0.  Although it was cloudy on and off during the moon eclipse, I managed to take some eclipse photos.

1.  I only slept for 2 hours from about 11:45pm to 1:45pm.

2.  I took these photo from about 2am until 5:45am when the cloud completely covered the moon.  Then, I started to select and process these photos.

3.  I woke SiewPeng up twice.

4.  Yes, I almost forgot I slept for 30 minutes in between because I knew that this is a long full eclipse (100 minutes total moonless).

5.  Although it was tiring, but I felt great.

6.  The stars did appear next to the moon, but they were covered quickly by the cloud.

7.  My brain is blank now…  I can only think about keywords:- stars, mosquito,  battery, lens cap, manual focus, ISO, … …

This was taken a day before supermoon on the 18th March 2011.  The weather is not good recently, and I observe the moon daily and take her photos by any chance that I have got.

Actually there was a thin layer of cloud in the sky, but this is the best photo I took for the supermoon.

I have to clear some doubts in my mind.  Sometimes, the moon looks big but it is not the supermoon but it is because the moon is nearer to the horizon, and there is a distortion by the atmosphere.  This time, the moon is really close to the Earth.  I took its photo when it was about 60 degree from the horizon.

With naked eyes, the moon that actually looks larger might be insignificant.  Therefore, I have to use graphic software on the computer to prove that it is bigger.  I added some guidelines and calculate the diameter of the moon in pixels, and I got the difference.

There are 2 conditions that need to be fulfilled:-

1.  Take the photo when the moon is not at the horizon (Same angle is the best, eg. 90 degrees above the head).

2.   Use the same lense and camera.  I always zoom to the max with my ultra zoom camera.

I am not saying that the measurement I have got is 100 % accurate, because there are other factors such as the cloudy weather, and locations which the photo is taken are different.  But at least I know that the moon is bigger in my photos.

[Taken in March 2009, Ipoh.]

I believe that it is a coincident if the supermoon has caused natural disaster, there are many other factors such as environmental issues caused by human beings, and the Earth itself.  Our Earth is sick now, please save our Earth.  I don’t think anyone would want to migrate to the moon where we have to wear a space suit and carry an oxygen tank with us all the time.

Last night, the golden moon of the 18th day (in Chinese Calendar)  attracted me to take her photo again.  Since she was near to the horizon, I decided to shoot the photo from the balcony.

There is a transmission tower used for telecommunication purposes right between my camera lens and the moon.  After zooming and cropping, I produced the photo above.  If you look carefully, you can find that there are 4 big volcanoes on the top right edge of the moon.

The moon keeps on moving all the time.

I believe there are only certain times in the year where the moon can reach this tower.   The direction was not exactly East but slightly North.  It was between E and NE or ENE (east-northeast).

I wish I can take the photo of the moon with an airplane in between.  It only happens in seconds.  Many people use photo editing method to create it, but I wish I can create a real one.

You may notice that the brightest star in the evening sky on the West has disappeared recently.  Where has it gone to?

The Venus is now the morning star, viewing from our Earth.  It rises before sunrise, and sets before sunset.  Unlike last months, it was still an evening star.

I have explained why it only appear in either morning or evening, click here if you are interested.

Mercury is still an evening star but we can hardly see it.

Mars and Saturn cannot be considered as evening or morning star, because it sometimes can be a midnight star as well.

Jupiter is the brightest planet now in the evening night sky before Venus rises in the coming morning.

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***  There were one or two chapter(s) about astronomy in my science subject in primary school and lower secondary school years ago, I had been asking the teacher how to identify the planets in the sky, but no one gave me a clear answer until I found it myself using computer software.

I think learning only the fact is not as meaningful as viewing the stars with students’ own eyes.

Orion  a.k.a. the Hunter is the most conspicuous, and most recognizable constellation in the night sky.  You can find 3 stars (Orion’s belt), in the middle of a trapezium.

I have been waiting to observe this constellation since months ago, the best time in a year to observe Orion is in January, but we can start looking in the night sky since weeks ago for more than half a year depend on your location on the Earth.

My house is surrounded by tall buildings, therefore it is not easy for me to find it when it goes near the horizon.  Now it is almost 90 degrees above my head at about 5 am for this month (October).

Besides, I have learned that the brightest star (excluding sun, moon and planes), Sirius (visual magnitude -1.46) is not far from the Orion constellation.  It is under Canis Major constellation, and 8.6 +/- 0.04 light years away from our Earth.  Therefore it means that the light of the Sirius that we see now has traveled more than 8 years before it reaches us.

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I woke up very early today to observe the Orion and Sirius, but it was raining.  Hopefully I have a chance to take its photo and show it to you.  I will keep on trying in the coming months.  Constellations usually rise in the East and set to the West earlier and earlier as the time goes, and it repeats again in a cycle of a year.

The following are the rise and set time for Orion’s Belt (the 3 star in the middle).

1st January:  5:30 PM to 4:30 AM
1st February:  3:30 PM to 2:30 AM
1st March:  1:30 PM to 12:30 AM
1st April:  11:30 AM to 10:30 PM
1st May:  9:30 AM to 8:30 PM
1st June:  7:30 AM to 6:30 PM
1st July:  5:30 AM to 4:30 PM
1st August:  3:30 AM to 2:30 PM
1st September:  1:30 AM to 12:30 PM
1st October:  11:30 PM to 10:30 AM
1st November:  9:30 PM to 8:30 AM
1st December:  7:30 PM to 6:30 AM