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Sure, a 4-day work-week for this summer holiday class isn't exactly easy, but learning about Astronomy, the stories behind, and star-gazing make all the work worthwhile!
Taking advantage of a clear sky on one evening, Professor Strom decided to organize a star-gazing session for a small group of about 40 students on the roof of Science Block 13! =)
The tutor sets up a Meade optical telescope for our star-gazing session, while Prof. Strom scans the sky.
The powerful optical telescope offers magnification of up to 200x, and has a primary mirror (The huge black cylinder) with large aperture to offer clear view of the stars. Mounted on an equatorial mount, a multitude of adjustments are possible and there's even an onboard motor that can be set to rotate the telescope orientation so as to track the stars as they move across the night sky - Neat!
Thankfully, the sky was very much clear of clouds, enabling a good view of the new moon even when the sun has not set...
After setting up 2 telescopes, we waited patiently for the sun to set:
Last light before darkness falls and the show begins! ^^
The star-gazing session kicked off with observation of the Moon and its impact craters:
The 2-day old Moon, as seen through the telescope - The impact craters can be seen clearly at the border between the lit and dark regions. Photo credits: Willy's Omnia
We were lucky to be able to be able to observe a feature known as Earth Shine, in which the dark part of the Moon is not completely dark - An outline of the entire Moon is visible due to it reflecting light that is refracted off the Earth! This feature can only be seen during the first 2 days of a New Moon.
Next, we observed Saturn and its iconic ring:
Saturn is the 6th planet in our Solar System - Picture taken by the Cassini space craft. Photo credits: Michael Richmond
It's really amazing how Saturn can be seen quite clearly through the telescope, even though it's 9.6 Astronomical Units (AU) away, and 1 AU is approximately 150 Million KM! >_<
Saturn through a telescope!
During the session, we also identified some constellations that could actually be viewed without the aid of the scope - To the east, we see the Scorpius constellation:
The Scorpius constellation, with the brightest star Antares a.k.a. the "Heart of the Scorpion" (In red) and the Scorpion's tail trailing behind. Photo credits: EESA Hubble Information Centre
The Scorpion zodiac sign is derived from the Scorpius constellation which the Sun enters from 23rd October to 22nd November.
To the south-east, we can see Alpha Centauri, the closest star to our Solar System:
Alpha Centauri is the 3rd brightest star in the night sky, located just 4.37 Light-Years away from our Sun. Photo credits: flawedperfect@picasaweb
Following Alpha Centauri and Beta Centauri, which together are known as The Southern Pointers, we can then locate the Southern Cross, or the Crux:
The Southern Cross centred, with Alpha and Beta Centauri to the left in a slanted position that leads up to the 'head' of the cross. Photo credits: Starfield Observatory
Lastly, located near the Crux is a bunch of stars known as the Jewel Box:
The Jewel Box can be seen on the clear southern night sky of Singapore. Photo credits: Southern Cross Constellation
