Great Weather!! (25th June)

[geraldine]

omgosh!! lovely lovely pictures, especially the milkyway!!... hey chris, which part of changi did you obs from?

[chrisyeo]

I was checking out Weixing's new spot at the bicycle track beside SAFRA Changi. Southern sky is good from there.

[ykchia]

Hi folks:

Saw the groupings of Saturn/Venus/Mercury too! I did a few shots using the cp995 and the hardly used remote xtroller. I have posted x1 image at

http://www.ykchia.com/aprmayjun.htm ...including a bright meteor close to Corona Australis ..


Monday Jun 27 will be interesting to watch/foto. Venus and Mercury will be very close to each other ~ 1/10th of a degree


Indeed 25 June evening is one of those few good sky... despite the moon my two automatic video systems bagged 20+ meteors in 6 hrs haul too.

rgds
ykchia

[NGC 5139]

Yes, the skies were indeed very good yesterday! .

I was in the western area of Singapore and was doing some astrophotography at a deserted field next to HDB flats. The three-planet alignment was a sight to behold. Mercury was to the lower right of Venus (5 o' clock) while Saturn was to the upper left of Venus (10 o' clock). I believe that this was one of the rare opportunities that many of us have seen Mercury- it was my first.

Setting up at 7.45 pm, the race was soon on to capture Mercury and the other 2 planets before they set. I managed to get 3 decent images of the planets out of a total of 6 (the others were blurred), next to a building of a secondary school 300m away before the threesome descended below the horizon. Amazing sight!

Ursa Major and Scorpius soon rose into view, large and majestic, but the total amount of stars visible then amounted to about only 50 owing to local light pollution.

Went over to Changi beach (my second visit so far) at 8.30 pm; twice as many stars were seen from Changi spit (near the jetty). About 120 stars popped into view once I hid behind some bushes from the glaring floodlamps at the jetty. I was tempted to think that the Milky Way could be seen that night- there was this cloud that would not go away above Sagittarius to the top right near the spout. Omega Centauri could be discerned.

The big riddle I was still befuddled with was whether it was the Milky Way that I saw. It is known that you can hardly see the Milky Way in Singapore, yet I still think that it was the Milky Way, after having compared what I saw with other images of the Milky Way that I had taken in dark-sky locations.

Anyway, it was a great night for Astronomy. If you have missed the planetary alignment, today and tomorrow would still be good times to catch the three planets (with a binoculars if there is inclement weather), maybe naked-eye after sunset.

Mercury and Venus will be paired closely till around next week. See http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/article_1534_1.asp for more details.

More clear skies please Have a nice day
NGC 5139

[rlow]

Richard and I waited at Tuas obs site...

David Lian (thanks for the food!) and John Teh came later and saw the conjunction too at Tuas South Ave 1 (open field along canal opposite the JVC factory). If the weather is good, there will be an observation session to see the Venus/Mercury 0.1 degree conjunction on Monday 27 Jun 05 at this location or at Tuas South Ave 7.

[Tachyon]

Yeah.. David, thanks for feeding us!

[Canopus Lim]

25th was clear.. hardly get a chance to see so blue skies in Singapore. Didn't have the time to get my telescope before the planets set but I had the chance to go to East Coast Park jetties near the National sailing thingy to do some equipment testing.

[weixing]

Hi,

Went over to Changi beach (my second visit so far) at 8.30 pm; twice as many stars were seen from Changi spit (near the jetty). About 120 stars popped into view once I hid behind some bushes from the glaring floodlamps at the jetty. I was tempted to think that the Milky Way could be seen that night- there was this cloud that would not go away above Sagittarius to the top right near the spout. Omega Centauri could be discerned.

The big riddle I was still befuddled with was whether it was the Milky Way that I saw. It is known that you can hardly see the Milky Way in Singapore, yet I still think that it was the Milky Way, after having compared what I saw with other images of the Milky Way that I had taken in dark-sky locations.

I think what you see is the milky way. It can be seen in Changi if the sky is clear and it look like a cloud, but it will move together with the stars toward the west... you just need to wait for a few hours to conifrm...

Have a nice day.

[chrisyeo]

NGC5139,

I can confirm what you saw was the Milky Way. I was at Changi from 830-11 and there was no cloud in that area but only the Milky Way.

Cheers!
Chris

[Tachyon]

Just had a look at the weather map - winds blowing in the South-West direction, bringing in clouds from Philippines and East Malaysia. Skies look sunny and clear till late afternoon, then the clouds will arrive.

Hope I am wrong!