A Night at the Jordan Astronomical Society Desert Camp
I’m the type of person who likes to make a distinction between being a tourist and being a traveler. In my mind, a tourist is someone who visits a foreign place as an outside observer. A traveler, on the other hand, is someone who visits a foreign place and gets to know it like a local person, so that the place is no longer foreign. I like to think of myself as a traveler. Before I set out on any trip, I think about who I might know at my destination, someone local who can help me get to know...
Raising Awareness Wherever You Are
Sidewalk astronomy. I always love the idea. Simple but it can give a great impact for public. It doesn’t need many arrangement just take your equipment out and set it up in public place. Now.. you can share your idea, knowledge and share a piece of southern skies (well .... I live in southern hemisphere so this is the sky I share with public). I live in Indonesia, an archipelago comprising approximately 17,508 islands. Now.. how you share astronomy and build awareness among public? The simple answer is online media. People in Indonesia can easily engage by social media especially...
A Touch of the Universe
I know you love astronomy, or else you wouldn't be reading this blog. But what is there that can rival with the beauty of the night sky? In my personal opinion, something as wonderful and mesmerizing as that dark tapestry of stars is the smile and glow in the face of a child who has just uncovered a mystery of the cosmos. Have you ever experienced that? It is as if the veil of darkness of the unknown was raised from the child's face, to let the light of knowledge shine through. Now, what is better than one wonderful thing?...
Scoping out the Universe
On a remote site in the outback of Western Australia sits a new telescope, ASKAP, the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder. From a distance the 36 white 12m antennas stand in contrast to the surrounding red earth, low shrubs and sparse vegetation against a stunning clear blue sky. The silence is only disturbed a flock of galahs overhead or a bungara (a local lizard) scuttling along the ground. A panoramic view of the inner dishes of ASKAP. (Image credit: CSIRO) Developed and operated by CSIRO, Australia's government science agency, the telescope was officially opened in late 2012 at the Murchison...
Dream a Little Dream of Space
Have you ever bounced through the powdery gray dust of the Moon or plodded across the rusty red sand of Mars ? Have you ever splashed in the methane lakes of Titan , or skated along the fractured icy crust of Europa ? Have you ever danced in the cold geysers of Enceladus ? Perhaps you’re into more exotic experiences, like trying to fly a kite in the super-fast winds around the Crab Nebula . Maybe you’ve ventured even further, out beyond our own galaxy, to meander through the entangled streams of the colliding Mice Galaxies . I’ve experienced all...
