Obs report - Mersing overnight 3-4 May 2008

[starfinder]

Here is an observation report on our overnight session (Sat 3 - Sun 4 May 2008, a few days before New Moon) at the Telok Sari observing site in Mersing district just hours ago.

In summary, it was a mixed night, with periods that can be described as very good, poor, and downright wonderous. We once again learned that at Telok Sari, as far as the weather and cloud cover goes, you never really know what's going to happen in the next few hours, except perhaps when there are persistent high-level clouds which are indicative of a poor night.


I followed Joo Beng in his car along with Vincent (swimanic). The three of us arrived at Woodlands at about 2pm, and due to the continuing hunt for the Limping and Climbing Man, it took us about 40 minutes to clear the long 500m-700m queue on the Singapore side. Once through though, the Johor side had next to no queue, so it was a welcome reversal of the usual situation there.

We were later joined at Telok Sari by two other cars.

On our way to Mersing, the skies were mostly covered in thick clouds. When we got to about 20km from Mersing town, it started to rain very heavily, and lightning could be seen in the northern skies. However, in Mersing town itself, the weather was dry upon our arrival, and we had the traditional lunch prepared by the Colonel's expert cooks, who are armed with birds much fresher and juicier than the deep-frozen dried up ones on our side of the Causeway. It rained whilst we were eating, but slowed to a light drizzle by the time we had finished.

We then set out to Telok Sari, and arrived at the observing site at the comfortably early time of 6pm. The skies were hardly promising, and cloud cover was about 90%. At sundown, the cover had increased to about 100%.

However, at about 7.30pm, some clear patches developed and the first bright stars were spotted by Joo Beng and Vincent, beating me to it. I took a quick look through the bino at Regulus, Castor and Pollux, and was well pleased to see that the cloud cover was only the low-level type, as these stars shined brightly and sharply in the background.

By about 8pm, we could see much of Canis Major, Puppis, Orion, and Gemini. I spent the next hour scanning these star rich areas with my 20x80mm triplet bino. The much-beloved star-fields in Puppis and Canis Major were bright and clear, including such individual gems as M46 and M47, surrounded by an endless expanse of star-fields. Most other areas of the sky were clouded.

At about 9pm and then around 10pm(?), two more cars arrived, one I think (correct me if I'm wrong) driven by Mr. Wong, and the other by Jenny's husband. Weixing, RLow, and Chee Chien were familiar faces to me, as was the one foot and half inch curry pot (Portaball).

For the next 2-3 hours, we had very good views of the Centaurus-Crux-Carina-Vela-Puppis region. Eta Carina, NGC3532, Omega Centauri were all bright and clear. The views of Omega through Acc's curry pot flavoured with Pentax spices was simply sedap!, as was the superb view through Joo Beng's C9.25 mixed with a 35mm teflon Pan and 13mm Ethos.

I also got to view the galaxies Trio in Leo(!!!), M51(!!), Sombrero(!!!) and Centaurus A(!!) through the curry pot. Many tks to Acc and Rlow for the great combo.

I'll leave it to the galaxy and DSO experts to comment on the quality of the sky condition then, as I'm not so sure of how it compares.

At about 1am, it clouded over again, visibility was down to zero all over, and the other two cars departed for home at about 1.45am.


Thankfully, Joo Beng decided to stay for a few more hours.

At about 2.10am, whilst half asleep, I noticed the Teapot was starting to sprout light touches of Teh-si. By 2.15am, it started to clear rapidly around the whole Sagittarius and Scorpius region. It was now Teh-gao.

From 2.15am to about 4.45am, we had long but intermittent periods of astounding views of long stretches of the Milky Way. It was one of the best, if not, the best view of the Milky Way I've ever had, equalling or exceeding an excellent view I've had there about 5 years ago and last year at the South Pacific Star Party in New South Wales.

I would rate that 2.5 hour period at Telok Sari last night as one of the top 2 or 3 out of the maybe 15 times I've been there. The Milky Way stretched brightly and clearly (high contrast) from Deneb in Cygnus in the NNE (edited), to the huge central bulge in Sagittarius, and on to Alpha and Beta Centauri in the SSW (Crux had then set).

With naked eyes, we could see many individual bright patches and regions of the Milky Way. For the first time, probably because I now knew where to look, I managed to see the Dark Horse nebula, an Australian favourite, whose rump and hind leg is also known as the Pipe Nebula. I could also see its head, and front leg stretch in the direction of Antares.

The three main parallel lanes of the Milky Way (light-dark-light) stretched from about 20 degrees above the NE horizon to about 20 degrees above the SW, a run of about maybe 150 degrees. We were presented with a front seat panorama of our own galaxy's centre and arms. Remus has at least twice before described seeing this panorama at Telok Sari to me.

Such views lasted about 20-30 mins, followed by 2-10 mins of cloud cover all over, and then cleared again for 30 or so mins, etc.

With my newly acquired al-cheapo 7x35mm Nikon Action binoculars (less than S$130) with its 9 degree field of view, I had some of the best views of a DSO through any optical instrument I've seen through. The Milky Way light and dark patches were that much more distinct. What a surprise. I also viewed the sight through the 20x80mm bino, and could see rivulets and knots of light and dark in much textured detail.


Joo Beng managed to take some very good wide-field shots of the Milky Way with his digital SLR mounted on an LXD-75 german equatorial.


Apart from the Milky Way, we also saw altogether some 7-8 meteors, including 3 bright and long (20 degrees) ones which I am quite certain are Eta-Aquariids due to their location and heading. Two of them travelled very unusually slowly for meteors, one of which I saw. This one was bright and green, and travelled so slowly I could see the point dot head move across with a line trailing behind, like some slo-mo movie.

The other bright one was bluish-green to my eyes, was very quick, and appeared to radiate out of the Aquarius region and vanished right at Vega. I'm quite sure it had crashed into the Alpha-Lyrae star, which must surely have split into two. One half now remains, and the other must be now a new planetary nebula. Ha!

I was hoping that there would be more Eta-Aquarids, since the peak is only about 2 days away. I think the ZHR was then about only 7-10, even though the radiant was well above the horizon in the East.

Well, at about 4.45am it clouded all over again, and we packed up and left at about I think 5.25am. From the observing field to the customs at J.B., the distance was 167km based on the odometer readings.

Many thanks to Joo Beng for the generous ride!


This night restored my admiration for Telok Sari, as it delivered a great view once again. I've had quite a few disappointing nights there, including one day about 3 years ago where we arrived in bright sunshine with clear promising blue skies throughout, only to have banks of clouds roll in right at sunset, leaving next to zero visibility for the whole night. At Telok Sari, you never really know what the weather and cloud-cover is going to be like in the next few hours. As I've said above, I think the only exception is when there are persistent high-level clouds throughout, which generally indicatives a poor night.

[Canopus Lim]

I could not make it to Mersing yesterday. However, I did manage to do some of my observation in Singapore late at night (about 11.30pm onwards). I would say the sky conditions in Singapore was not good with high altitude clouds blocking most of the star light. However, I could still see stars and could see M5 glob, Omega and M80 glob well. I could see other NGC globs but they were rather faint. M5 was actually rather nice with a bright core mixed with many brighter stars in the core and many outlying stars that spread far and wide. Definitely better than what a small scope can show in Mersing. Not only that, I was lucky to see a meteor through the telescope that flew across M5 (at only 0.4 TFOV field)! I think this is probably my 3rd to 4th time I saw a meteor through my scope. I packed up at about 2 plus am when it was very cloudy in Singapore.

I would think in Mersing you guys will be able to see many stars due to the fact I can see stars in Singapore. Firstly, Mersing sky clarity is in proportion to Singapore. If in Singapore, I can see stars, Mersing will see more. If Singapore I cannot even see a star due to overcast, Mersing will not be able to see any too; and I have went through such skies 1/3 of all my trips to Mersing..so I know what is lousy Mersing skies. From what I see the high altitude clouds will also affect observing galaxies and nebulae in Mersing due to the 'patchiness'. Stars will be quite alright though.

I guess I am not that 'lucky' at Mersing, as till now I have yet to see a Mersing sky that can match the darkest sky in USA or Australia. Most of the time when I am at Mersing there will be fast moving clouds that break the clearness...and always one have to find the target very quickly else the clouds will block it. I would still say that Mersing skies are dark and useable but highly unpredictable. However, one can predict Mersing weather by basing on Singapore's weather the day before the observing session at Mersing. Predictable skies belong to USA and Australia...where the the day time conditions will be almost the same as the night time conditions and it stays like that for longer hours.

So far this year I have 100% record of at least seeing some things at Mersing because I have only been there once and did a calculated predicted trip..

[rcj]

Gavin,

Enjoyed reading the report thoroughly! It was cleared back here earlier in the night, but some high clouds rolled in later, just when there was a transit of the GRS of Jupiter. dang!

[cataclysm]

Yes, very colourfull and illustrative report !

[acc]

Wow nice report! Sigh pity we didn't stay a bit longer but the mind is weak... The whirlpool galaxy with its swirling arms is once again the highlight of the night... much reminds me of the old logo of Cathay cinemas Thanks to the drivers for giving us a lift

At Telok Sari, you never really know what the weather and cloud-cover is going to be like in the next few hours.

Totally agree about this... I have been there over 30 times and can find no correlation between the weather in Singapore or along the way to Mersing with the cloud cover in Mersing. Don't trust the satellite images too... It can be completely clear one hour and completely overcast the next. One advantage of this unpredictably is that if you stay long enough, you will be rewarded with at least a patch of clear skies So for those who are still hesitating about going to Mersing, do give it a go!

[swimaniac]

This is my first trip to Mersing and I can only describe it with one word - no three words.

WOW ......... WOW ....... WOW

Thanks to Joo Beng for the ride.

For all those who have not been there or are putting it off, DON'T. You will not regret it.

[starfinder]

Glad you guys liked the report!

Just to add some points about the view of the Milky Way having checked a planetarium software: Crux had not set but was washed out by clouds near the horizon, so I suppose the view could have been more extensive were it not for this.

I had forgotton to mention earlier that it was not just the length and breadth of the Milky Way that was impressive, but by how high up in the sky its central bulge (our galaxy's core region) was. The bottom of the bulge near the floor of the Teapot asterism was about 40 degrees above the horizon, whilst the top part of it near the star Eta-Ophiuchi was about 70 degrees (a diameter of 30 degrees). I believe such almost overhead views of the Milky Way's central bulge can only be seen in equatorial and southern regions of the world, and not in more northerly lattitudes like Europe and North America.

During the night, my neck got quite stiff after looking through the binos for long periods of time. So I jiggled and rotated my head a bit, and in the process saw the Milky Way's spread from NE to SW more obviously. This was akin I think to the technique of tapping an eyepiece to see faint DSOs more clearly. Hmmm.... interesting.


BTW, FYI, I have ascertained that the noisy birds we sometimes hear flying around the observing field area are Red-Wattled Lapwings: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-wattled_Lapwing . These hyper-active birds were sometimes calling even in the dead of the night last night.

[weixing]

Hi,
It was a fun trip... although most of us who left early miss out the clear sky... we saw the sky clearing up on our way back, but it was too late to turn back... Anyway, there is always next time.

Below is the group photo I took:
1) Lousy photographer(that's me ) was wondering how to take group photo in the dark (sorry for all the flashes)


2) Group Photo

(Standing-> left to right: starfinder, Joo Beng, rlow's wife, rlow, ian, jenny & daniel)
(Sitting-> left to right: swimanic, acc, me & wong)

3) Joo Beng Group

(Left to right: starfinder, swimanic & Joo Beng)

Anyway, thanks to Jenny and Daniel for the ride.

Have a nice day.

[acc]

Heh thanks for the pics Weixing The montage is fun! Brings me nice memories of a night under the stars with good company

[swimaniac]

Great Pics WeiXing. BTW can you email me the full res photos?

Thanks