:: Marine Parade Astronomical Society ::

Friday, September 5, 2008

GET-TOGETHER STAR PARTY – SENTOSA 29-30 AUGUST 2008
Report From Anne!

Whenever one thinks of southern sky in Singapore, the first thing that comes to mind would be the oh-so-familiar East Coast Park. Yes, it is accessible, and countless star parties have been done there, but this time, we opted for Palawan beach, Sentosa for a refreshing south western sky.
Despite the pain of lugging all the equipments to the ob site (surely, it wasn’t ECP after all), we arrived there safe and sound at 7pm, in time to set up all the equipments and tents and pick up whoever that came their on their own and couldn’t find the way. Unique an ob site indeed, because there were these two tall towers by the beach, and a wooden platform in between. Saved us the hassle of setting up tents on the sand, and were it to rain we would have been considerably drier. Not that any of us wished for that to happen. That the sky wasn’t clear at all when we finished setting up stuff wasn’t quite pleasant, and people started going off to random places, cluttering in groups playing cards and boardgames and random chattings.
The totally covered from horizon to zenith sky miraculously cleared up at around 10pm, revealing the most sought after patch of sky – the celestial beacons in Scorpius and Sagittarius. Scope after scope made quick visits to the familiar yet no less stunning Lagoon nebula, Butterfly cluster M6, Ptolemy’s cluster M7, Baby Scorpius NGC 6231, M16 or M17, and so on. Globular fanatics were equally ecstatic with Ophiuchus’ M10 and M12, or Scorpius’ M4, Sagittarius’ M22, M28 and M54, or elusive ones like NGC 6541 and 6441.
After the hype with Sagittarius, southern sky didn’t have much to offer though, as all the constellations harbor mostly galaxies. Interestingly, we managed to catch the second brightest globular cluster on the sky, 47 Tucanae (aka NGC 104) and another VERY tiny one nearby, NGC 362, both in the Small Magellanic Cloud. It’s worth noting their close distance to the horizon, and them being globulars certainly made the observation more worthwhile.
Getting to the overhead bridge connecting the two towers’ 3rd stories, we turned our lenses and mirrors towards Andromeda galaxies M31, the brightest galaxy in the Northern hemisphere. Double cluster and M76 in Perseus also came to mind, but it deemed impossible with the passing clouds and light pollution towards the North. Same ol’ Pleiades was also revisited, posing as lovely as usual!
A quick spin at the end of the night before the sun rose revealed some not so frequently visited objects in the Milky Way region around Argo Navis. Just wander around the Milky Way band and the sky always had something stunning to offer! We chanced upon lovely open clusters: Carina’s NGC 2516, Puppis’ NGC 2451, and Vela’s IC 2391, among many others.
The night was rewarding indeed, with countless celestial objects and more lessons learnt. As monsoon season is coming, we hope that our next overnight ob will be as pleasant as this (:

posted at 4:02 AM

Get Together Star Party on 29 Aug @ Palawan Beach, Sentosa!
Report from Jin Peng - an informal post, typing with a sleepy mood...
Finally after so long, we get together again to star gaze! This time, I choose a totally different place to star gaze - Sentosa! Is good to see many new faces and get to see my friends again to stay up whole night and see the stars, interact and catch up with one another...

So the journey start from Admiral garden cc, i order the bus and suppose to meet at 6pm... But ended up the bus leave at 6:30pm lar... cos of some people missing, especially the bus driver! And to be even more kiasu in case all got no drinks for the night, i carry 2 carton of mineral waters on board!
Then we stop by at harbour front bus stop to fetch my juniors from republic poly astro club plus some bukit panjang govt. high astro people. And the first complain i want to make... is at the entrance of Sentosa there is ALOT of mosquitoes! The moment i step out of the bus and help purchase tickets for everyone, i kena attack already~ More delays - the bus uncle actually dont know how to drive to palawan beach, so i got to guide him... and finally reach the destination - off by 1 hour!We reach at 8pm.

Then we head straight to the twin tower in palawan beach, and we got to cross the bridge! The girls like making the woo-ha la... woo! our first adventure! Many people actually find it cool lar... lucky no one drop eyepieces of telescope into the sea :x

So we conquer one of the tower! The sky is very cloudy, so we decided to pitch our tents and have some indoor games...

so we start off with the Twister! (and this round i win the game...woohoo~

**(some pictures are censor due to the nature of the game)**

...this is the only decent photo >.<

Then some of the guys want to play RISK. and other group went to play beach ball, own group poker cards games and stuff... while the sky still cloudy!

At about 1am, finally the sky started clearing and more stars appear... so our search for deep skies object begins here... At the bottom of the tower, you have this balcony where u can lie down and gaze the stars... and the telescope can be set up behind on the concrete platform.

And I manage to see catch sagittarius before it set... and many other nice autumn constellations and star clusters, M31 galaxy in andromeda, hx clusters in cassiopeia and more... then at around 4am, Orion is high enough, and we get to see other winter constellations like canis major... Then at around 5am, the clouds came in again without mercy, soon all stars are hidden beneath the clouds...

So we went back to the tower, most of us are asleep, cannot tahan already, but a few of us and my juniors still awake! So we play poker cards to keep us awake till sun rise!

So at 730am, we started to wake everyone up for morning group photo-taking. It is very draggy to wake some piggy people, need to kick them then wake up lah! Got one even drool... I wonder what he is dreaming la - .-

So Here I am, trying to gather people... many of them are sleeping walking beings...

And need to get them position~

And finally... all smile on camera! The 2008 new generation of astronomers!

next, we head to the nearby food court... and we reach too early, 8am - the foodcourt open at 830am. So we stone outside... and doing alot of crazy stuff...

1. First crazy act spotted - taking photos of people sleeping... professionally~

2. Crazy act by Chris - May I know what is HE doing in the photo?? - weird post...

3. Crazy Anne - folding paper crane and put on the pond - like the feeling of the crane being drown into the water.... - sadist -. -

4. The photographer spotted man in green snapping... LOOK, i'm not the only one... the girl behind also snapping photos lor...

Finally, the food court open and we are the first few customers! All flood in and enjoy the air con,feel like sleeping lah... So after walking around enjoy the air con, then we buy the breakfast set! Yump!

This guy eat TOO FAST, eat the whole bread at one bite - .-

Our dear kafoo... put too much dark sauce on the egg... it look so black and sweet?

This is my breakfast set, as you can see I eat up all the eggs and bread, BUT never drink the coffee... how come ar? Because the Coffee too black le... I give the wrong order...- "Kopi O dont so black" - in the end Aunty give super concentrated, is undrinkable lah! waste my drink... Can die from caffeine if I drink few more slips..

So after the breakfast, we all went back to the tower, pack up and board the bus... not to mention, we have too many left over mineral water, next time I shall not be too kiasu sia... end up i need to bring everything back - cant bare to waste them. So thats all! Look forward for the next gathering!

We will be back to Sentosa next year!

posted at 12:21 AM