As such, I have been invited again to give free public talks in November and December. Big thanks to Toa Payoh Public Library for sponsoring the venue, audio-visual equipment, poster printing and allocating 2 primetime Saturday evenings during the school holidays for these upcoming talks.
Here are the details:
Title: Stargazing in Singapore: Top 10 Celestial Wonders
Date: 17 Nov 2012 Saturday and 8 Dec 2012 Saturday (repeat session)
Time: 7.00pm to 8.30pm
Venue: Toa Payoh Public Library, Programme Zone, Level 1
Admission is FREE. No pre-registration required. First-come-first-seated basis.
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| Photo Credit: Orion Nebula by Mr Kelvin Ng |
Special thanks to my astrophotography friends for granting me permission to use their astrophotos for the poster design and presentation slides. Can't wait to see the audience reaction when these photos are projected on the big screen!
The talk content is about how to identify, observe and appreciate the best 10 celestial sights that is visible in Singapore on a clear night from now till early next year. Though the emphasis is in Singapore, the knowledge acquired can be useful for those travelling overseas for their year-end holiday trips.
Weather permitting, my friends and I may conduct a sidewalk astronomy session outside the library after the talks. This is totally a separate event not affiliated with the National Library.
Jupiter and 4-day old Moon will be visible on 17 Nov as well as the Leonid Meteor Shower. On 8 Dec, a few days after opposition, Jupiter will be visible after sunset and for those staying up overnight, Saturn will be 27 degrees above eastern horizon at about 6am and forming a loose vertical line with Moon, Venus and Mercury. And the south will look interesting again with Omega Cenaturi, Crux and Carina!
Regardless of the sky condition on those days, the knowledge you acquire from these talks may reward you with many fun-fill stargazing nights for the rest of your lives!
So mark your calendars and feel free to join in the fun with your family and friends!
Hi Gary, thank you for showing us the moon and Jupiter last night. I noticed that you will be conducting another session on my birthday (Dec 8). Looking forward to coming. Cheers.
ReplyDeleteHi Paulina. Glad you enjoy the Moon and Jupiter gazing. Hope my talk on December 8 will make your birthday a little bit more special. If we are lucky, we may have a brand new premium telescope deployed for stargazing that night! :)
DeleteHi Gary, I attended your talk on The top 10 Celestial Wonders today and found it very educational. I am very much interested in astrophotography but understand that polar alignment and tracking must be done especially if I want to take long exposures of the celestial objects. Will you be conducting any workshops on how to do polar alignment and tracking or is there any other way that you can help me? I have done some reading on the Internet but don't quite understand certain things. Would appreciate it if you could assist me. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteAlex
Hi Alex. Thanks for attending the talk! I will consider conducting basic astrophotography talks in 2013. Advance astrophotography has a very steep learning curve. Some of these concepts are best seen demonstrated rather than reading from text. YouTube is an excellent tool. Try to search for astrophotography terms in it and watch as many instructional videos on it as possible - e.g. "equatorial mount alignment", "drift alignment" ...etc. In addition, you can post your questions to forums like singastro.org and cloudynights.com and get good advise and best practices from experienced astrophotographers. Another excellent way to learn to bring your telescope setup to singastro public astronomy events and ask the amateur astronomers there to show you how. You can also email me at gary@astro.sg if your have further queries. Good luck!
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