Toa Payoh Sidewalk Astronomy tonight outside Courts - 18 Jun

[Gary]

This is a brief report of the sidewalk session on 28 Jan 2013. Thanks to all who came especially the telescope volunteers HL and Jeremy!

Saw Orion Neb with colour in Jeremy's 10" dob! Light green! First time in my life! WOW! Jupiter was very contrasty with the very distinct and sharp Io shadow on it. I think we plopped a 20mm + 2x Barlow + 5X tele-extender on the dob and still manage to focus on it. The galilean moons were discs with no airy disc and not star-like in smaller scopes. Moon was blindingly bright. Had fun snapping good pictures of it using my phone and helping bystanders with theirs. You can take a look at mine here: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=11707

Extremely delighted to know three sidewalk sessions were happening on the same night - Bishan Park, Tampines & Toa Payoh.

Another highlight for me that night was seeing first-hand another family-bonding session through astronomy. A father came and enjoyed what he saw. Called his family to join him later and they stayed and observed for at least a couple of hours and was rewarded with looking though the 5" dob, 10" dob and learning about the night sky. He bought me fries as a token of appreciation. By the time I had time to take a break and eat them, it was already cold. But I finished them all nonetheless and enjoyed the taste of heart-felt appreciation.

D**n you Jeremy for poisoning me with your dobsonian telescope and since feeling inadequate whenever looking through mine! LOL

[Gary]

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

Date: Wed 13 Feb 2013
Time: From 7:30 PM onwards
Venue: Open space in front Toa Payoh Public Library [Google Map] [Street View]

Primary focus: Moon, Jupiter, 7 Sisters star cluster, Orion Nebula.

I will be bringing my telescope to share with the public.

Come join in the fun with or without telescope! Feel free to chat with us about Astronomy!

[Gary]

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

Date: Mon 4 Mar 2013
Time: From 7:00 PM onwards
Venue: Open space in front Toa Payoh Public Library [Google Map] [Street View]

Primary focus: Jupiter, 7 Sisters star cluster, Orion Nebula.

ISS flyby around 7:35pm - 7:41pm. Might be be visible later.

I will be bringing my telescope to share with the public.

Come join in the fun with or without telescope! Feel free to chat with us about Astronomy!

[Gary]

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

Date: Fri 15 Mar 2013
Time: From 8:00 PM onwards

VENUE: Outside McDonald's nearest to Toa Payoh MRT Station, *NOT* our usual space outside library.

Primary focus: Moon, Jupiter, 7 Sisters, Orion Nebula, Saturn!

I will be bringing my telescope to share with the public.

Come join in the fun with or without telescope! Feel free to chat with us about Astronomy!

[Gary]

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

Date: Friday, 5 April 2013
Time: From 7:00 PM onwards till very late
Venue: Open space in front of Toa Payoh Public Library [Google Map] [Street View]

Primary focus: Jupiter, 7 Sisters, Orion Nebula and Saturn!

We will be deploying a 10-inch dobsonian telescope and bringing along a couple of chairs to observe the amazing views comfortably.



So come join in the fun with or without telescope! Feel free to chat with us about Astronomy!

[Gary]

Will be slightly late. Arriving at around 7:30pm.

[Gary]

Thanks to all who came for the sidewalk on Fri 5 Apr.

Jupiter and all its moons lined up on one side provided an enchanting view for the crowd earlier in the evening. A mesmerising view through the F/5 dob - first seeing Jupiter brightly with its obvious cloud bands, then the moons came into view one by one, and finally the bright disc with its 4 dots of light drifting across the wide field of view. This special choreography is possible thanks to the lack of any tracking mechanism.

Hours later, when Jupiter disappeared behind a building, there was still relatively long queue! Luckily, Sirius was still visible and relatively high enough.

Thanks to the spider vanes, Sirius looked amazing with its bright spikes. A refreshing look that didn't bothered me after getting used to spike-less stars in SCTs and refractors. Dimmer stars can also be detected around Sirius despite the bright spot lights from the Bata store shining directly towards the dob.

After shifting the dob nearer to the stone benches, a quick re-collimation was all that was required and we are back in business to observe Saturn.

Saturn looked so sharp and detail with a few moon easily spotted. Almost as good as my private observations of it with my good friends through the same dob a couple of days prior to this sidewalk. Very happy the sky remained clear enough for those who came specifically to see Saturn through the dob.

Later in the evening, best view of Jewel Box I have seen in Singapore despite the slightly hazier sky and the dob surrounded by bright lights - so many dimmer stars peppered around the brighter colorful stars.

Big thanks to Airconvent for dropping by and sharing with us wonderful stories of his stargazing trips!

Had a great early morning supper with the guys after the event and special thanks to Clifford for the delicious durians.

Some pics of the event:

Initial crowd shortly after the dob was set up:

Image Credit: Ava

Happily explaining to the first person who ever ask me in a sidewalk to identify which galilean moon is which in the view! Stay curious my friend!

Image Credit: Ava

A regular late night "customer" of mine checking out Alcor and Mizar in the North.

[Gary]

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

Date: Friday, 26 April 2013
Time: From 10:00 PM onwards till very late
Venue: Open space in front of Toa Payoh Public Library [Google Map] [Street View]

Primary focus: Saturn!

We will be deploying a 10-inch dobsonian telescope and bringing along a couple of chairs to observe the amazing views comfortably.

So come join in the fun with or without telescope! Feel free to chat with us about Astronomy!

[Gary]

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

Date: Saturday, 4 May 2013
Time: From 7:30 PM onwards till very late
Venue: Open space in front of Toa Payoh Public Library [Google Map] [Street View]

Primary focus: Saturn!

We will be deploying a 10-inch dobsonian telescope and bringing along a couple of chairs to observe the amazing views comfortably. Other telescopes will also make an appearance. And some singastro buy and sell transactions will be settled there.



So come join in the fun with or without telescope! Feel free to chat with us about Astronomy!

[Gary]

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

Date: Saturday, 1 Jun 2013
Time: From 8:30 PM onwards till very late
Venue: Open space in front of Toa Payoh Public Library [Google Map] [Street View]

Primary focus: Saturn!

Secondary focus: Star clusters and nebulae at Saggitarius and Scorpius area.

We will be deploying a 10-inch dobsonian telescope and bringing along a couple of chairs to observe the amazing views comfortably. Other telescopes may also make an appearance.

So come join in the fun with or without telescope! Feel free to chat with us about Astronomy!