Mozart wrote this piece based on a French children’s song. The theme sounds like twinkle, twinkle little star. Why the title perhaps? Well, there was an Astronomy convention which was held on the 18th till the 20th July. I had been going to the convention since the time they brought the telescopes to Bumbung Lima, for our Rantau Budaya. It was a community based cultural learning experience week that we do annually and loving it. It’s our way as an ambassador of USM to give back to the public. They showed the village people how wonderful our earth is and how interesting astronomy could be. I myself get fascinated when I see the pictures.
A Telescope donated to us by the TYT
Hehe, The Moon Man from MTV....You don't have to fo to the MTV awards to get the picture of the moon man
Flight simulation
Flight simulation without the people
One of the booth had this Dinosaur Egg. I doubt whether it's genuine. I hope it is.
So, on Friday night after coming back from the DK foyer, where I did my blogging, I saw the crowded people Exam Hall. I was certain that there was something going on so, I stopped by the IK hostel bus stop and walked there. What amazed me was a booth where there is a guy talking about his experience on astronomy. He is a 16 year old student from Chung Ling High School and his passion started when he was eight years old. This is his story.
This is Eugene. When he was eight years old, he saw an eclipse, most probably in his hometown. Since then he was captivated by the moon, stars and space. He began to invest in making his own telescope. The actual cost in this homemade telescope was about almost rm800. A huge amount of money was spent on the lens and only 1/8 is spent on the other parts. Soon he began saving to buy his own telescope. He goes stargazing whenever possible. Places in the city do not guarantee a clear view because our street lights are very bright so it’s difficult to see. Unlike Langkawi, where the pollution is minimal, the naked eye portrays a glorious view of the stars in the sky. Not too long a go he bought his first telescope and that made him very delighted. Now he comes for trips with his own telescope.
Eugene with his telescope.Owning your own telescope and having a hobby of stargazing is not cheep. The telescope has to be dry and the wear and tear depends on how well you keep your telescope dry from the humid Malaysia whether. So a sum of money has to be put aside in order to maintain your hobby to buy calcium chloride (or in our case thirsty hippo) or silica gel beads to maintain it. You also need to be careful of the lens so that it doesn’t slide that might ruin your vision.
Educating more people about astronomy
Next, he advised me that “if you want to start your hobby, always start with the moon. You’ll move on from there.” The moon is big enough to see from the earth so with practice you’ll be able to learn to focus and use your telescope. Then, you can move to stars. He then explains the use of the star chart and how to use it. When looking for the stars, find the lowest magnitude first, because they are easier to locate. From there you then know what star you’re looking at and you can know what the next stars are.
I was talking at the booth for like over an hour. I was so interested that I wanted to ask my dad for a telescope as a birthday present. “Dad….can I get a telescope? Please?” “I’ll take care of it…..I promise.” It’s really interesting to navigate and like Lara Croft, lying at night looking at the stars. How I wonder what you are….I don’t want to wonder. We now have the ability to see….
Anyway, Friday night ended and I soon retired to my room and went to the rehearsal the next day. I planned that after the rehearsal, I shall go and pray and head to the convention again that night. And I did. This night there was a talk on the planets, well it was the same as last time but I kinda like the talk because the presenter Sam, used special software that enables us to view the planets at real time. Cool right? So it’s good to get refreshed on the planet studies.
Mr Sam James if I heard It right. Some students said that he's a real astronaut and that he has been to ISS a few times....wow!
Red hot ball
The sun under UV lens
The sun under x-ray vision
Everything combined
After the talk I wanted to retire back because tomorrow is heck of a long day because we’ll be practicing with the anak-anak kota and the adult dancers and Janet will be providing extra support to boost our performance. On the way out I met Jo, my class mate at The Alliance Française. We studied French together after completing my form five exams. Apparently I had to stop to go to matriculation and she stayed back to continue because she’ll be going to six form. Lucky you. Matriculation for me is terribly boring. Not much entertainment and all the students are biology students, physics or accounting. Not much varied like in USM, that’s for sure. The teacher’s rocks though. I just hate the environment, it so uninspiring.
Jo and me,
So we began chatting and catching up with time and retired to my room at almost midnight. I miss you Jo, I wanna continue French, but can I have my telescope 1st please dad please????
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