Free Stargazing Public Talks @ TPY Library - 17 Nov & 8 Dec

[Gary]

Thanks to the kind support from singastro members, my friends and NLB, the last public stargazing talks at Toa Payoh Public Library in September has been well received.

As such, I have been invited again to give free public talks in November and December. Big thanks to Toa Payoh Public Library for sponsoring the venue, audio-visual equipment, poster printing and allocating 2 primetime Saturday evenings during the school holidays for these upcoming talks.

Here are the details:

Title: Stargazing in Singapore - Top 10 Celestial Wonders
Date: 17 Nov 2012 Saturday and 8 Dec 2012 Saturday (repeat session)
Time: 7.00pm to 8.30pm
Venue: Toa Payoh Public Library, Programme Zone, Level 1
Admission is FREE. No pre-registration required. First-come-first-seated basis.


Poster Astrophoto Credit: Orion Nebula by Kelvin Ng.

Special thanks to my astrophotography friends for granting me permission to use their astrophotos for the poster design and presentation slides. Can't wait to see audience reaction when these photos are shown on the projection screen!

The talk content is about how to identify, observe and appreciate the best 10 celestial sights that is visible in Singapore on a clear night from now till early next year. Though the emphasis is in Singapore, the knowledge acquired can be useful for those travelling overseas for their year-end holiday trips.

Weather permitting, we may conduct a sidewalk session outside the library after the talks. This is totally a separate event not affiliated with the National Library.

Jupiter and 4-day old Moon will be visible on 17 Nov as well as the Leonid Meteor Shower. On 8 Dec, a few days after opposition, Jupiter will be visible after sunset and for those staying up overnight, Saturn will be 27 degrees above eastern horizon at about 6am and forming a loose vertical line with Moon, Venus and Mercury. And the south will look interesting again with Omega Cenaturi, Crux and Carina!

Regardless of the sky condition on those days, the knowledge you acquire from these talks may reward you with many fun-fill stargazing nights for the rest of your lives!

So mark your calendars and feel free to join in the fun with your family and friends!

[shirox]

wow nice!!!!!!

[starfinder]

Great work, and nice poster too! Good luck!

[Gary]

Thanks guys! If you are free, do drop by and share your astro experiences with the public. Kids in holiday mood can be extremely inquisitive.

[Gary]

Had a great talk and stargazing session last night!

From a speaker's viewpoint facing the audience, it is quite easy to gauge their enthusiasm while the talk is going on. Absolutely loved edutaining the kids and in return seeing their parents so happy they made the right decision to bring them along despite the earlier heavy downpour.

Big thanks to TPY library for hosting the talk. Big thanks to James, Clifford, Jack, Dave, Ava and Yuan Huan for the moral support.

Sky cleared around 9.30pm and stayed clear till at least 2.30am.

This is a pic of the initial crowd shortly after setup:


Seeing was average but transparency was good - thanks the earlier heavy downpour. So good we saw the Trapezium E and F stars in Orion Nebula in James's ISTAR with direct vision. And that's in a location with glaring street lamps surrounding us which makes it impossible to dark adapt to any extent at all.

Of course, credit goes to the 8-inch unobstructed refractor. M42's nebulosity is the best I have seen in a telescope in Singapore so far. It is much brighter and more contrasty than I have ever seen here - nebulosity that used to require averted vision even in clear skies were directly perceivable.

We had a good time interacting with the crowd. Making new friends, finding more people who own scopes, was into astrophotography, people who used to be in a polytechnic astro club. And converting a phone user or two to the advantages of owning an android phone for astronomy.

Looking forward to the repeat session on 8 Dec.

[VinSnr]

Had a great talk and stargazing session last night!

From a speaker's viewpoint facing the audience, it is quite easy to gauge their enthusiasm while the talk is going on. Absolutely loved edutaining the kids and in return seeing their parents so happy they made the right decision to bring them along despite the earlier heavy downpour.

Big thanks to TPY library for hosting the talk. Big thanks to James, Clifford, Jack, Dave, Ava and Yuan Huan for the moral support.

Sky cleared around 9.30pm and stayed clear till at least 2.30am.

This is a pic of the initial crowd shortly after setup:


Seeing was average but transparency was good - thanks the earlier heavy downpour. So good we saw the Trapezium E and F stars in Orion Nebula in James's ISTAR with direct vision. And that's in a location with glaring street lamps surrounding us which makes it impossible to dark adapt to any extent at all.

Of course, credit goes to the 8-inch unobstructed refractor. M42's nebulosity is the best I have seen in a telescope in Singapore so far. It is much brighter and more contrasty than I have ever seen here - nebulosity that used to require averted vision even in clear skies were directly perceivable.

We had a good time interacting with the crowd. Making new friends, finding more people who own scopes, was into astrophotography, people who used to be in a polytechnic astro club. And converting a phone user or two to the advantages of owning an android phone for astronomy.

Looking forward to the repeat session on 8 Dec.

Great that it turns out well, gary.

Wow...look at the 8" refractor in your picture. It is only when you have a crowd next to the scope that you realise how big that scope is.

[weixing]

Had a great talk and stargazing session last night!

From a speaker's viewpoint facing the audience, it is quite easy to gauge their enthusiasm while the talk is going on. Absolutely loved edutaining the kids and in return seeing their parents so happy they made the right decision to bring them along despite the earlier heavy downpour.

Big thanks to TPY library for hosting the talk. Big thanks to James, Clifford, Jack, Dave, Ava and Yuan Huan for the moral support.

Sky cleared around 9.30pm and stayed clear till at least 2.30am.

This is a pic of the initial crowd shortly after setup:


Seeing was average but transparency was good - thanks the earlier heavy downpour. So good we saw the Trapezium E and F stars in Orion Nebula in James's ISTAR with direct vision. And that's in a location with glaring street lamps surrounding us which makes it impossible to dark adapt to any extent at all.

Of course, credit goes to the 8-inch unobstructed refractor. M42's nebulosity is the best I have seen in a telescope in Singapore so far. It is much brighter and more contrasty than I have ever seen here - nebulosity that used to require averted vision even in clear skies were directly perceivable.

We had a good time interacting with the crowd. Making new friends, finding more people who own scopes, was into astrophotography, people who used to be in a polytechnic astro club. And converting a phone user or two to the advantages of owning an android phone for astronomy.

Looking forward to the repeat session on 8 Dec.

Great that it turns out well, gary.

Wow...look at the 8" refractor in your picture. It is only when you have a crowd next to the scope that you realise how big that scope is.

Hi,
Yap... that's HUGE!!!

Have a nice day.

[Gary]

Thanks guys! Thanks to James's modifications to the mount, especially the longer pier, we can finally observe objects straight up in the sky without adopting the prone position. But in return, we need to do a higher log PT exercise when mounting and dismounting the scope. Now we can sit down comfortably on a nice stool and hunch a little bit to view these objects. For kids, no hunching required.

Will be fun if the engineering-minded members in this forum can think of solutions to mounting the OTA which require only 1 person with some portable mechanical structure assistance.

Here's 2 more photos from taken with my phone. Enjoy.

[cataclysm]

Nice work Gary!

[Gary]

Thanks Kelvin! Your Orion Nebula photo on the poster definitely helped pulled in the crowd online (displays in TPY library) and offline (e.g. retweets by NLB). Shoot more soon so I won't run out of poster design ideas for future talks.