Melaka Planetarium

10th Jun 2011

For those who enjoy space and astronomy, don’t forget to drop by the Melaka Planetarium when you visit Melaka. Newly completed back in 2009, Melaka Planetarium is situated in a 4ha roundabout in the heart of the Melaka International Trade Centre (MITC), Ayer Keroh. The planetarium has 20 high technology equipments for public to see. It also houses a 15m internal dome and has a theatre capacity for 190 visitors per session. Ticket price is adult MYR8 and student MYR5.

The one our kids enjoy the most is the space-themed show projected on the internal dome, an amazing experience! We have been here a couple of times and will surely go back again.

More details:

http://www.melakaplanetarium.com/

National Geographic Map Collection

2nd June 2011

If you are looking for poster size maps collection for educational purposes e.g. to hang on the wall of your kids’ room, National Geographic Map Collection is a good choice. Most of the maps contain a handful of fine details and facts related to the topic. Moreover, all the maps are very appealing to the young minds.

If your kids like space and astronomy like mine, there is even a “Space & The Planets” series which include The Solar System, The Milky Way, The Universe, Mars Revealed, Earth’s Moon, Star Map of the Heavens and etc.

More details:

http://www.ngmapcollection.com/

http://maps.nationalgeographic.com/maps/print-collection-index.html

http://maps.nationalgeographic.com/maps/print-collection/planets-celestial-family.html

Homestar Portable

25th May 2011

Homestar Portable is a great educational application available on the PSP platform. It is actually not a game but a planetarium application which supports the use of star chart to view and study the night sky on a particular day and time. Although the default location is set to Tokyo, Japan, one can set the location to others in the list including KL, Malaysia.

Personally, I find Homestar Portable being really a great application, as it also comes with short educational videos on various stargazing topics including learning the night sky of the four seasons (spring, summer, autumn, and winter sky), solar eclipse, meteor shower, summer triangle, solar system and etc. One can view these short videos again and again and eventually become familiar with the night sky. These videos are my favorites and also my kids’ favorites. I am beginning to learn about the night sky and various constellations by season using a technique named star hopping guided and shown in the videos.

Nonetheless, the application is in Japanese but there is also a translated version in Mandarin. Hence, you will only be able to enjoy this application if you can understand Mandarin using the translated version. I do hope the creator will eventually release the English version as this application is one of the best of the best.

http://kotaku.com/#!190756/homestar-psp-yeah-its-full-of-stars

http://homestar.sega.jp/

My Place In Space

20th May 2011

Another space and universe related introductory book suitable for children 6 to 12 years old, “My Place In Space” briefly introduces our place in space from planet Earth to Solar System, Milky Way Galaxy, Virgo Supercluster right up to the Universe.

A reader from Amazon commented, “My Place In Space is a fun way to introduce children to the wonders of astronomy and awaken their curiosity… With vibrant illustrations and accurate text even adults will enjoy it and be left wanting to know more.”.

http://www.amazon.com/My-Place-Space-Robin-Hirst/dp/1741754046/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1305618800&sr=8-1

George’s Secret Key To The Universe

14th May 2011

We all heard of Stephen Hawking, the famous English theoretical physicist and cosmologist. If you have not, refer Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Hawking

Co-authored with Stephen Hawking, Luch Hawking, his daughter, published two children fiction books related to space and universe. They are George’s Secret Key to the Universe and George’s Cosmic Treasure Hunt. The books were written in the fiction style around George, a kid, whom went for space travel. The uniqueness of these books are there are lots of space and universe related facts and knowledge along the story line. The two books are suitable for kids between 7 to 12 years old. My daughter read them and her feedback was good and she hopes the 3rd book is on the way.

More details:

http://www.amazon.com/Georges-Secret-Universe-Stephen-Hawking/dp/1416985840/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1305330596&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Georges-Cosmic-Treasure-Hunt-Hawking/dp/1442421754/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1305330596&sr=1-3

National Planetarium

14th May 2011

Whether your kids fancy astronomy and space or not, a good place to spend half day tour is the National Planetarium, situated at the hill of Kuala Lumpur Lake Garden, neighbouring National Museum and KL Bird Park.

The planetarium opens daily from 9.30 am to 4.30 pm except on Monday, Hari Raya Puasa and Hari Raya Haji.

Beside the various replicated models of celestial objects, space gadgets and highlights under exhibition, visitors can also catch up a few astronomy and space-themed documentary shows on a daily basis.

This is not the best planetarium in the world, however it is quite a good one. My kids like this place and we have been there a couple of times.

It is the place where the journey to the Universe begins. More details:

http://www.angkasa.gov.my/planetarium/

http://www.angkasa.gov.my/welcome/planetarium/Menu/default.php

Celestia

11th May 2011

Today I will introduce another awesome space and astronomy related application, Celestia. The following is an extract from Wikipedia.

Celestia is a 3D astronomy program created by Chris Laurel. The program is based on the Hipparcos Catalogue (HIP) and allows users to travel through an extensive universe, modeled after reality, at any speed, in any direction and at any time in history. Celestia displays and interacts with objects ranging in scale from small spacecraft to entire galaxies in three dimensions using OpenGL, from perspectives which would not be possible from a classic planetarium or other ground based display. NASA and ESA have used Celestia in their educational and outreach programs, as well as for interfacing to trajectory analysis software. Celestia is available for Linux, Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows. Released under the GNU General Public License, Celestia is free software.

So, don’t wait, get one for the kids to explore from  http://www.shatters.net/celestia/

My kids enjoy learning the Universe using this application. It gives them the feeling of they are on a virtual space travel through the Universe!

IMAX Hubble 3D

Published 7th May 2011

Updated 17th May 2011

Together with the two kids, we watched a 45 minutes IMAX: Hubble 3D documentary on 23^rd Apr 2011. The documentary is about an IMAX 3D camera chronicles the effort of seven astronauts aboard the space shuttle Atlantis to repair the Hubble Space Telescope. Narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio, the documentary showcases spectacular images of the beauty of the Universe, including the Andromeda Galaxy, The Eagle Nebula, stars nursery within the Orion Nebula, and our Earth itself observed from outer space. Released in 2010, the film rated 8.1/10. I would encourage parents to introduce this documentary to their kids. More details:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1433813/

http://www.imax.com/hubble/

Watch the trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvlbAItBdK4

Stellarium

2nd May 2011

There is an awesome application which functions as a star chart and constellation map of the sky. It is Stellarium and the exciting part is it is a free open source planetarium for your computer, which means it is free to download, install and use. It shows a realistic sky in 3D, just like what you see with your naked eyes, binocular or telescope. Its GUI (Graphical User Interface) is very attractive and precise.

My kids have been using this application and it has helped them learn a lot of the night sky. You may get your copy here.

http://www.stellarium.org/

By the way, if you have an iPhone, Stellarium is also available on this platform and it does not lose its PC counterpart’s richness in the GUI. The iPhone version:

If you have any feedback or queries, don’t hesitate to write me a comment, I will try my best to help.

Telescope

25^th Apr 2011

We got a telescope back in 2009 for the kids as they have the interest in space, astronomy and stargazing. Refer to my other post “Space And Astronomy” for the benefits of this hobby.

The one we got was Orion StarBlast 6i IntelliScope Reflector telescope. This is a semi-auto telescope, which means it comes with a database of 14,000 celestial objects built-in and the user just need to input the code of the celestial object he or she wishes to view into a hand-held and the telescope will guide the user to that celestial object in the sky, with the support of the user pushing the telescope guided by the red light produced by the telescope. Following are the details and spec:

http://www.telescope.com/Telescopes/Dobsonian-Telescopes/IntelliScope-Dobsonians/Orion-StarBlast-6i-IntelliScope-Reflector-Telescope/pc/1/c/12/sc/27/p/27126.uts?refineByCategoryId=27

There are other types of telescope e.g. the fully automated which comes with a database and motor where the user just need to input the code of the celestial object he or she wishes to view into the hand-held and the telescope will slew itself to point to that celestial object in the sky automatically. In addition, there is also the manual type which does not come with any preloaded database or built-in motor. Note that although the semi-auto or fully-auto ones sound appealing to potential buyer, the user still has to learn the basic of carrying out star alignment before the semi-auto or fully-auto telescope can function accurately.

Some friends ask whether it is wise to invest in a telescope. I think this depends on the target user of the telescope as well as the objective of obtaining one. There are many types and models of telescope from manual, semi-auto, to fully-auto mentioned above and there are also the Reflector, Refractor, Cassegrain and Dobsonian types. Telescopes are also priced at different range, in general the bigger the aperture, the more expensive the telescopes.

For parents considering to invest one or not, the following are my personal advice and experience:

1. Do not buy the toys version from departmental store and Toys R Us.

2. Before buying, get to know the different types and models of telescope by joining the local astronomy group and event. From there you get to meet astronomy enthusiasts and get to learn the basic knowledge of telescope from them. You also get to explore the different types and models of telescope as the local astronomy group members usually set up a few for others to experience.

3. Get something that is light and mobile for kids. You do not want to buy a big and heavy one and realize later it is so troublesome every time you have to bring it out for stargazing, and bring it back afterwards.

4. Get from a trusted source as after sales service is very important. I got mine from Su Fen at http://www.stargazeronlinestore.com/

5. Get a trusted brand example:

Orion – http://www.telescope.com/

Meade – http://www.meade.com/

Celestron – http://www.celestron.com/c3/home.php

Vixen – http://www.vixenoptics.com/

6. It is best both parents and children can spend time into exploring and sharing this interest together. This will ensure parents can guide the younger children and not just leave them to play with the telescope themselves and eventually lose the interest as they do not know how to operate the telescope effectively. On another hand, both parents and children can enjoy better bonding time spent together.

7. If you still have doubt whether to invest one or not, start small and start simple. Get something that is below MYR1000 for example. Note that looking up the surface of Earth’s Moon through a telescope comparing to a picture is totally a very different experience. You will not be surprised by the “WOW” after “WOW” from the kids enjoying the view.

8. In general, telescope has very limited or no resell value at all due to the limited market. So think twice and decide on the type and model meeting your needs and not wants and then enjoy the night sky and hobby from there and don’t look back.

More details of other local suppliers of telescope in the Klang Valley:

http://www.infinityinfocus.com/

http://www.trifid-optics.com/

In Penang:

http://www.perseid.com.my/

Space And Astronomy

22nd Apr 2011

One of the very good and interesting hobby parents can expose their kids to is space and astronomy. This is a field of vast scientific related information and is for sure to instill imagination in the young minds. There are a lot to explore and study every now and then and new discovery surfaces almost every week.

Some of the very useful websites to visit.

NASA Kids’ Club – http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forkids/kidsclub/flash/index.html

NASA for Students – http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/k-4/index.html

NASA – http://www.nasa.gov/

Space and Telescope – http://www.spacetelescope.org/

Hubblesite – http://hubblesite.org/

Astronomy – http://www.astronomy.com/

In reality, the universe is a gigantic space beyond our imagination. To get a glimpse, watch the following two tubes with an open heart.

The Hubble Ultra Deep Field In 3D – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAVjF_7ensg

The Hubble Deep Field: The Most Important Image Ever Taken – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcBV-cXVWFw&feature=channel

I have watched the two tubes, over and over again, and I really enjoy watching them. Every time I watch these tubes, I am deeply touched and they really provoke deep thoughts in me on how small our world is compared to the universe. These tubes are not to be missed!

By sharing this, I hope to introduce the interest in space and astronomy to many kids and parents, and to help them taking the first step into embracing the beauty and joyfulness voyage into the universe.

Keep looking up the Heaven!

Total Lunar Eclipse 2011

20th Apr 2011

A total lunar eclipse will take place on 15^th June 2011. It is a relatively rare central eclipse where the moon passes in front of the center of the Earth’s shadow. The last lunar eclipse closer to the center of the Earth’s shadow was on 16^th July 2000. The next central total lunar eclipse will be on 27^th July 2018.

This lunar eclipse will be visible over Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia, that means we can observe from Klang Valley as well. This will be a spectacular celestial event for young minds as during the totality, the moon may appear reddish! So, don’t miss!

An explanation I extracted from EarthSky website detailing why the moon appears reddish during total lunar eclipse.

Why does the moon look red during a total lunar eclipse?

During a lunar eclipse, you’ll see the Earth’s shadow creeping across the moon’s face. The shadow will appear dark, like a bite taken out of the moon’s face, until the shadow completely covers the moon. Then, during the breathtaking moments of totality, the shadow on the moon’s face often suddenly changes. Instead of dark, it appears red. Why?

The reason stems from the very air we breathe. If the Earth had no air, then Earth’s shadow on the moon during a lunar eclipse would appear black. The presence of Earth’s air means that, during a lunar eclipse, sunlight can filter through Earth’s atmosphere onto the shadow on the moon. This filtered sunlight makes the moon appear red during a total eclipse.

But red isn’t the only color of a totally eclipsed moon. An eclipsed moon can appear brown, red, orange or yellow. The color depends on the presence of dust and clouds in Earth’s atmosphere. If there has been a major volcanic eruption, for example, the shadow on the moon will appear dark throughout an eclipse. In December 1992, not long after the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines, there was so much dust in Earth’s atmosphere that the totally eclipsed moon could barely be seen.

Can anyone know in advance how red the moon will appear during a total lunar eclipse? Not precisely. Before an eclipse takes place, you’ll often hear people speculating about it. Still, no one knows for certain how red the moon will appear when eclipse time comes. That uncertainty is part of the fun of eclipses, so enjoy! And watch for the red moon during a lunar eclipse.

http://earthsky.org/space/why-does-the-moon-look-red-during-a-total-lunar-eclipse

Will provide updates after the event.

Observing Meteor Shower

22nd Jan 2011

Since 2009, we started bringing the kids out to observe Geminid Meteor Shower which takes place mid of December every year. We usually join the local astronomy society, either Starfinder or Stargazer Scientific. Both are local society in the Klang Valley.

The following are my personal experience of how, where and when to observe meteor shower. If your kids like space and astronomy, this is certainly a 100% fun guaranteed outdoor learning exposure for them.

If you are living in Klang Valley, then it is a big challenge to observe meteor as Klang Valley is famous for being heavily light-polluted (I mean city light). To observe and capture meteor shower, you have to find a site far away from light-pollution. In 2009, which was our first meteor shower chase, we followed the local astronomy society Starfinder to The Farm located in Broga, Kajang. Last year, we went to My Gopeng Resort with Stargazer Scientific. Some other sites I heard folks frequently visited are Ulu Yam, Bukit Tinggi, Janda Baik and etc. So in short find a site away from city light-pollution.

For the above reason as well, it is necessary and more convenience to join a local astronomy society for meteor shower chase as this guarantees one’s personal safety. Never go alone or with friends in a small group to a quiet and dark site especially at night. Personal safety should always be the number one priority. The other advantages of joining a local astronomy society for meteor shower observation are food and accommodation are taken care of in general. In addition you get to meet new friends and pick up astronomy/stargazing know-how from the enthusiasts.

What do you need to bring along for the observation? Basically yourself. You can observe meteor shower using naked eyes provided the weather is good and the sky is clear. You do not need any observation tools e.g. a telescope or a binocular. Bring along a mat with pillow and blanket (or sleeping bag) and some thick and warm clothing so that you can comfortably lie down and observe the night sky for long hours. Mosquito repellent and some hot drinks as well as snacks will also keep you stay comfortable.

In 2009, we managed to capture more than 50 meteors from 10p.m. to about 3a.m. before we dozed off as the sky was excellent! Last year, in Gopeng on the 11th we only managed to capture 7. Beside the sky was cloudy, understood that it was also not the peak of the meteor shower yet, which falls on the 13th night / 14th morning. Nevertheless, the sighting is still spectacular and one will never forget the personal experience. Hence, we will continue making this our annual outing event in the calendar.

To note the peak of meteor shower as well as the time frame available for observing, check out the following site. As you can see, almost every month there is meteor shower but the easiest to spot ones are the Geminid and Perseid due to the meteor rate per hour is very high.
http://www.theskyscrapers.org/meteors/

To enquire about joining the local astronomy society, you can reach either :
Tommy Lim at tlkw79@gmail.com (http://www.starfinder.org.my/) or
Su Fen at sufen.cho@gmail.com (http://www.stargazeronlinestore.com/)

YouTube videos on launching water rocket which kids were taught to design and make together with parents during the event: