Received a package from The Planetary Society today via DHL. It contained a Light Sail mission patch for contribution in funding for the mission. I am very enthusiastic about Light Sail as I think that it will be a revolutionary way to propel small satellites and probes using photons from our Sun. They have done a successful test launch last year and will be conducting an official launch this year. If successful, the Light Sail would orbit Earth. It can be seen on Earth at night if it passes by our location. Its brightness rivals that of the ISS during flybys.
I have just come across an initiative that allows people, ordinary citizens, like you and I, to collect and contribute data of light pollution in the place at which you live. Backyard astronomers who live in big cities often encounter the problem of not seeing the stars that could have been easily seen by the naked eye due to "skyglow" as a result of obscene light pollution. As countries develop, people's appreciation of the night sky dwindle, because they can't appreciate what they can't see!
Don't take this the wrong way. I am not telling urban planners to neglect lights totally. What I hope to see is that these urban planners could use light energy more efficiently and not spoil the night skies for everyone. There are proper ways of lighting the night. Why waste money and energy lighting the sky above?
I am sharing this post that was done up by Gary on his blog, so that everyone who sees this can tune in to watch the flyby and closeup of Pluto tonight.
On 14 July 2015, at 7:49:59 PM Singapore time (11:49:59 UTC) NASA's New Horizons spacecraft will make its historic closest approach to the dwarf planet Pluto, the most distant solid object to be visited by a spacecraft.
Here's how to get the latest updates on New Horizons flyby of Pluto:
With live streaming on NASA TV, this means you can watch it on your phone on the move if you are not able to sit in front of a big screen and have a Pluto flyby party with your friends! :)
It was an awesome sight to behold! Yesterday evening, I managed to witness the conjunction of Jupiter and Venus at their closest as I met Dave and Ava when they held a sidewalk session at Bishan Park. Sadly, we only caught a glimpse of the pair when thick clouds started to roll in, even the Moon was obscured by the overcast. I could only count myself lucky, other people who came to Bishan Park with the expectation to see the spectacle were sorely disappointed. Well, that's astronomy on the highway of clouds.
Photos credit: Dave Ng
This shot was taken at Bishan Park on the 30th of June 2015. The bigger and brighter dot is Venus, with its companion Jupiter at the top.
The conjunction on the 1st of July 2015 as seen through an 80mm telescope with a 6mm eyepiece. On the right is a crescent-shaped Venus and on the left is Jupiter.
I have been doing public astronomy outreach sessions for about 2 years now and I have encountered many kids along this journey. However, I have yet to solve the problem of retaining their attention whenever I have to explain something to them. I do not blame these children but myself, for my answers can be a little dry at times. As many of you may know, children have generally short attention spans - once you miss the window period of about 20 seconds to dazzle them, it's gone forever. So my goal here is to flood their senses with as much stimulus as possible in order to capture their imagination. I have bought these educational toys in the hopes to do just that and together with my handy crafts that were previously made at home, I wish not only to bring science to these young minds, but to enchant them. First, I need to learn how to use the sextant, astrolabe, and whatnot. Time to read the user manual.
I have been hearing it for months now, that the old Omni Theater at the Singapore Science Centre was to undergo some renovations to include a planetarium.
Well, the details are out and this blog update provides astronomy enthusiasts with what to expect from the rebirth Omni Theater.
The new theater is now fitted with a full-dome projection system with an 8K digital display to boot! Gone are the times when people just sat in, watched a movie, and left after it has ended. We can now expect a presenter on-site to do a 30-minute real-time presentation for "live shows" to boost the movie experience.
This is a refreshing change and a much welcome addition to the Singapore Science Centre. The revamped Omni Theater will be opened on the 30th of May 2015.
I am eager to catch the full-dome live show "Cosmic Surfing" and the digital full-dome movie "Back To The Moon For Good".
The Planetary Society has called for a kick-starter program that will be funded by citizens around the world to build a solar sail spacecraft. The Planetary Society is an NGO (non-governmental organisation) helm by CEO Bill Nye. Those of you who were born in the 80s or 90s may vividly know him as Bill Nye, The Science Guy. As a kid growing up in the 90s, I used to catch his TV programs here in Singapore. The TV shows did not only serve to inculcate science to kids, but also made them love it! Bill was once a student of a famous astrophysicist, the late Dr. Carl Sagan.
Coming back to the topic of solar sails, I am an advocate of space exploration. So-much-so, I have bickered in forums and earned myself a few online "enemies" who were naysayers to huge budget space programs.
Now, how does all this work? Light is a strange thing. It is a particle and a wave at the same time. The particles of light are called photons and they have no mass. Shiny objects are known to reflect light better than darker objects. When these photons are reflected off a surface, Newton's 3rd law kicks in - whenever there is an action, there will be an equal and opposite reaction. These photons are able to push the light sail that is made of mylar, which is a very shiny and reflective material, thus causing the sail to move in Space.
As for myself, I have already pledged US$5 (~SG$6.50) to the program. They have already achieved 3 out of 5 goals for their budget milestones and they will be launching the sail via the Delta Heavy rocket by SpaceX in 2016.
With relation to the light sail, The Planetary Society has also planned to send selfies of the public into Space using the light sail in an attempt to garner public attention for the program. So, I thought, "Hey, why not?"
I uploaded a photo that was taken with Dr. Neil Tyson during the Cosmos promotional event in Singapore. Well, it wasn't a selfie, but it's going to be damn bloody awesome to see this in Space.
Woohoo! We are sailing through space on LightSail! Weee~
