National Astronomy Week 2013
This year’s National Astronomy Week (NAW) falls on 18-24 February 2013. NAW is an annual event in the Philippines that is observed every third week of February under Presidential Proclamation No. 130. The theme of this year’s celebration is “Solar Max 2013: Discovering the Sun’s Awakening Power”.
The Philippine astronomy community is especially active during this period. This year, aside from the exciting activities that are usually prepared by several amateur astronomy groups, PAGASA also launched its first astrophotography contest for Elementary/High School Level (combined level) and College Students.
Below is a list of NAW 2013 activities organized by various Philippine astronomy organizations. (information taken from their own respective websites)
For more information or for other inquiries, kindly leave a comment or visit the online pages of the respective organizations.
Clear skies and happy NAW! 🙂
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PAGASA
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), the agency mandated under Presidential Proclamation No. 130, to spearhead the annual celebration, has prepared the following activities for the whole celebration:
- Free Planetarium Shows
- Stargazing and Telescoping Sessions at PAGASA Observatory
- First Astrophotography Contest for Elementary/High School Level (combined level) and College Students (First-Come, First-Served Basis)
- Free Posters in Astronomy to Visiting Schools at the Planetarium and Astronomical Observatory.
- Free 2 days Mobile Planetarium Shows, Stargazing and Telescoping Sessions in Selected Public Elementary and High School Students in Legazpi City.
- Seminar/Workshop on Basic and Observational Astronomy for Public Science Teachers in Metro Manila.
The free planetarium shows and lecture and telescoping sessions will be eld at the PAGASA Science Garden and Astronomical Observatory, respectively. It will be scheduled on a first-come, first-served basis. Planetarium shows will be conducted from 8:00 AM to 5:00 P.M. daily, while telescoping sessions will start at 7:00 o’clock nightly. Please see Attachment 1 for the mechanics of the 1st Astrophotography Contest.
The Seminar/Workshop for Public Science Teachers of Metro Manila will be conducted at the Main Conference Room, 2nd Floor, PAGASA Central Office Bldg., Science Garden, Agham Road, Diliman Quezon City on 22 February 2013 at 2:30 PM. A stargazing session will follow after the Seminar/Workshop, which will be held at the PAGASA Astronomical Observatory, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City.
Interested parties who would like to visit our astronomical facilities during the celebration may call at telephone number 434-2715 for reservation purposes. Please click the following links for the Mechanics andRegistration Forms.
For further inquiries, please visit their website at http://www.pagasa.dost.gov.ph.
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Astronomical League of the Philippines (ALP)
For more inquiries on ALP NAW activities, please contact NAW Chairman Christopher Louie Lu at (0919) 3057176.
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Philippine Astronomical Society (PAS)
20th National Astronomy Week 2013
Schedule of Activities NAW 2013
NAW special guests:
Arnold Clavio – Guest of Honor – Distinguished UST Alumni, TV GMA Personality
Prof. Edmund Rosales – Project Director, SkyXplore; ABS weather broadcaster
The image below shows the contest event floor plan.
Registration for the different competitions can be done by e-mailing your confirmation together with the list of participants to pasnaw2012@yahoo.com.
PAS NAW CAMPUS TOUR
February 19: Paco Catholic School – “The Universe As We Know It” by Engr. Camilo Dacanay
February 20: Ateneo – “Physics and The Study of the Universe” by Engr. Camilo Dacanay
February 22: FEU-EAC – “Space: Weather Effects and Consequences” ” by Engr. Camilo Dacanay
February 22: International Beacon School – “Stellar Evolution” by Engr. Camilo Dacanay
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UP Astronomical Society (UP AstroSoc)
The University of the Philippines Astronomical Society (UP AstroSoc), together with other Philippine astronomical organizations, celebrates the 20th National Astronomy Week (NAW) on February 16-23, 2013. UP AstroSoc prepared a line-up of activities geared towards the organization’s objective of being able to enhance the awareness, interests, knowledge, and understanding of astronomy among students and the general public. The three main “star”-studded events that would be on February 23, 2013 are Big Bang, Take Off, and the Teachers’ Seminar.
BIG BANG!: The Astronomical Quiz Show
Big Bang is a quiz show that will surely make high school students not just think outside of the box but think outside our world. It aims to showcase their knowledge about astronomy and boost their competitiveness as they battle for victory against students from Central Luzon, CALABARZON, and NCR. Big Bang would definitely create a loud blast this year so join now, if you can handle it. Prizes await for those who can.
TAKE OFF!: A Rocket-Making Competition
Take Off is a competition that will absolutely take you up to the skies. With their creativity and innovativeness, students would make their own rockets using plastic bottles and boost it with pumped air and water. The competitors would soar high as their rockets fly high to reach the gold.
TEACHERS’ SEMINAR: Astronomy Education
UP AstroSoc believes that we should first appreciate before we educate. That is why for this year, not only the students but also the teachers would take part of the National Astronomy Week celebration. The Teachers’ Seminar aims to discuss through our educators what could we gain in promoting and spreading our knowledge of Astronomy to the society, the country, and to all humanity. Some of the basic astronomical concepts would also be discussed during the seminar.
For inquiries, you may contact us at:
BIG BANG!:Liezl Ann Motilla @ 09058052777 / leimotilla@yahoo.com
TAKE OFF!: Kristine Jane Atienza @ 09152397942 / kjsatienza@gmail.com
TEACHERS’ SEMINAR: Ericka Jane Angeles @ 09264254774 / ericka.jane.angeles@gmail.com
For more questions regarding Astronomy and UP AstroSoc, feel free to like us on Facebook (www.facebook/upastrosoc), follow us on Twitter (@upastrosoc), and visit our website (www.askupastrosoc.blogspot.com).
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UPLB Astronomical Society (UPLB AstroSoc)
Visit https://www.facebook.com/uplbastrosoc for more details.
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Stay tuned for updates!
National Astronomy Week 2012 in the Philippines
The National Astronomy Week (NAW), which is celebrated annually every third week of February (Presidential Proclamation No. 130), falls on 20-24 February 2012 this year. The theme of this year celebration is “Viewing the Sky… Enhancing our Knowledge!”.
Lots of fun and educational activities have been prepared by different amateur astronomy groups this year which makes this year’s celebration more exciting.
Below is a list of NAW 2012 activities organized by various Philippine astronomy organizations.
For more information or for other inquiries, kindly leave a comment or visit the online pages of the respective organizations.
Clear skies and happy NAW!
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PAGASA
PAGASA will celebrate the NAW with a week-long activity which will be highlighted by the following:
1. Free Planetarium Show
2. Stargazing and Telescoping Sessions
3. Star Party contest for (8) Public & Private School Science Club Members at the PAGASA
Observatory (First-come, first-serve basis)
4. Distribution of posters in Astronomy to visiting schools at the Planetarium and
Astronomical Observatory, free of charge.
Reservations for the Planetarium will be made at the PAGASA Central Office on a first-come, first-served basis.
Stargazing and telescoping sessions will be from 7:00 to 11:00 pm every night at the Astronomical Observatory, UP Compound, Diliman, Quezon City. The public, especially the students and teachers are invited to the sessions.
2012 Star Party Contest for Highschool Students
In connection with the celebration of the National Astronomy Week on 20-24 February 2012, The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), will conduct a Star Party Contest for the eight (8) Public & Private High Schools (first-come, first-served basis) on 24 February 2012 at 3:00 P.M. until dawn at the PAGASA Astronomical Observatory, U.P. Compound, Diliman, Quezon City.
The contest will be open to high school students, both public and private from Metro Manila. The maximum number of contestants is nine (9) students who should be members of their Science Club and one (1) Science Adviser.
Star Party Contest Rules and Regulation will be given/discussed upon registration of the eight (8) participating schools on 24 February 2012.
Prizes at Stake:
1st Prize: P5,000.00
2nd Prize: P4,000.00
3rd Prize: P3,000.00
5 Consolation Prize: P2,000.00
Certificates of participation will be issued to all contestants.
For further inquiries, please contact Engr. Dario Dela Cruz, Chief, Space Science and Astronomy Section at telephone number 434-2715 or visit our website at http://www.pagasa.dost.gov.ph
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Astronomical League of the Philippines (ALP)
For more inquiries on ALP NAW activities, please contact NAW Chairman / SecretaryChristopher Louie Lu at (0919) 3057176 or ALP President James Kevin Ty at (0917) 8559863 or (0922) 8999ALP (257).
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Philippine Astronomical Society (PAS)
Registration for the different competitions can be done by e-mailing your confirmation together with the list of participants to pasnaw2012@yahoo.com. You may contact PAS President, Ian Allas at 09063165154 or 09391682834.
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UP Astronomical Society (UP AstroSoc)
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UPLB Astronomical Society (UPLB AstroSoc)
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Rizal Technological University (RTU)
National Astronomy Week Celebration in RTU:
Feb. 14: Opening
Feb. 15: Planetarium Show
Feb. 16: Exhibit Day
Feb. 17: Closing
My First Image of our very own Milky Way Galaxy!
Last April, I was invited along with some fellow UP AstroSoc members to join the 2011 Philippine Messier Marathon organized by the Astronomical League of the Philippines (ALP). The event was held on the shore of Lake Caliraya at the Eco Saddle Campsite in Laguna.
It was a really nice opportunity for an amateur astronomer like me to be part of an event like this – a trip away from the light polluted city to observe in perfectly dark skies. However, I found it hard to decide whether or not to join the observation because I was also supposed to attend the General Assembly of Student Councils (GASC) in Davao City. My heart was torn between my obligation and mission as a student leader and my love for the heavens.
Fortunately, the circumstances changed just in time for me to be able to join in the overnight observation.
I would finally see the Milky Way for the first time in all its grandeur.
And I DID! 🙂
My image of the Milky Way Galaxy 🙂 Camera used: Canon EOS 1000D DSLR on a tripod. 90-second exposure at 1600 ISO. Using a powered motor equatorial (tracking) mount of some kind is necessary to compensate for the earth’s rotation when doing long-exposure photography. This is to avoid producing star trails and blurs just like those in the image above.
I was lucky to have with me a borrowed DSLR camera to capture images of the mesmerizing dark skies above Lake Caliraya. From the northern hemisphere, the best views of the Milky Way are in the summer -with the brightest parts in the southern sky.
It was a very cold and windy night by the lake. Dew kept forming on my laptop, and every gust of wind threatened to topple my camera and tripod. Nevertheless, I stayed in the cold to take images. Such is the life of an amateur astronomer but it is always worth the effort. 🙂
Since I cannot take a single picture showing the expanse of the Milky Way, what I did was I took several shots of it and stitched those images together in Photoshop to produce a wide field photo.
Stitching Pictures Together with Photoshop's Photomerge Tool - This panoramic (sort of) view of the Summer Milky Way was created by merging 12 individual shots (all taken at 90 sec. exposure) of the Milky Way (spanning from the northeast to southwest). Click on image to enlarge.
I must admit that I still lack the skill in doing long-exposure photography. It was my first time to do that, haha. Every image that I took was a product of trial-and-error attempts, but thanks to the incredibly dark skies of Caliraya, my fellow orgmate’s useful tips, and the opportunity that God gave me, that I was able to produce my first images of our home galaxy. 🙂
I probably have to practice more on astrophotography and read tutorials to prepare for the next opportunity of taking pictures of the Milky Way. Hopefully, I could have my own DSLR camera (plus some real decent astro equipment) by that time. *I still have to save a lot of money for this.* 😛
Ad astra per aspera!
ISS Solar Transit Observation – Manila, Philippines (Jan. 13, 2011)
Last 13 January 2011, an International Space Station (ISS) Solar Transit event visible in some parts of Metro Manila occurred at around 8:30 am PHT (Philippine Time). The relative rarity of ISS Solar and Lunar Transits here in the Philippines plus the fact that I were fortunate enough to be very near the path of visibility of this transit inspired me a lot not to miss this event.
ISS Solar Transit Visibility Path | obtained from http://www.calsky.com courtesy of Anthony Urbano
Along with my UP AstroSoc orgmates and some fellow amateur astronomers from RTU AstroSoc and from the Philippine Astronomical Society (PAS), we set up our equipment to observe this passage of the ISS in front of the Sun’s disk at the Manila Observatory in Quezon City, Philippines.
Beemi, our "command center", under an umbrella
Setting up our equipment and preparing the Baader solar filters
Our two NERTs -- 6" Newton (black) and 4.5" Datascope (white)
I already have some experience in observing solar eclipses but this was my first time to try timing and capturing a solar transit. Unlike eclipses, ISS transits are more challenging to observe because they happen too fast. To give you an idea of how fast these events occur, here is a video clip which I got from Youtube showing the ISS transiting in front of the Sun’s disk. It was captured by students of the Westfalenkolleg Dortmund on August 7, 2010 at 17:31 pm.
The transit above lasted for 1.06 seconds. The one we were to observe will have a duration of about 0.91 seconds — too swift to be captured using cameras so we opted to record a video of it instead.
Following are the transit details including the timings. The data was obtained by our UP AstroSoc orgmate and team leader, Anthony Urbano from www.calsky.com. All times are in PST (Philippine Standard Time) or UT+8.
Distance from center-line: 1.06km
Path Width: 13.6km maximum
Time of Ingress: 8h30m40.6s
Culmination: 8h30m41.20s
Time of Egress: 8h30m41.6s
Transit Duration: 0.91s
Separation Angle: 0.037°
Position Angle: 121.2°
Satellite at Azimuth: 123.6° ESE at culmination
Satellite at Altitude: 26.4° at culmination
Angular Diameter: 25.6″
Angular Velocity: 35.2’/s
Ground Velocity: 7,457m/s
Size: 73.0m X 44.5m X 27.5mSatellite Distance: 723.6km
In clock-face concept, the space station will appear to move toward: 8:58
And by the way, Anthony Urbano or Kuya Eteny, as we fondly call him, is a gadget master. 😀 He has invented a lot of devices like a universal camera adapter that allows any point-and-shoot camera (and even SLRs) to be attached to any optical system (binoculars, telescope, microscope, etc.). He even brought one of his camera adapters during this observation to attach the video camera to his 6″ Newtonian Reflector Telescope. Moreover, he has also modified some gadgets like DSLRs to be more useful in astronomical observations and astrophotography. This guy is truly remarkable for possessing such great talent! 🙂
video camera and the L-type universal adapter
Our amazing gadget master 🙂
An hour before the ingress, the sky around our location was partly covered in clouds. The sky condition got even worse as the predicted time approached. We waited for several more minutes, just in case the clouds clear up and the actual time of transit is later than predicted. In the end, we didn’t see any trace of the ISS due to thick cloud cover. We packed up and left at around 9:30 am.
Though we were not able to accomplish our goal of recording this transit event, the experience is always worth it. 😀 Thanks to Kuya Eteny for informing us about this event and inviting us to observe with him.
I’m looking forward to more transit and solar observations. 🙂
*Photos by Bea Banzuela
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Update: Another group of fellow Filipino amateur astronomers from the Astronomical League of the Philippines (ALP) were lucky enough to observe and take images of the ISS transiting the Sun. Their observation report and images can be found here.
Journey to the Stars 