may-june 2010 issue of the appulse (philippine astronomical society newsletter)

the the APPULSEOfficial Newsletter of the Philippine Astronomical Society

May - June 2010Vol. 42 No. 70

PROPELLING ASTRONOMY EDUCATION TOWARD THE ACHIEVEMENT OF SCIENTIFIC EXCELLENCE AMONG FILIPINOS

Volume 42 No. 70 �

NGC 5427 and NGC 5426 are two interacting galaxies with a bridge of exchanging stellar mate-rial in the constellation Virgo. The two galaxies are collectively listed in Halton Arp’s Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies as Arp 271.This 28 minute exposure was taken to further test my newly repaired Gemini Titan mount con-troller.

DateImaged:May16,2010 Lens : N16 f/4.5Camera : ST10XME Exposure : 28 minutes Filter : Astrodon LRGB 28x1min Mount : Losmandy Titan Location : Stardust Observatory, Baguio (by John Nassr)

The pink coloured glass is the Baader Planetarium infrared filter. The black rectangular square is the mount for it.

The Baader filter glued on the sensor with Weldon glue. I let it dry for 24 hours before reassembling it on the camera.

This is an old image of the Orion nebula taken with the Sony A200 before changing the stock filter. It was overprocessed to bring out the nebulosity resulting in a burned out core, not very nice.

Below is Orion again taken with the camera after modification. It was about a minute of exposure but with the new filter, the Hy-drogen emission nebula is clearly seen and the core is preserved. Taken about 40 degrees (or less?) above the western horizon just after sunset.

Side effects of the project: the camera lost the ability to autofocus and the light meter has been disabled. So I have to do it manually if I were to use the camera for normal use. I don’t know how but

2 Appulse May - June 20�0

Continued on page 3

D S L R M o d i f i c a t i o n

I use a Sony A200 DSLR for astrophotography and had to be content for a while with its limitations. Naturally I wanted to

be able to take images of nebulas with that nice red glow. Ob-viously this meant either buying a dedicated astrocam or modify the camera. First option was too expensive which leaves me the second one. But alas, most articles on the internet about DSLR’s modified for astrophotography are Canons. And I couldn’t find any articles about modifying a Sony. So I found myself on my own in moding this camera. I did a bit of research and I concluded that the Sony A200 sensor is similar to a Canon 350D and so I ordered the appropriate Baader Planetarium filter.

To make the story short I got the sensor off and replaced the origi-nal filter with the Baader filter with fantastic results IMO. A word of warning to those who want to try this, doing a thing like this would void your warranty!

Here is a before and after shot and some photos of the camera. The image of Orion in the before shot is about 3-5 minutes, no darks, no flats, a bit overprocessed to bring out the nebulosity. The after shot is about 1 minute, no darks, no flats. Processed in DSS.

This is the back of the Sony A200 DSLR, opened and the sensor removed:

This is the CCD sensor with the stock filter removed. Notice the sticky factory glue. This was easily removed.

by Clem Brazil


DSLR... from page 2

maybe I shorted something out. Anyway, I didn’t go into this with-out accepting the consequences that something might go wrong.

White balance is a bit off but that is easily managed in the custom white balance setting of the camera.

All in all I am satisfied with the project.

TELESCOPE PARTS FOR SALELumicon giant oag $310 56mm 2” Super pL meade; 52deg FoV, 1.1LbS/499gr $85 SeLLing $89 @ opt 40mm 2” SWa meade; ~68deg FoV, 1.47LbS /667gr $98 SeLLing $124.50 @ opt20mm 2” nagLer type 2 teLeVue; 2.3LbS/1,044gr $190 type 5 SeLLing $415 @ opt12mm 2” nagLer type 2 teLeVue; 1.05LbS/477gr $180 type 4 SeLLing $330 @ opt8.8mm 2” uWa meade $98 SeLLing $149 @ opt6.7mm 1.25” uWa meade $98 SeLLing $139 @ opt6.3mm 1.25” uWa meade $98 na anymore 4.7mm 1.25” uWa meade $98 SeLLing $139 @ optatK16Hr cooLed aStro-camera, peLican caSe, uSb cabLe, cd $1,100 $1,895 neW taKaHaSHi 1.6x 2” barLoW For 130toa ap at F12.8 opt $220 Homeyer cradLe and baSe pLate For c-14, 15LbS/ 6.8Kg $499 paraLLax c-11 ringS; 7LbS/3.2Kg $180 meade F3.3 Sct FocaL reducer $120 meade FLip mirror SyStem 1.25 $98 c-14, goto compuStar, ForK mount (mirror dated 11/12/87) $4,200 aStropHySicS 80mm guideScope FL 900mm, made in Japan $360 ceLeStron 8” F/1.2 ScHmidt camera $800

contact: JoHn naSSr [email protected]

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APPULSETHE

The Appulse is published bimonthly by the Philippine Astronomical Society. The Appulse © 20�0. All rights reserved.

Please send articles, letters, observations, reports to

Email: [email protected]: www. philastrosoc.org

Forum: [email protected]

editorial AdviserEdna Azucena

editorial Staff

Victoria EvarrettaEditor-in-Chief

John NassrAstrophotographer

Francis Ferdinand IrlandezLayout Editor

Erika ValduezaRodolfo TanganRichard Taylor

Clem BrazilJohn Nassr

NAW 20�0 Artists and WritersCamilo Dacanay

Contributors

Continued on page 5


N o t e s o n a H o m e b u i l t 1 6 - I n c h N e w t o n i a n

In March 2008 I decided that I would never be content with the image spot sizes and optical idiosyncrasies of my old C-14 tel-

escope and finally embarked on building my own 16 inch Newto-nian astrograph. I chose a Newtonian configuration because of its elegant simplicity, low cost, optical speed, and superb perform-ance compared to other scope designs such as the Ritchey-Chret-ien, Cassegrain, and Dall-Kirkham. All high end imaging systems necessitate flatfield correctors in addition to their native optics. The extremely versatile Newtonian offers at least seven correctors from different manufacturers to choose from with spot sizes from 12 to 7 microns that yield pin point stars across the wide fields captured by today’s large CCD chips.

Astrographs are scopes designed to be especially well suited for imaging as well as visual enjoyment. The following components are required to attain these objectives: superb optics, a robust back-lash free focuser, a flex free optical tube with an extremely low co-efficient of thermal expansion, ability to hold perfect collimation while pointing to any part of the sky, and an efficient ventilation system that quickly equilibrates scope temperature to ambient.

I opted for a primary mirror made of fused quartz because of quartz’s significantly lower coefficient of thermal expansion, light-er weight, and better price to value ratio over soda glass, borosili-cate, or Pyrex. I settled on a relatively fast f/4.5 focal ratio for long

deep sky exposures. The mirror is also well suited for high resolu-tion planet imaging at f/23 with a 5x Powermate at 9,150mm. I chose the excellent services of Terry Ostahowski to produce the optics because he is one of very few master opticians who provides interferometer test results taken from 888 data points yielding an exquisite primary mirror with a 0.97 Strehl ratio as part and proof of his work quality. A 3.1” Ostahowski secondary mirror reflects a fully illuminated and unvignetted image on my KAI3200 CCD imaging chip. It creates a 19.4% obstruction relative to the primary mirror’s diameter and only 3.7% obstruction in relation to total imaging area. This low obstruction ratio favors good contrast for planet imaging and another reason I chose a Newtonian over other designs requiring far larger secondary obstruction.

Frank Uroda is responsible for providing me with an impeccably finished and handsome lightweight carbon tube so stiff it holds perfect collimation pointing from 15 degrees above the horizon all the way to the zenith. I chose carbon over fiberglass or aluminum

by John Nassr

Notes on a... from page 4


because of its superior weight, stiffness, and thermal coefficient of expansion. Frank even threw in six vibration free Sunon magnetic levitation fans mounted on the car-bon rear end cover.

The 18 point aluminum floating mirror cell which holds the primary mirror was made by Dave Ruben-hagen of DAR Astro Machining, Canada. Dave specially machined and lightened his last stock 16” mirror cell to better conform to my specifications. The cell works per-fectly with no pinching of optics. The primary mirror is attached to the cell using silicone glue “blobs” that were allowed to cure a week with removable 1mm spacers be-fore finally being mounted in the carbon tube.

I chose an extremely robust 3” Feathertouch focuser and radiused baseplate by Starlight Instruments. The focuser easily carries my SBIG ST10 camera, filter wheel, and AO8 adaptive optics which weigh nearly five pounds. Its operation is silky smooth and free of any backlash. The unit feels extremely solid and is a pleasure to use. My sturdy spider, secondary holder, and secondary digital dew preventer are from AstroSystems. All three components work extremely well and unobtrusively. A PIC dual temperature digital temperature meter is used to compare the primary mirror temperature with ambient. I got it from Electronics DIY. Mounting rings are by Parallax.

To better accommodate the 114 pound payload (consisting of the 72 pounds 16” OTA, mounting rings, dovetail plates, guide scope, finder, and Borg 77ED widefield scope), I added a 10” extension to the counterweight shaft of my Losmandy Titan. The original stock counterweight shaft fully loaded with six 22lb weights was not heavy enough to balance the full payload. The installation of the 10” shaft extension now only requires five instead of six 22lb counterweights to do the job. Mount periodic error is corrected using PEMPro.

The full performance of superb optics can only be realized with nothing less than perfect collimation. Catseye collimation system provides the indispensible tools to perfectly collimate fast Newto-nians which are especially sensitive to even slight miscollimation. The tools are extremely well machined and easy to use. Perfect collimation takes under five minutes once you get used to doing it. The importance of perfect collimation can be perused at this excel-lent site: http://legault.perso.sfr.fr/collim.html. The Catseye colli-mation tools are extremely sensitive but yet easy to use, especially since they can be used in broad daylight instead of having to wait for night and waste precious clear sky time to star collimate the scope. Further collimation tweaks can be examined and perfected with the imaging camera attached to the scope using CCD Inspec-tor from CCD Ware.

A Telrad finder and Borg 60mm finderscope fitted with an illu-minated reticle are used to aid in pointing the scope since I find star-hopping to my targets a more intimate way to kiss the sky. The 60mm finder also serves as a widefield viewer for extended sky objects.

Several sites were especially informative in helping me com-plete this project. Sellafane Links Page is a gold mine of ideas and ATM suppliers. Newtonian Telescope Design Planner, Mirror Edge Support Calculator, A Treatise on Newtonian Collimation, and Telescope Optics Topics were also much appreciated sources of very useful information.

The visual performance of the N16 is quite spectacular and a true pleasure to observe with. The images of planets are breathtakingly razor sharp during moments of steady seeing. Faint deep sky ob-ject brighten up and reveal plenty details with the generous light gathering area of the fast 16 inch mirror. The scope is also this imager’s dream come true. The few test images I have taken are very satisfactory. All in all, the N16 is everything and more than I had hoped for. Nestled in its roof top observatory at home, it is a magical portal to the outskirts of infinity.


by John NassrA S T R O P H O T O G R A P H Y

I felt like a kid again in a toy store under all the stars with my newly repaired Gemini mount controller that had been out of commission nearly three months! I had a hard time deciding which object to test my systems on and finally picked magnitude 10 Comet 81P Wild 2 which is slowly fading as it recedes further from the Sun and Earth. A faint tail still trails behind its distinct coma with a greenish blue glow.

Date Imaged : May 16, 2010 Lens : N16 f/4.5 Camera : ST10XME Exposure : 24 minutes Filter: Astrodon LRGB 9,5,5,5x1min Mount : Losmandy Titan Location : Stardust Observatory, Baguio

comet 81p WiLd 2

tHe SKy unexpectedLy cLeared LaSt nigHt to reVeaL tHe Star cLoudS oF tHe miLKy Way gLoWing magniFi-centLy in tHe Firmament. i WaS eVentuaLLy draWn to tHe extremeLy ricH and compLex regionS in SagittariuS WHere tHe open Star cLuSter m24 aKa “LittLe Star cLoud” iS niceLy JuxtapoSed beSide tWo oF Lynd’S darK nebuLae, Ldn328 and Ldn323.

coordinateS : 18H 19\’ -18d 25\’ date imaged : June 15, 2010 LenS : borg 77ed F/5.5 camera : atiK 16Hr expoSure : 65 minuteS unguided

FiLter : baader Lrgb 16,16,16,17x1minute mount : ap600 Location : StarduSt obSerVatory, baguio

“LittLe Star cLoud” m24, Ldn328, Ldn323

Volume 42 No. 70 7

by Clem Brazil

tHe eagLe nebuLa

tHe Lagoon nebuLa


Continued on page 9

T H E U N I V E R S E : Y O U R S T O D I S C O V E R B U T H O W ?An on-the-spot essay writing contest and

poster-making contest were held dur-ing the National Astronomy Week last Feb-ruary. Below are some of the entries. Most were featured in our March-April issue.

DISCOVERY: INTELLIGENCE OR COINCIDENCE? by Kenneth Charles C. Upshur St. Marys Academy, Pasay City

The world is a huge place for discovery and exploration which made man a ques-tion-seeker. People love defining things around them, they rely on their senses to describe and scrutinize a particular object. The discovery of man gave science the limitless concepts either by intelligence or coincidence.

Who in the world knows that the apple that fell on Newton’s head would define the so called laws of universal gravitation? Who in the world knows that a guy named Leon-ardo da Vinci would sketch an object called the helicopter even though decades passed before building it? And who in the world knows that man could measure the speed of light which is approximately 3.0 x 108 m/s? Knowing all these hilarious concepts and incidence can you determine whether discovery is really intelligence or just pure coincidence.

There is a spoonful of ideas and facts that are hidden in the four corners of the world. These ideas would somehow create a huge impact to the lives of many. The impact it brings may be in the positive note or may strike a negative impact, but what matters most is the contribution any of our involve-ment brings in expanding and breaking the barriers of learning.

“We are the world,” sung by artists around the world, explains that it is up to us to dis-cover ourselves in improving the quality of life through learning. The world is ours, we have to unlock explanations, choose opin-ions, and separate science and superstition. The real and ultimate question that remains is how we are going to discover it. We look forward to a better future and for a cleaner environment to dwell on, but the problem is how we are going to start.

There is a quotation that says, “Start now or never, act now for the better.” Primarily, everything starts within ourselves. A person not only intelligent but also equipped with the proper values is a must in order to plan and segregate idear for greater discoverry.

We must have our strong drive for learn-ing and keep our determination as young scientists grounded. We must separate fact from opinion, truth from fiction, and con-cepts from inferences. Man discovered that he is the best form of art for the reason that he stands as a model which then is imitated by many for the greater good.

“No man is an island,” we can never achieve anything that big if we work as individuals. We must work hand in hand to make the universe a place for change and unity. We must believe in ourselves and put fear away that may shatter our basis for scientific ex-ploration and discovery. The discovery that will lead us in searching answers for scien-tific growth.

Discovery may be akin to change, which stays permanent no matter what. There are no limits to discover new ideologies, to nurture wisdom, character and passion for excellence. Discovery is a never-ending process for as long as we are here continu-ing the passion from Aristotle, Galileo, and other great men that made our lives con-ducive and comfortable. Who knows that intelligence and coincidence are part of dis-covery if we just strive and start discovering ourselves first then the world will follow. I know that it is not overnight nor a sunset away; but if we start and act now with these ways, we can and we will be able to pursue scientific dreams, and perhaps the universe is really meant for us to discover its ruth-less aggression and put down its limits.

Intelligence or coincidence? Who knows?

JOURNEYS

by Arielle CastillejosSchool of Saint Anthony

One thing I always thank God for is our ability to see and discover new things. Throughout history, literally countless men and women have discovered secrets our planets keep and the mysteries the universe and the stars hold. Humans have this in-nate desire to search, to explore, and to see. And with new knowledge, humans produce things that will benefit mankind - technolo-gy. But with the seemingly infinitely many things we know, the fact remains that man is yet to discover more.

The world is yours, they say. True enough we are free to see with our own eyes every nook and cranny we hold to be interesting. As young children, we are inquisitive and searching, asking about the minutest details of things we see in our own little world. We dig deep into sandboxes and touch the

most colorful of petals just to see what it feels like. We then learn things from our parents and teachers - that the trees are liv-ing things and that the sun is actually a star. Knowledge is spoonfed.

But reality kicks in as we grow older. We step into a larger, grander world - again it is ours to discover. Curiosity is once again fanned into flame. But no longer will people tell us things we have to know. No longer will we see answers from lecture notes or learn new things from class discussions. We are on our own, and we have to take chances.

There really is no other way. We want to dive into the deepest of oceans or go as far as Pluto, we have to set out on our own and risk it. Seek the things we want and need to know so as to be able to do exactly what we want. It would never be easy though. Exploring new lands can sometimes mean getting hurt, waiting, and doing things we have never done before.

We also have to take every opportunity that comes our way. Opportunities to travel, to experience new things or learn new skills. Opportunities to come and go easily, though we will never know whether or not it will knock on our doors again. As once said by a Greek philosopher, one cannot step into the same river twice.

We must never allow others to dictate upon us what we should know and do, or allow them to confine us in a box they themselves are in. Freely, we should dream and pursue what we long to see.

The greatest of scientists did not see the brightest stars with just their telescope or see the deepest part of the oceans with a submarine. First and foremost, they set their hearts on it and tried to see things in a different light. For some, their journey of discovery has ended. As for us, we’d better prepare our hearts now.

We have a long way to go.

KNOWLEDGE AS VAST AS THE UNIVERSE

by Charmaine Uy Philippine Buddhacare Academy

Everytime I look at the clear night sky, I ask myself: When will I get the chance to spend an evening lying on the grassy field while staring at the starry sky? That’s what


I’ve been wanting to do for so long. I know that one night will not be enough for me to explore the vast expanse of the sky, but the night will be enough to learn at least a lit-tle about the universe. There is so much to discover, but how?

Long before NASA and the invention of spacecrafts, the Egyptians, Greeks, May-ans, and other ancient peoples used their sense of sight and their imagination to come up with explanations about the oc-currence of day and night, the motion of the Earth, and other facts that we are using in this day and age. This just shows that we don’t need to own big, bulky telescopes to see what’s up there. We just need to let our imagination run free and it will tell us what we want to know. Then, like little children, we have to ask and ask, to keep ourselves motivated to learn more. We must not let our senses hinder us in the quest to discov-er the universe. If the ancient peoples could do it, so can we.

Once our imagination fails us, we have to try something more scientific. We could use a little hands-on experimentation just like looking through a telescope to see first-hand the heavenly bodies that our naked eye could not see. We have to be patient and persevering if we want to arrive with answers.

There are times when I wonder why we could still not unravel the mysteries behind the universe when we have the brightest minds and the most advanced equipment working together to find answers. May be it’s because we keep on looking forward without noticing that the answer is already right in front of us, waving its hands so we could see it. I am no scientist, much less an astronomer; but I believe that sometimes the answers that we keep searching for are right in front of us.

But of course, the most important key to discover more about the universe and do well as in everything we do is passion. We have to have that undying fire to provide us with unending energy and fuel to keep us going. Sure, there will be humps and bumps ahead, but as long as we have that inexplicable passion within us, it will be enough to keep us inspired and motivated. If our religion tells us to be contented with whatever we have, when it comes to sci-ence, that is not completely the case. It is the desire to learn, to discover. and to ex-plore that made the great thinkers of the past generations become great thinkers. It is their passion that drove them to succeed, and it is their passion that gave us knowl-edge about the world and the universe we are living in. Besides, we can’t just let oth-ers boss us around and tell us to let go of

that passion. We can’t be ignorant forever.

Scientists say that the universe is ever-ex-panding and I say - so is our knowledge. As long as the world is still turning and the universe is still expanding, our quest for more discoveries will never end. So, when my chance to lay down on a grassy field while staring the the starry sky comes, I’ll bear in mind that it will definitely not be the last time I’ll be doing it.

The universe:.. from page 8

�0 Appulse May - June 20�0

C E L L P H O N E A S T R O P H O T O G R A P H Yby Richard Taylor

Don’t expect anything to rival the Hubble, but yes, it is possible to do as-

trophotography using a telescope and a cell phone camera!

Set up the telescope for visual observing, and focus for normal vision. If you wear glasses, keep them on while focusing. Find the camera lens on your cell phone and hold it carefully just in front of the eyepiece of the telescope, aimed directly into the mid-dle of the eyepiece. You will have to move it around a bit while watching the screen until you get the best image. Try to hold it steady as you click the shutter. This only works on bright objects like the moon and some of the planets, and you will probably have to take many shots before you get a “keeper”, but hey, it doesn’t cost extra to take more pictures on a cell phone!

If you can copy the pictures onto your com-puter, a bit of cropping and brightness ad-justment can improve the picture.

Here’s Richard Taylor showing off his cell phone atrophotography technique with his new Celestron NexStar 5 telescope, and the results: a picture of Venus showing that the planet DOESN’T appear round. As Galileo discovered, it has phases like the Moon. The moon itself shows Earthshine at the crescent phase and a closeup shows some craters.

A s t r o n o m y C a l e n d a r o f C e l e s t i a l E v e n t s – 2 0 1 0This astronomy calendar of celestial

events for the second half of 2010 contains dates for notable celestial events including moon phases, meteor showers, eclipses, occultations, oppositions, con-junctions, and other interesting events. Most of the astronomical events on this calendar can be seen with unaided eye, although some may require a good pair of binoculars for best viewing. Many of these events and dates were obtained from the U.S. Naval Observatory, the NASA/God-dard Space Flight Center, and The Old Farmer’s Almanac.

May 27 - Full Moon June 12 - New Moon

June 21 - The Summer Solstice occurs in the northern hemisphere at 11:28 UT. The Sun is at its highest point in the sky and it will be the longest day of the year. This is also the first day of summer.

June 26 - Full Moon June 26 - Partial Lunar Eclipse. The eclipse will be visible throughout most of eastern Asia, Australia, the Pacific Ocean, and the western Americas. (NASA Eclipse Information ) July 11 - New Moon July 11 - Total Solar Eclipse. The path of totality will only be visible in the southern Pacific Ocean, Easter Island, and parts of southern Chile and Argentina. A partial eclipse will be visible in many parts of southern South America. (NASA Map and Eclipse Information | NASA Eclipse Animation) July 26 - Full Moon July 28, 29 - Southern Delta Aquarids Meteor Shower. The Delta Aquarids can produce about 20 meteors per hour at their peak. The shower usually

peaks on July 28 & 29, but some meteors can also be seen from July 18 - August 18. The radiant point for this shower will be in the constellation Aquarius. Best viewing is usually to the east after midnight. August 10 - New Moon August 12, 13 - Perseids Meteor Shower. The Perseids is one of the best meteor showers to observe, producing up to 60 meteors per hour at their peak. This year’s shower should peak on the night of August 12 and the morning of the 13th, but you may be able to see some meteors any time from July 23 - August 22. The ra-diant point for this shower will be in the constellation Perseus. The thin, crescent moon will be out of the way early, setting the stage for a potentially spectacular show. For best viewing, look to the northeast after midnight.

Continued on page 11

Volume 42 No. 70 ��

August 13 - Triple Conjunction with the Moon. The planets Venus, Mars, and Saturn will all be close to the thin, crescent moon on this evening. Look to the west just after sunset. August 20 - Neptune at Opposi-tion. The blue planet will be at its closest approach to Earth. This is the best time to view Neptune, although it will only appear as a tiny blue dot in all but the most power-ful telescopes. August 24 - Full Moon. This full moon will be the most distant and there-fore the smallest of the year. September 8 - New Moon September 16 - Final Space Shut-tle Flight. IF all goes according to plan, this day will see the final flight of the Space Shuttle. The orbiter Discovery will depart on mission STS-133 and bring to a close the 30+ year era of space shuttles as the work horses of the United States space program. After this flight, the remaining shuttle orbiters will find their final resting places in museums across the country. September 21 - Jupiter at Opposi-tion. The Solar System’s largest planet will be at its closest approach to Earth. This is the best time to view and photograph Jupi-ter and its moons. The giant planet will be a big and bright as it gets in the night sky. A medium-sized telescope should be able to show you some of the details in Jupiter’s cloud bands. September 22 - Uranus at Oppo-sition. The blue-green planet will be at its closest approach to Earth. This is the best time to view Uranus, although it will only appear as a tiny blue-green dot in all but the most powerful telescopes. September 23 - The Autumnal Equinox occurs in the northern hemisphere at 03:09 UT. There will be equal amounts of day and night. This is also the first day of fall. September 23 - Full Moon October 7 - New Moon October 16 - Astronomy Day Part 2. Astronomy day is a grass roots move-ment to share the joys of astronomy with the general public. Two days this year have been designated as Astronomy Day. On these days astronomy and stargazing clubs and other organizations around the world will plan special events. You can find out more about October’s events by checking

the Web sites for AstronomyDay.org and the Astronomical League. October 20 - Comet Hartley 2 will make its closest approach to Earth, coming within 11.2 million miles. For a few days around October 20, the comet should be bright enough to view with the naked eye in the early morning sky. You will, how-ever, need to be far away from the glow of city lights. Look to the east just before sunrise. In early November, NASA’s Deep Impact spacecraft will observe comet Hart-ley 2 from a distance of about 600 miles. October 21, 22 - Orionids Meteor Shower. The Orionids is an average shower producing about 20 meteors per hour at their peak. This shower usually peaks on the 21st, but it is highly irregular. A good show could be experienced on any morning from October 20 - 24, and some meteors may be seen any time from October 17 - 25. Best viewing will be to the east after midnight. October 23 - Full Moon November 6 - New Moon November 17, 18 - Leonids Me-teor Shower. The Leonids is one of the better meteor showers to observe, produc-ing an average of 40 meteors per hour at their peak. The shower itself has a cyclic peak year every 33 years where hundreds of meteors can be seen each hour. The last of these occurred in 2001. The shower usu-ally peaks on November 17 & 18, but you may see some meteors from November 13 - 20. Look for the shower radiating from the constellation Leo after midnight. November 21 - Full Moon

December 5 - New Moon December 13, 14 - Geminids Me-teor Shower. Considered by many to be the best meteor shower in the heavens, the Geminids are known for producing up to 60 multicolored meteors per hour at their peak. The peak of the shower this year should occur on the night of December 13 and morning of the 14th, although some meteors should be visible from December 6 - 19. Some estimates say there could be as many as 120 meteors an hour visible from dark-sky locations. The radiant point for this shower will be in the constellation Gemini. The Moon will set early in the evening setting the sky up for a spectacular show. Best viewing is usually to the east after midnight. December 21 - Full Moon December 21 - Total Lunar Eclipse. The eclipse will be visible through-out most of eastern Asia, Australia, the Pa-cific Ocean, the Americas, and Europe. The eclipse will be visible after midnight in North and South America. Since the Moon will be almost directly overhead from these locations, this should be an excellent chance to view a rare total lunar eclipse. (NASA Eclipse Information ) December 21 - The Winter Sol-stice occurs in the northern hemisphere at 23:38 UT. The Sun is at its lowest point in the sky and it will be the shortest day of the year. This is also the first day of winter. Source: THE SKY (Please refer to this Source for the first half of the 2010 astronomical calendar of events).

Astronomy... from page 10 THE WINTER SOLSTICEDiagram of the Earth’s seasons as seen from the north. Far right: December solstice


I N S E A R C H O F A N A S T E R O I D U P N O R T H Part 1 : Preparatory Works, Pikit-Mata, Kisap-Mata, Land Slides, Etc. by Camilo Dacanay

Last May 27-30, 2010, PAS Group 1 composed of Leah Villalon, Ronald

Tanco, Jenny Baltazar, and the undersigned launched the first leg of the preparatory works for “In Search of an Asteroid Up North” Project. This is not a site inspec-tion or technical report although we had gathered data we need for the moment (but which we still have to internalize). But let me share some sidelights I feel worth men-tioning somehow.

1.“PIKIT-MATA”

It was such a wise move to meet first John Nassr in Baguio for such a delicate obser-vational/analytical project. No one I am sure could contest that, if only one would understand the gravity of this project and the skill and experience of John when it comes to “space tracking.” The astrophysi-cal analysis and impact could come later once the data required of us by NASA are all in.

Last semester, I was informed by my stu-dents in astronomy in RTU that the Star-dust Observatory of John “collapsed.” No other details were provided. What went then into my head was that the “structure” itself “collapsed.”

But no it was not! John explained that it was some sort of electrical short circuit that “toasted,” so to speak, some of the vi-tal electrical “organs” of his brand new 16-inch telescope. When asked what he’s going to do with such a problem at hand, all of us gleaned some deeper meaning of his two-worded phrase of wisdom -“pikit-mata” he uttered,”the solution is on its way.”

After getting the details of what he meant by that, we realized how “strong-willed” and selflessly dedicated to the science of Astronomy John Nassr is. The Stardust Observatory, in a little while and I can bet you, will bounce back much further than its original level of glory. Watch it out!

That evening, after a long exchange of views and experiences, we were given each by John’s wife, Mae, a book entitled “Where is God?” which has a separate im-pact to our trip. I’ll take this up later on a short separate paragraph.

2. PAS TIME CAPSULE, 110 YEARS OF AGE PROMISE

May 29 was a beautiful morning in an open garden over cups of coffee with John, but the mood was somewhat sort of melan-cholic for me.

John knew very well about PAS time capsule and he showed me pictures how comet Halley evolved from a mere point in the Philippine sky to a “fully- tailed” object when it visited the inner solar system in 1985. Great astrophotographs! And John is the first Filipino astron-omer to capture such an impor-tant celestial event.

All of these and other important social events in the Philippines that time I suppose are all kept and embedded in our PAS time capsule. The next generation of PAS members in 2061 I am sure will open our time capsule when our generation now will all be pre-sumably gone. This will not take differen-tial equations nor calculus that astronomy students normally do in their studies. Sim-ple statistics and arithmetic dictate we may really never be around anymore. John’s wife strongly protested. The mood suddenly changed into laughter when she said: “John promised me he will live till the age of 110 years old, otherwise, I will make him roll over his grave.” Ha ha ha! (In Quantum Physics we have a saying: “If it is not forbidden, then it is possible.”)

3. FOR THE LOVE OF VICKY, CENTER OF MASS, AND LAND SLIDES

We left Baguio that morning bound for La Union and Ilocos Sur. After Ronald has taken all the positions of the proposed six observational posts at 6:00 pm, we ventured to visit Vicky and travelled along Tagudin-Cervantes-Mankayan-Bontoc highway in the inner region of Ilocos Sur without knowing anything about its condition.

And there it goes - we encountered several “land slides” along the way. And the worst came after passing Barangay Suyo where the land slide covered entirely the width of the road at height not normal for a front wheel drive car to pass.

But for the love of Vicky, we decided to go on - me behind the wheels, while Ronald, Leah, and Jenny watched in agony along the side of the cliff. I rushed and drove the car fast enough, but its middle frame was in fulcrum against a boulder underneath and hanged the front and rear wheels in bal-ance as if they were planets hanged at their center of masses. In short, there is no way for the car to move and it was together with all of us trapped!

I jacked it up while the two ladies and Ro-nald grabbed pieces of rocks to support the wheels underneath. In a little while, Leah warned of some small stones falling down until it got into all of us and we all pan-icked. Some floating boulders are still up there directly on us. I told myself jokingly

Continued on page 13


those boulders could not be the “asteroids” we all came up here for. Just few more ground vibrations and our blue “space ship” (courtesy of Ronald) will be buried in Ilocos, only to be retrieved later for PAS exhibits.

We ran away immediately. And when it turned quieter for a moment, I went back inside the car and the three of them together with the help of some local fellows pushed the car and we made it. Only after which we realized, we cannot simply turn our back for it could be more dangerous since it was already getting dark. We just can’t simply go back. It was risky. We were only mesmerized when we saw planet Venus on the rise as I continue to drive. South-east, north-east as we drove our way on a long zigzag road, while Venus was always up there that seemed watching us.

Upon reaching Cervantes town proper, we were warned by the locals not to push through with our travel as the car won’t make it over flooded areas. By then I thought we had pushed ourselves to the limit. And having no choice, we slept over-night at Cervantes.

4. WHERE IS GOD, KISAP-MATA, etc.

In search of... from page 12

In the early morning of May 30, I went inside the car and listened to some classical music. I went over the book John’s wife Mae gave me and read pages 156 to 160. After many years of solely and almost entirely dealing only with books in Physics, Engineer-ing, and Astronomy, I found a very different inspiring story -“My Student, My Teacher.”

To my mind, it somewhat de-fined exactly how it is to be a PAS member. It tells me why we found ourselves here in a moun-tainous region some 1,480 me-ters above sea level, for prepara-tory works of three months, just for a mere celestial event of only “kisap-mata” or 3 seconds.

Yes, this is how we are at the Philippine Astronomical Socie-ty! Together we work and move as a team with one spirit, as al-ways!

Thank you very much John, Mae, Leah, Jenny, Ronald and the rest of Pasers although not with us in our trip but behind this project.

One of the oldest sundial in the Philippiness. Try to look at the shadow at 5 - it’s really 5 PM that time,


L u n a r O c c u l t a t i o n o f V e n u s M a y 1 6 , 2 0 1 0 Photos by Rodolfo Tangan and Erika Valdueza.

Rodolfo Tangan

Photos from Doha, Qatar by Rodolfo “Bubut” Tangan. Bubut hails from Tuguegarao, but he’s now based in Doha working as the Sr. Quantity Surveyor of the Dahlak Island Resort Eritrea Project. He is a civil engineer by profession and is connected with Qatari Diar Vinci Company (Qatar’s biggest developer).

tHe Scene From my terrace at 7:30 pm on may 16

tHe Scene tHrougH tHe 700... LenS 200mm F2.8.. i made Sure tHe opening WaS at F2.8 to bring out tHe darKened part oF tHe moon.


Erika Valdueza

Erika took these pictures at the Manila Observatory rooftop using a digital camera and a refractor tel-escope

A member of the UP Astronomical Society and Phil-ippine Astronomical Society, astrophotographer Erika Valdueza is a geologist and amateur astronomer cur-rently affiliated with the Manila Observatory as a project research assistant.

FEEDBACKSThanks for sending me a copy of Appulse. I was looking forward to that. I like the essays written by Julianne and Jessica. No doubt a bright future awaits those two. Allen Yu’s poignant article was quite interesting, too. Meteorite collectors are an elite few and the challenges that he finds in his ef-forts to educate the Philippine public is inspiring, if not heartbreaking. Kudos to Mr Yu and congratulations to you on a fine newsletter.Cheers!

Clem

Thank you once again for sharing the latest issue of Appulse! This issue should be especially interesting for so many because of the broad spectrum of par-ticipants in the activities that PAS conducted.

By best regards and wishes to all,

John


This map shows the sky at �pm on July ��, 20�0 as seen from the latitude of Metro Manila, Philippines with North on top and the zenith at the center. The large circle represents the horizon. Star l imiting magnitude is �.�. Deep sky limiting magnitude is 7.0.

This map shows the sky at �pm on August ��, 20�0 as seen from the latitude of Metro Manila, Philippines with North on top and the zenith at the center. The large circle represents the horizon. Star limiting magnitude is �.�. Deep sky limiting magnitude is 7.0.

Prepared by PAS Observation Committee using SkyMap Pro 9 software.

Monthly Star Map – July & August 2010

may-june 2010 issue of the appulse (philippine astronomical society newsletter)

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