clear and dark skies in camp, 14/03/08

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Kamikazer
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clear and dark skies in camp, 14/03/08

Post by Kamikazer »

i was in camp...
woke up at 4am to relieve myself.
got out of "bunk" and went to the toilet.
after i came out of the toilet, i looked up and...WOW!!!
no, i am not out-field, the toilet aint a latrine

the sky was fre*king clear! the skies there was extremely dark too.
carina region was very visible, i could even spot a faint patch in eta carina area. i could make out the whole of leo including its legs, same goes for ursa major. virgo as well. a portion of draco and most of bootes could be seen too.
orion, crux, canis major and centaurus being the other usuals we cant miss, which i have seen some time back in camp.
i went back to sleep and got up at 5.30am again just to observe.

the sky was still fre*king CLEAR! and the summer skies was higher now.
i could see the WHOLE constellations of scorpius, sagittatius, ophiuchus, serpens(caput and cauda), hercules, corona borealis, cygnus, lyra, aquila, ara, lupus, libra. triangulum australe...and some other things i couldnt make out.

guess whats the best part?
i could SEE THE CENTRAL PART OF MILKY WAY!
and it was quite bright! espicially with averted vision. M7 and M8 was plainly visible naked eye.
i never guessed that i could actually see milky way that easily in singapore!

visual limiting magnitude was at least 4 or better. local light pollution is still there, clouds could be clearly illuminated by the street lights nearby. the southern skies was easier to observe as there was no lights in front of me glaring. the northern wasnt that good though. i needed to shield my eyes from lights in the north using my hands (which leaked light as my fingers are very skinny).

it was very refreshing since i havent observed in a very long time due to NS, coupled aperture fever in dark skies ever since i looked through acc's 12.5" portaball under very good mersing skies... small scopes in singapore skies is simply...unpleasant to say the least... :P

wished i could go to mersing... unfortunately the dates of trips planned by remus does not permit any leave to be approved.

i guess the deluge that lasted a few days before then is a good thing even though it caused me some inconvenience... if only i had a scope and more time that morning... :(

sadly, very few people would have access to my then-present location.
guess which camp i am in... (not tekong...)
K.L. Lee
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jermng
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Post by jermng »

sadly, very few people would have access to my then-present location.
guess which camp i am in... (not tekong...)
Whitley Detention Centre??
Jeremy Ng
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tungkian
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Post by tungkian »

haha..lemme guess..somewhere along jalan bahar, the tengah airbase area...
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Tachyon
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Post by Tachyon »

Hmm.. are you sure you were awake? [smilie=bleeding.gif]
[80% Steve, 20% Alfred] ------- Probability of Clear Skies = (Age of newest equipment in days) / [(Number of observers) * (Total Aperture of all telescopes present in mm)]
tungkian
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Post by tungkian »

the area around jalan bahar and sungei tengah has really fantastic skies. during my field camp at area D last time, the night sky is REALLy filled with stars..and the milky way IS visible..

too bad it's army training ground, not accessible to civilians...
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acc
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Post by acc »

Make sure u make full use of the SAF-issued binos! :) Was on my way to labrador park for ob but the clouds suddenly came over! :cry:
We do it in the dark...
Portaball 12.5"
Takahashi Mewlon 210
William Optics 110ED
...and all night long!
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Bergkamp_
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Post by Bergkamp_ »

yup.. the stars that night was amazing.. crystal clear..
Wee Ern aRmeD wiF Telescope reAdY tO taKe ovEr thE skY .. wIF jUst mY naKed eYEs .
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weixing
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Post by weixing »

Hi,
Early morning sky in Singapore can be very good. A few weeks ago, I wake up 5am in the morning and saw the sky full of stars... I manage to take out my 7x35 bino and point at Omega Centauri... WOW!! It was so bright... then .... [smilie=dreaming.gif] [smilie=dreaming.gif] [smilie=dreaming.gif]

Anyway, it's possible to see the brightest part of the milky way with naked eye when the sky is very clear... just not that obvious... I had seen a few times in the eastern part of Singapore.

Have a nice day.
Yang Weixing
:mrgreen: "The universe is composed mainly of hydrogen and ignorance." :mrgreen:
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Kamikazer
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Post by Kamikazer »

i was in changi naval base... specifically, the wharf area, while hiding behind a few scattered building from the lights.

actually, the whole base is extremely brightly lit, and some of the ships in the surrounding waters have killer lights. the indonesian islands (batam etc) have some light too.

if there were very thin clouds that morning, i probably would not have been able to spot milky way...

and the issued binos are not in good condition due to heavy usage. seaside conditions dont help either. the optics are already slightly foggy.
K.L. Lee
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VinSnr
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Post by VinSnr »

weixing wrote:Hi,
Early morning sky in Singapore can be very good. A few weeks ago, I wake up 5am in the morning and saw the sky full of stars... I manage to take out my 7x35 bino and point at Omega Centauri... WOW!! It was so bright... then .... [smilie=dreaming.gif] [smilie=dreaming.gif] [smilie=dreaming.gif]

Anyway, it's possible to see the brightest part of the milky way with naked eye when the sky is very clear... just not that obvious... I had seen a few times in the eastern part of Singapore.

Have a nice day.
maybe it's because your eyes are already dark adapted when you woke up from your sleep.
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