Toa Payoh Sidewalk Astronomy tonight outside Courts - 18 Jun

Alright, this is for sharing of your observation experience. Or, if you are arranging gatherings, star-gazing expeditions or just want some company to go observing together, you can shout it out here.
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Gary
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Toa Payoh Sidewalk Astronomy tonight outside Courts - 18 Jun

Post by Gary »

Weather permitting, I will be stargazing at open grounds outside Courts Toa Payoh tonight.

Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2014
Time: From 8:00 PM onwards
Venue: Open grounds outside Courts Toa Payoh [Google Map] [Street View]

Come see Saturn and stars through telescope(s)! Free and open to public. All are welcomed.

There's a pasar malam going on outside Toa Payoh Public Library. You may enjoy some nice finger food there. :)


**********************************************************************************

Depending on their rising and setting time in a relatively clear dark sky, these are the objects that can be seen in a typical stargazing session in Singapore (including the brightly lit Toa Payoh Central):

- Planets and Moon
- Star Clusters (Tight grouping of stars with some forming interesting imaginary shapes.)
- Double Stars (A pair of stars that appears to be close together.)
- Globular Clusters (A tight circular grouping of stars in the hundreds and thousands.)
- Nebulae (Cosmic cloud of dust and gases.)
- Galaxies (The biggest grouping of stars and stellar remnants. Very tough to see but not impossible under good conditions.)
Last edited by Gary on Wed Jun 18, 2014 6:27 pm, edited 119 times in total.
http://www.astro.sg
email: gary[at]astro.sg
twitter: @astrosg


"The importance of a telescope is not how big it is, how well made it is.
It is how many people, less fortunate than you, got to look through it."
-- John Dobson.
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Gary
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Post by Gary »

[Event Over]

Event cancelled due to bad weather. :)
Last edited by Gary on Wed Jul 10, 2013 6:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
http://www.astro.sg
email: gary[at]astro.sg
twitter: @astrosg


"The importance of a telescope is not how big it is, how well made it is.
It is how many people, less fortunate than you, got to look through it."
-- John Dobson.
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Gary
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Sidewalk Astronomy @ Toa Payoh Central - 18 Jul 2011

Post by Gary »

Hi Friends. From now on, I will be using and re-editing this thread to announce my Toa Payoh Central Sidewalk sessions.

Weather permitting, I will be conducting a sidewalk session at open area outside Toa Payoh Library tonight, Monday 18 July 2011, from 9:00pm onwards.

Only bringing my 80mm short tube refractor on a photographic tripod this time. Main focus is on appreciating wide-field stargazing, e.g. star clusters, double stars and how to recognise constellations.

For those who have seen Saturn through my 8" SCTs, please don't ask me why Saturn look so small later. LOL :P (Kidding, you can ask. I will explain why).

This is also a good opportunity for me to further illustrate the point that one does not need a very expensive, big and bulky telescope as a first telescope to kick-start the hobby.

For those who can stay late for Moon to rise high enough (after 10 pm), you can try my binoviewer on this small refractor. Won't be Transformers IMAX 3D amazing but at least it is a live view. :P

All are welcome. With or without telescopes/binoculars.

****************************************************

(Super Off-Topic note for durian lovers who are coming for this stargazing session :

The regular Durian store near the hawker center has shifted to a bigger shop just beside Delifrance (right next to the library). This previous shop was previously a cake and bread shop. They have all sorts of "brands"of durians, Mao Shan Wang, XO, ...etc.

The durian shop closes around 11 pm. Can bargain some more near this time if you can wait. The $5 per packet ones (can bargain till $3 at closing time) are quite value for money. Even the $1 ones can be reasonable if you know how to select good durians by looking and touching them through food wrap. )
Last edited by Gary on Wed Jul 20, 2011 2:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
http://www.astro.sg
email: gary[at]astro.sg
twitter: @astrosg


"The importance of a telescope is not how big it is, how well made it is.
It is how many people, less fortunate than you, got to look through it."
-- John Dobson.
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Gary
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Post by Gary »

Update: Timing changed to 9 pm instead of 8 pm.
http://www.astro.sg
email: gary[at]astro.sg
twitter: @astrosg


"The importance of a telescope is not how big it is, how well made it is.
It is how many people, less fortunate than you, got to look through it."
-- John Dobson.
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Gary
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Sidewalk Astronomy @ Toa Payoh Central - 20 Jul 2011

Post by Gary »

[Event Over]

Weather permitting, I will be conducting a sidewalk astronomy session at Toa Payoh Central tonight.

Date: Wednesday, 20 July 2011
Time: From 8:00 PM onwards
Venue: Open space in front of Toa Payoh Public Library [Google Map] [Street View]
Equipment: Meade 8 inch Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope
Last edited by Gary on Wed Jul 10, 2013 6:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.
http://www.astro.sg
email: gary[at]astro.sg
twitter: @astrosg


"The importance of a telescope is not how big it is, how well made it is.
It is how many people, less fortunate than you, got to look through it."
-- John Dobson.
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vngks
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Post by vngks »

Hi Gary,

It was great for a noob like me to have finally met up with you and Zong Yao just now and managed to catch the double-double, resolved Alpha-Beta Centauri, M7, etc., not forgetting the highlight of the evening - Saturn.

Seeing was great tonite. Saturn was tack sharp.

Great fun. Thanks so much and I hope to join you guys more often :)

Cheers,
KaiSing
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Gary
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Post by Gary »

Hi KaiSing,

You should see my photos and compare them with yours and you will understand what noob really means. LOL. Your DF01 "Blue" shot is absolutely mindblowingly wicked! Love your landscape shots too, especially the Osaka Castle series. Unreal!! Great first attempt at the Milky Way.

Thanks for dropping by and saying hi. You and the other singastro semi-lurker really made my day, erm night I mean! :)

What an incredible night of seeing! Thank god (and Alvin) for the amazing porta mount that came just in time. Else, we would all be looking at a shaky Saturn through a Maksutov 5" and kicking ourselves for not having a bigger aperture scope deployed on a more stable mount.

Cassini division was so clear and contrasty I did not even have to try to see it. We didn't have a chance to binoview it since the crowd was building up from the moment I finished my setup at 8pm. But I am glad to poison your eyes with M7 through the binoviewer later in the evening. :) Time to sell your camera lens to Michelle Chia to fund a new hobby. :P Between enjoying a binoview of Saturn in great seeing alone or letting more people seeing it single-eyed for the first time, I will choose the latter anytime of the day. One of the highlights for me last night was to let a senior citizen to finally see Saturn after a few minutes of failed attempts despite changing the magnification and eyepieces. I have always made it a point to try my best to let someone see the intended object through the eyepiece no matter how long or impatient the queue is. Because it must be one of the most miserable feeling to see everyone else getting excited by what they saw but not able to experience some of those excitement for themselves.

The positive and happy energy generated in the crowd was truly intoxicating. It is nights like this that reminds me why I love sharing this wonderful hobby so much and to forget about those disappointing days when the sky was blue throughout the day but turns out to be cloudy at night. And also to laugh at the all the crazy criticism that a SCT is not good for planetary viewing because of blah, blah, blah. :P The anticipation for yesterday's blue sky to transition into a night of great seeing was killing me, in a nice way I guess.

Later in the evening when the crowd was gone. Zong and me saw the Ring Nebula, the beautiful and colourful Albireo and M8 with some nebulosity.

This Meade with bob's knobs, like I told the previous owner before, really holds the collimation well. Definitely a keeper.

This is most probably my last sidewalk for this month (unless I see ring nebula naked eyes tomorrow :P). Time to re-charge my mana and clean my optics for galaxy hunting in Milky Way skies next week.
http://www.astro.sg
email: gary[at]astro.sg
twitter: @astrosg


"The importance of a telescope is not how big it is, how well made it is.
It is how many people, less fortunate than you, got to look through it."
-- John Dobson.
jimmyleong
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Post by jimmyleong »

It is really nice of you to bring astronomy to daily life and in the process get more people excited and interested in astronomy. I hope if time permits I would be able to visit you when you have your next viewing...
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Gary
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Post by Gary »

jimmyleong wrote:It is really nice of you to bring astronomy to daily life and in the process get more people excited and interested in astronomy. I hope if time permits I would be able to visit you when you have your next viewing...
Hi Jimmy. Thanks for your compliment. No big deal. Just standing on shoulders of the big giants of sidewalk astronomy.

Feel free to drop by when you are free. Alternatively, are there any nice place around your area to do sidewalk astronomy? We can have a session there sometime.
http://www.astro.sg
email: gary[at]astro.sg
twitter: @astrosg


"The importance of a telescope is not how big it is, how well made it is.
It is how many people, less fortunate than you, got to look through it."
-- John Dobson.
jimmyleong
Posts: 162
Joined: Thu May 05, 2011 12:12 am

Post by jimmyleong »

me still new in astronomy, and the only time i have been to a viewing session was at science centre friday night.
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