Starry, starry night ...

1 Aug 2008

Starry, starry night, I wish I may, I wish I might, be with you to be completely engulfed by the beauty of the heavens tonite.

Almost 60 people in total turned up at SMK Lutong last nite to hear Mr Lim Choon Kiat as he expounded on the heavens at the school\'s hall. Nearly forty students and teachers, MNS Miri members and friends as well as a few students from Curtin University turned up at our astronomy event. We also managed to coax out a few closet astronomers (very star savvy themselves) from our very own Miri community. A few parents who came to pick their charge also managed to get a peek at cluster stars, Jupiter and her moons.

Mr Lim\'s talk and slideshow started at just half past seven and concluded an hour later after having gone thru various astronomy terminologies, frequently asked questions, general information about of galaxy and star systems. The audience was completely awed by slides after slides of the heavens collected by our speaker himself after over twenty year\'s experience dabbling in astro-photography.

After the talk, everyone was eager to get outside and meet the stars.


Mr Lim going over the constellation aided by his powerful torchlight and many years of experience hanging out with the stars.


The die-hard star groupie from Curtin University and boarders at SMK Lutong admiring Jupiter and it\'s moon as they\'re projected from the telescope to the laptop late into the night.

After a late breakfast with Mr Lo Kiun Sin, Sin Chiew\'s reporter in a famous noodle shop in Krokop, our speaker was ready to face audience at another bigger venue.

Through Pustaka Negeri Miri Branch SMART Parnership Program, MNS Miri has been bringing various events through to the greater Miri public via Pustaka\'s excellent facilities. Our "Weekend with the Stars" is the third of such collaboration. Realier 2007, we were involved in Pustaka\'s Knowledge Exhibition. Later the same year "Gerai OA" was hosted at the Pustaka. This year in May, Miri\'s first World Migratory Bird 2008 celebration was feted at the same facility to a full house standing room only crowd.

Mr Lim and MNS Miri were given the honor this time to fill up the the auditorium which has a 240 seating capacity. That we fulfilled with only a few late-comers standing. The Miri public, MNS members, students and teachers from various city schools were awed by a selction of pictures of planets, stars, galaxies and the sun made by Mr Lim himself. The speaker also covered the fundamentals of astronomy for those interested to take it up as a hobby. Later the crowd was taken outside the auditorium into the garden to view the sun (with the appropriate filters of course) through several telescopes  set up for the purpose.

After Pustaka, the team rushed to Bekenu for a quick dinner of fresh river prawns in Bekenu town before convening to our next venue, SMK Bekenu. Our "Weekend with the Stars" was slotted in the middle of the schools motivation camps for students. An apt audience of about seventy people including teachers and parents filled up the hall.

By 2030hrs everyone was eager to see the stars with their own eyes. Being away from town clearly made a difference to stargazing. The atmosphere was completely void of light pollution (almost) and the skies was amazingly cloudless, bright and clear. The their naked eyes the students were pointed to the different stars. We all sat in awe admiring the Milky Way without telescope or binoculars. Jupiter and her moons were very crisp and clear. Students, parents, teachers and siblings of students patiently queued at our telescope stations to get a personal view of the stars.


Ms. Yip, SMK Bekenu counsellor presenting a token of appreciation to our speaker after the 1.5 hrs of astronomy fundamentals and pictures of the skies.

We left the school compound half and hour past midnight. We would\'ve been there longer if it weren\'t for the light drizzle.


The following Sunday evening, our members and the Miri public were feted to a spot of "sidewalk astronomy" near the Petroleum Museum, Canada Hill from 1900-2100 hrs. Those who attended were treated to a smashing view of a sliver of the new moon, Saturn, Jupiter and a fireball which burnt a bright trail through the atmosphere for a few seconds across the skies.

"Weekend with the Stars" has definitely earned it\'s spot as one of the new contender of MNS Miri\'s  most popular events. Schools were eager to bring the talk and stargazing to their own venue. Several school astronomy clubs have already lined up plans to get our folks involved in their yearly program. We\'ve reached a few people apparently ... more than 300 young minds to be exact!


Mr Lim giving the low-down on the sun, our biggest star and "prominence".


Kong, MNS Miri co-opted committee member tasked with our Astronomy Outreach program setting up the big telescope for the public at our sidewalk astronomy session in the parking lot of Petroleum Museum on top of Canada Hill.


Members of the public and our volunteers sighting Jupiter and her 68 moons during the sidewalk astronomy segment.

MNS Miri thanked Mr Lim for agreeing to take up the challenge. Thank you as well to our very own crop of astronomy enthusiasts within our branch, for their hard work and dedication in making this event a success. As a token of appreciation MNS Miri extended Mr Lim a one year family membership to MNS, he should be receiving his Malaysian Naturalist very soon.

More pictures from SMK Lutong Astronomy session.
More pictures from Pustaka Negeri Astronomy session.
More pictures from SMK Bekenu Astronomy session.

Check-out more pictures by Kong Lih-Shan.

NA/MNS Miri, Aug 2008.