. At the end of the day, 50 student teachers enjoyed themselves and learnt one or two things about astronomy.

Scobber Alfred setting up the scope.

Alfred preparing the scope for viewing.

Scobber Kin Guan giving a brief introduction to the night sky.

Interested to have a sidewalk session for your club or school? Leave us a comment and we can arrange something together!

With Dr Neil deGrasse Tyson & Ann Druyan

On 13^th and 14^th February 2014, Scobbers Danny and Kin Guan were invited by National Geographic Channel to follow Dr Neil deGrasse Tyson around in Singapore.

Yes, you heard it right. The sexiest astrophysicist in the world, the guy who made many kids cry by demoting Pluto to a dwarf planet, the frequent guest on The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, and the meme immortalized online.

Image Credit: knowyourmeme.com

He came to Singapore to promote his newest TV documentary series COSMOS: A Spacetime Odyssey. This 13-part series, combining drama, fantasy and stunning natural reality, is the follow-up of Carl Sagan’s classic COSMOS: A Personal Voyage produced thirty years ago. Covering a wide range of scientific topics such as the origin of life and the universe, Sagan did a terrific job in communicating science to a wide public audience. The programme has been broadcast in more than 60 countries and seen by over 500 million people.

Image Credit: Wikipedia

It was such a precious legacy left by Sagan to us. Since his death in 1996, his widow Ann Druyan has been trying to create a new version of the series. Together with Dr Tyson and Seth MacFarlane (yes, the Family Guy), she managed to secure funding and TV channel (Fox TV) for the show.

In Southeast Asia, the first episode “Standing Up In the Milky Way” will premiere on simulcast across National Geographic Channel (NGC), NGC HD, Nat Geo WILD, Nat Geo People, as well as FOX, FX, and FOXCRIME.  Danny and Kin Guan, along with other media representatives, had the privilege to watch it during the press conference and media preview on Thursday (13^th February) held at ArtScience Museum.

Image Credit: National Geographic Channel

Image Credit: National Geographic Channel

Free from the shackles of time and space, Neil tells us the story of humankind and universe in his signature Ship of the Imagination. We were all amazed by the stunning visual effects and the splendorous views. The concept of compressing the whole history of the universe into one year opens up our eyes and mind – Human is so insignificant when placed in such a long scale of time. This is what Neil calls a “Cosmic Year”. For example, in the last second of the Cosmic Year (31 December, 23:59:59), human firstly observed the Moon in telescope and landed on it (which spans 400 years in real time)!

Image Credit: National Geographic Channel

Ann Druyan pointed out that the major differences between the old and new series are the cinematic experience and elements of skepticism. She mentioned that one 9-minute scene where the viewers are plunged into the heart of Titan, Saturn’s largest Moon. She believes that this new addition to the series will surely amaze the generations and beyond.

Image Credit: National Geographic Channel

Image Credit: National Geographic Channel

When asked how the rise of social media affects the science education for young generation, Neil was not worried over the phenomenon. Being an avid user of Twitter having 1.6 million followers, he found that the social media is not distraction at all. On the contrary, the power of visual splendour and storytelling bestowed by social media is staggeringly huge and provides an uplifting force to the society.

The last question asked was on his wrestling stint in Harvard: If he chose the road not taken and became a wrestler, what would be his ring name? The answer, of course, is related to astronomy. One very special property about the Moon is that it always faces the Earth with the same side. This effect, called “tidal locking”, can be true in the other way too! When the Earth faces the Moon with the same side, the phenomenon is called “double tidal lock”. Voilà, that’s Neil’s ring name and signature move.

What a menacing move from Neil the wrestler! "Double Tidal Lock"
Image Credit: National Geographic Channel

For a more detailed Q & A, please check out the blog post (link) on Science Centre website written by Danny!

Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey premieres on 15th March, 10pm (SG time), on the National Geographic Channel (SingTel mio TV Ch. 201 & StarHub TV Ch. 411). Don’t miss it!

Image Credit: National Geographic Channel

Sidewalk Astronomy at Yew Tee

Last Friday (7th February 2014), Scobbers Alfred, Everlyne and Kin Guan showed the wonders of the night sky to the public in Yew Tee for the first time this year. This was a collaboration between Science Centre Singapore and Yew Tee RC Zone 10.

We brought our C8 Celestron telescope out and set the venue up with the help of RC volunteers. The venue was Yew Tee MRT Open Space (In between Yew Tee Square and Yew Tee Mall). (Google Street View)

Cloudy weather around 7pm on Friday. What could we see?

Scobbers having a briefing with RC volunteers.

Setting up the banner. 

We started the telescope viewing at 8pm and the queue was already forming:

Thanks to the clear sky (the clouds kindly made way for us), we were able to observe first quarter Moon (it's a half-lit moon from Earth's perspective) and Jupiter. Alfred manned the telescope and introduced some fun facts about Jupiter and Moon:

Everlyne interacted with the public in the queue and handed them Star Map. It is a handy tool to identify the objects in the night sky!

Look, a shooting star! (and what happened to Comet ISON?)

Our Solar System is an amazing place. There are a bunch of objects whizzing around the Sun including planets, asteroids and comets. Comets, often called "shooting stars", are very interesting. They are strikingly beautiful, relatively rare and worth studying.

Comet ISON, called the "Comet of the Century" on various media, has been a popular topic since its discovery on 21 September 2012. Below we explain some basic features of comets, illustrated with the example of Comet ISON.

What is a comet?

Great Comet of 1882.

In simple term, a comet is a dirty ice ball moving around the Sun. When passing close to the Sun, it evaporates and displays a thin cloud and sometimes a tail. In scientific terms, the ball is called nucleus and the cloud coma.

Originated from Kuiper belt or Oort cloud, a comet mainly consists of rock, dust, ice, and solid gases such as carbon dioxide and methane. Its dimensions are from few hundreds metres to few kilometres. 

Comet ISON: It is around 2 kilometres long according to Hubble Telescope observation. 

How do we name a comet?

Many naming systems have been used to name comets, therefore many comets have more than one name. 

Comets are named after the year of discovery...

Great Comet of 1680. Isaac Newton used it to verify Kepler's Laws.

Or after the names of discoverer...

Halley's Comet. Discovered and predicted by Edmond Halley, it can be seen every 76 years.

Or according to IAU (International Astronomical Union) system. Comets are designated by the year of the discovery, followed by a letter indicating the half-month, and a number indicating the order of discovery. Prefixes are used to describe the nature of the comet as well.

Comet ISON: Comet ISON was discovered in Russia by International Scientific Optical Network (ISON). Its formal name is C/2012 S1:

• C/ means that it is non-periodic. It is not likely to revisit the Solar System. Even if it comes back to the Sun next time, it will be another 400,000 years at least!
• 2012 denotes the year of discovery.
• S denotes the second half-month of September.
• 1 indicates it is the first comet discovered in that period.

What is the fate of a comet?

A comet can end up in very drastically different outcomes. The possible fates are:

• It comes back regularly, for example Halley's comet (period of 76 years).

The orbit of Halley's comet. The next visit is in 2024.

• The nucleus evaporates by the Sun's immense heat and radiation. The comet is said to fade or extinct. 

3552 Don Quixote.

• The nucleus may break up under the Sun's gravity or radiation. The remnants are still spectacular.

Breaking up of 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann in 1995. This animation covers three days.

• It may fall into the Sun or smash into another planet. Comet Shoemaker-Levy broke up and collided with Jupiter in July 1994.

The brown spots indicate the crash sites of Comet Shoemaker-Levy on Jupiter in 1994.

Comet ISON: According to NASA Comet ISON Observing Campaign, it is very likely that Comet ISON does not survive the trip. Most of the nucleus has been disintegrated by the Sun's gravity pull and intense radiation. All hopes are not lost yet, as a very diffused remnant emerged after the passage. The following short clip shows the time-lapsed images on the NASA STEREO spacecraft. 

(Big animated gif, please be patient... it is worth it!)

We may have been denied the opportunity to observe a bright comet in the night sky, but the scientific data collected is highly valuable. Scientists will know more about the behaviour of comets when they are very near to the Sun, and are able to predict such comets (called Sungrazing comets) better in the future. 

Reference:

1. http://hubblesite.org/hubble_discoveries/comet_ison/blogs/measuring-the-size-of-ison-s-nucleus-point-spread-function
2. http://www.isoncampaign.org/karl/a-trail-of-questions

A small upgrade at SCOB

We have recently upgraded our observatory step by step! (pun intended) We have placed anti-slip strips on every step of the stairway to the Observatory. Scobbers Chua, Li Fei and Joanna have been busy under the hot weather :)

Now the steps will not become as slippery as before when it rains. Still, please go up the stairway one step at a time carefully :)

June 2013 - Venus, Mercury, Solstice, Supermoon and HAZE!!!

June got off to a pretty good start with clear nights and some great views of Saturn.

Planets Venus and Mercury also made an appearance shortly after sunset. Mercury was at its highest on 12th June, about 24 degrees high at sunset. Its gradually getting lower each day before disappearing by end June.

I took this picture on 10th June, when a thin waxing crescent Moon was near Venus. Mercury is the dimmer object above Venus near the top edge of the photo.

Venus will get higher each day from now until November as it makes its way closer to Earth.

Mercury-Venus Conjunction
On 20th and 21st June, Venus and Mercury will appear close together (about 2deg apart). Due to their low position in the western part of the sky, they will only be visible from 7:30pm-8pm.

Screenshot from Stellarium planetarium programme - posted on Singapore-Sky Facebook page by Dr KK Cheong.

Sadly, the haze that has currently enveloped the island will make these planets almost impossible to see.

Northern Solstice
June 21st is the time when the Sun reaches its northernmost point in the sky due to the tilt of the Earth. This also causes warmer temperatures and longer daylight hours in the Northern parts of the world.

In Singapore, expect the Sun to rise from the north east and set in the north west. Daytime will also be slightly longer than usual, 12 hours 11 mins 43 secs to be more exact. Sunrise: 7:00am, Sunset: 7:12pm.
For more info on Solstice see last year's post: Solstice in Singapore

Supermoon Returns
23rd June 2013 is Full Moon in Singapore. Its also the Moon's closest perigee (the Moon's closest point to Earth), resulting in a  larger than normal Full Moon, known as a Supermoon.
Even at its closest point the Moon is still 356989km away, therefore the difference in size is hard to notice.

Size difference of Full Moons at closest position to Earth (perigee) and furtherest distance (apogee)

Usually the Moon looks bigger when its lower in the sky due to an illusion where are brain perceives objects near the ground closer than those high in the sky.
The June Supermoon is actually closer than other supermoons that occur in the year but once again it will be difficult to notice unless you compare photos of other full moons.
More on supermoon: Earth and Sky - Most "Super" Supermoon

Haze
These three astronomical events are quite subtle and can be missed if you don't know what you're looking for. Visibility is made worse by the haze blowing over Singapore from Sumatra.
The air quality/Pollutant Standards Index is currently in the unhealthy-hazardous range, so its not the best time to be going outside looking at the sky.
Took a picture of the hazy Sun setting behind Science Centre on the way home last night.

Someone commented that it looked a bit like Lord of the Rings, i.e. the eye of Sauron above the Dark Tower Barad-dur. A few minutes later I saw a post from SGAG with the exact same idea:

Original picture submitted by Jonathan Chong. Posted on SGAG facebook and www.sgag.sg

Return of Saturn

Saturn at Opposition
Every year as Earth makes it way around the Sun, it reaches a point where it is in line with an outer planet like Saturn. This is called opposition.

This year Saturn was at opposition on Sunday 28th April 2013. This means that Saturn has now started to appear in the eastern part of the sky during the early evening and appears at its brightest and biggest over the next few weeks.
Here's a photo of Saturn, which I snapped through our main telescope at the end of last Friday's stargazing session:

Saturn on 26th April 2013 at 10:20pm. - Taken with a HTC One X+ phone camera through a 16 inch cassegrain telescope with a 13mm Nagler eyepiece.

I was quite impressed at how this photo turned out, considering it was take with a phone camera held in front of the eyepiece. The fact that I was using an expensive, high power eyepiece lens (13mm Nagler) also helped.

Each year Saturn's opposition occurs about two weeks later than the previous year's. By the time Earth's returns to its previous position after its 365 day orbital journey, Saturn has also moved about 1/29th of the way around its own orbit.

As a result we see Saturn slowly drift in font of the the more distant star and constellations. Currently Saturn is making its way through the constellation Virgo. At next year's opposition it will be closer to Libra.


Saturn's tilt
Observing Saturn each year, you may begin to notice a change in the appearance of its rings. That is, some year you see more of them than others.
Like the Earth, Saturn is tilted. Its poles are tilted by about 26.7 degree. Depending on Saturn's position along its orbit we sometimes see Saturn tilted towards us or tilted away from us.

Back in 2009, Saturn was not tilted towards us at all, resulting in an edge-on view of the rings, making them appear very thin.

Saturn in 2009 - a thin edge on view of the rings, as seen from Singapore on 20th March 2009, looking East through our main telescope (16 inch cassegrain), with a Nikon D70 DSLR camera.

A brief sidetrack
Note that the vertical orientation of the rings in this photo has nothing to do with Saturn. It's because of our position on Earth. Here in Singapore, we are standing almost 90 degree from the north pole, thus we are standing sidewise relative to Saturn.

Late last year I was informed of a video (on youtube) that was using this very photo (amongst others) to falsely claim that Saturn has been knocked completely off its axis, signalling the end of the world. The video has since been removed and the world is still here.
Due to the curved surface of the Earth, observers in different locations and time periods will see Saturn at different angles.
Of course, I could have just rotated the camera or the photo to match Saturn's actual orientation.

Back to Saturn's tilt
Over the last few years, Saturn's "natural tilt" has resulted in its north pole facing more towards the Earth, resulting in the rings appearing wider and wider each year.

Saturn in May 2011 - taken through our 16 inch cassegrain reflector using a Nikon D70 DSLR camera.

Saturn in 2012 - taken through our 16 inch cassegrain reflector with a Nikon D70 DLSR camera. Rings look slightly wider than in the photos from 2009 and 2011.

By 2017 we will have the widest possible view of the Saturn's rings. After 2017 the rings start to appear smaller again as Saturn's north pole begins to turn away from us.

Saturn Rings in 2017 - Screen capture from astronomy software Starry Night Pro Plus.

Finally, Saturn is bright enough to see without the aid of the telescope as a bright yellowish dot in the sky, just slight east of the a bright whitest star in called Spica (part of Virgo). Each night over the next few months, its will gradually shift more towards the western part of the sky before disappearing from view around September/October time.
Each month the Moon will pass by Saturn in the sky. Look out for Saturn beside the Moon on 23rd May and 19th June.