You seen the movie too! The ending was quite a twister...
Hehe, I just went to your blog and guess what I saw?
You have a link to Carl Sagan! Check out SETI and the Planetary Society......
The story (and the movie) `Contact' is about a female Astronomer (played by 2 time Oscar Winner Ms Jodie Foster) who works with SETI and had to overcome all sorts of sexual discrimination......ah, you must get a copy of this movie and watch it.

BTW as a side interest, Ms Foster came to Penang in 1999 to act in the blockbuster `Anna and the King' (another screen adaptation of `the King and I') together with Chow Yun-Fat!

To me one of the most memorable phrases in the movie came when the the young Ellie Arroway asked her dad whether there were people on other planets, and he replied `...if it's just us, that'll be an aweful waste of space...'
Strangely most people only remember that Ellie said it. Actually she only repeated her dad's phrase at the end of the story to her class of young budding astronomers....but I suppose she did say it better.

julchin_09, I've got something that might interest you....
aka NGC2070
More pictures and a description here: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060106.html
It's a big Universe out there.

As I said, it's a big Universe......and our's a small world.
You'll have to kacau him abit and tell him your secrets so he'll show it to you.

If I knew, it wouldn't be a secret, right?

Mr.LKM, you'll have to worm it out of him. Don't show him this Nebula unless he gives you at least one fat juicy secret.

Now I see it...the Kluang Astronomy cum Spider Lovers Club!

BTW, I might be getting a smithi sling (you think that's ok for a newbie?) to replace my dearly departed hamster soon.... the pain, the pain.

Well I really wanted a GBB, but since I want to play with my pets alot, I think the smithi will do fine for starters.
But I don't think I will get so soon. I'm still in mourning. Must give respect lah.

In the meantime, I can always stare at that big one up there.

Is your doggie named Sirius too?

Sirius watches over us everyday, and you don't need to feed him.

funnyman is my middle name.

Photo Opportunity!: From tonight until the 15th night, Mars and Saturn will be in the western sky after sunset until about 10.00 pm, and the Beehive Cluster will be sandwiched between them!
By the 16th evening however, Mars will have cut across M44 to join Saturn. Sadly, we won't be able to observe Mar's passage through the Beehive because it will occur during the daylight hours and partly below the horizon.

A pair of binoculars will give us a spectacular view!

julchin_09, your Canon might be the ideal equipment for some nice pics. I will be trying with my Casio even though I know the results will be less than desirable. Mr. LKM, is your KM functioning ok? Try, try, try!!!!!

Since the best time to shoot them would be 15th night or 16th night, there is some time to give you a crash course

If the sky is clear after your dinner tonight say about 8.00 pm, look westwards, and then a little to your north. Scan about 30 degrees up from the horizon (that's roughly 1/6th of the sky) and see whether you can spot Saturn (it should be a slightly yellowish bright `star'). The brightest objects in this part of the sky are Sirius - Mercury - Procyon - Saturn - Pollux - Regulus - Castor - Mars in the order of brightness, Sirius being brightest. The underlined are planets.

Generally, to differentiate between a star and a planet, I tell ppl stars twinkle, planets don't.

See whether you can id anything based on what I have said. Otherwise try to get in touch with Mr.LKM so he can point out these objects to you. It will be easier the following nights once you know what they look like to the naked eye.

I think your camera will have no problem capturing the Beehive if you use max optical zoom and open up the aperture. A short exposure of about 1/8th second will do. Just do the usually bracketing to see which setting gives you the max detail without motion blur.

I'll try with my Casio in a little while if the sky looks ok.

The sky wasn't very good this evening, but it was okay for a trial run. Couldn't catch the Beehive Cluster yet.

Here is what I managed with my Casio.

Wide angle shot of the West North Western sky. An airliner decided to join in the fun.


Zoomed in to the two planets - this is roughly what you would see through binoculars.


This is what I hoped to see - a simulation using Starry Night Pro.


If the sky improves over the next 2 nights, I'm going to be a very happy man!

Mr.LKM, are you getting a new notebook or camera? or both?

The 35mm equivalent zoom range of the Casio is 38-114mm. Actual is 7.9-23.7mm. Actual exposure and focal length details are in the exif data of the posted images, just in case you want to check what settings I used.

Ya, the sky is very bad here tonight, too.
Yes, very observant of you. You've got eagle eyes! Looking at it again, I think my pic was more representative of a pair of 12x binoculars, which is not a common power. My bad.
Please move your head another foot further from your monitor or screen to see about 10x magnification.

Yah, yah, I also see many football stars......

You mean that was the moon up last night? I thought it was the image of the football imprinted on my retina after watching 6 hours non stop World Cup TV.

You will be more likely to catch a planet if you shoot East, Over Head or West. Or try a panoramic sequence.

BTW, nice shot. Not much light pollution in Kluang.......

This post has been edited by March05: Jun 18 2006, 12:23 AM

I don't think you will be allowed to do that. LYN image attachments are not supposed to be larger than 800x600 (I think I read a rule about that somewhere), and photobucket will limit you to a file size of 256K unless you are a paid user. So we definitely cannot post our original megapixel images here!
Only way is through private email.

Ohhh I forgot about that. You the man.
What's hdd protection?

Ya, I normally use my notebook if I'm observing from my garden. But if I have to do some impromptu observing, it's the binoculars first, then any telescope that's light. For astrophotography with the ToUcam or something like your LPI, of course the notebook is compulsory.
I don't think you really need any exceptional graphics capability for most astronomy software. BTW SNP looks nicer with OpenGL support but it's not a big deal.

Are you planning on getting the Core Duo or Turion X2 chipset?

Just remember battery life is very important when you are out observing for hours....processing power is secondary. My old Centrino can last me about 2 hours of almost continous recording with the ToUcam. Pretty good for a 2 year old notebook and original battery!

AAArrggg! Also missed last night's Mars-Saturn Conjunction. Sky was totally clouded over.

BTW on 29th June, we have the amazing alignment of the Moon, Mars, Saturn and Mercury in the evening sky. All within about 20 degrees of the sky. Don't need wide angle lens to shoot this event!

The power station provides a standard 12 volt DC supply to the LX90. If you can get hold of a simple DC-DC adapter that matches your notebook's requirements, there is no reason why you cannot use the power station to power your notebook. I have done this in emergencies when my notebook battery ran dry during observation. But remember to fully charge up the power station and only use it as a last resort. The power station may drain its storage batteries very fast if you use it to power too many things.

I have found that a fully charged Power Station can easily drive the LX90 for nearly a week with an average amount of slewing. But if you keep star hopping every few seconds (that means you don't stop to observe ), it might only get you through the night!

However, if I plug in the notebook as well, it can only last for about 30-60 minutes. This is because it is not only powering the notebook, but also charging up the notebook battery. I can still run the notebook for another 60 to 90 minutes after that. So all in, I can keep the notebook alive for about 4-6 hours with all the power saving features enabled. That's more than enough for a night of intense star gazing......

You can bring along some fresh D-size alkaline batteries to use in the LX90 just in case you make the mistake of running down the Power Station too much, and you still want to continue the viewing session until morning.

Unfortunately, a higher capacity power station will be bulkier and less portable. D-size rechargeable batteries will also cost much more than the Power Station and have lower current & storage capacity so it makes no sense to use them. Might as well buy another power station for standby.

There is no problem powering the LX90 from a car battery. Only problem is the weight of the battery. I think it weighs more than the LX90! It will break your back if you have to carry one uphill. But if the telescope is operating near the car, use the extension cable and plug the LX90 to the cigarette lighter socket. The LX90 was designed with that in mind.

BTW, for the June 29th event, you won't really need the telescope. This will be one of those situations where almost any camera with a standard lens can be used. It's more a matter of judging what exposure to use......But if you can piggy back the camera on the LX90, and you go to a really dark site, the results should be amazing! The sky will be like full of diamonds.........