Wow, you guys are so cool~ Does Tarantula bite people? What do you feed it? This club is really full filled with everything.

Well, if you treat it with respect and don;t simply handle it you wont get bitten. Some species are more fierce compared to the others. The one March05 is getting is a good beginners Tarantula. I have more aggressive ones including one of the few Malaysian Tarantulas around...... If you interested I can get you some.....

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.

GBB is beautiful but defensive. Smithi is just nice. Join the thread to gather more info about them if you need to.

Big one up there? Happy Gazing......

For me, I prefer a dog as it can always guards me from the dark site when I do observation.

Is your doggie named Sirius too?

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

lol, you are damn funny! If I have a dog, I will consider about this.

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!!!!!

Do you think I will be able to catch it on camera? I need guidance on spotting them or are they easily spotted?

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.

Yup, you can come to look for me.

Anyway, march05, your middlename is now Informativeman. You are so good at pointing out all the brightest objects but I can't. My KM has exposure problems and its anti-shaking merchandise is broken now. I am lazy to repair it though because I will be getting my notebook soon, do you have any recommendation?

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?

What is the zoom for your Casio?

This post has been edited by julchin_09: Jun 14 2006, 04:47 PM

A new notebook. I got the Meade lunar planetary imager and Philips ToUcam Pro II.

Your pics are nice. By the way, the stars shown in 10x binocular will be a bit smaller than yours.

This post has been edited by Mr.LKM: Jun 14 2006, 04:42 PM

Wah..MR.LKM got new X-BOX360 Already ar? Buy from where? Don't tell me Kluang....?

Yup, Ranger in BCB. RM1700 with 2 original games.

Hahah.....I hate that fella lar. Dun think I will buy from him.

I thought of either an X-BOX 360 or a PS3. What you suggest and why??


I checked the sky, There is a bit of overhanging clouds from my place.....Vaguely see the stars/planets....

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.

Why? Can you tell me more about him? I would suggest a Xbox360 as the games are very fun and the online gameplay really beats PS3 which has a suck online service.

Anyway, back to the topic now.

I just took the photos of Moon. They look like eggs and I found a grandmother inside the Moon. The sky is quite okay though. Check for my observation report tomorrow at my blog! I will post the link here though. I think I will write another observation report specially for Moon.

Just my little experience. I like your last suggestion!

This post has been edited by Mr.LKM: Jun 14 2006, 10:56 PM

Yup the sky has cleared up. Can see many stars now.

Was out with friend catching the World Cup game so couldn't get a pic of the moon as it was rising from the horizon. It looked mighty big...Too bad.....