The Dawn of IYA 2009 in Indonesia – Why the Sun?

…
This is a fine place
Shining face to face
Those bonfire lights in the mirrored sky
The space between wonder and why

Ahh yes to yes to ahh ahh to yes
Why the sun?… why the sun?

Rush – Between Sun & Moon (Counterparts – 1993)

Why the Sun? that question is not simply a lyric from the musician (Rush). The similar question also asked by a reporter during our Dawn of IYA activities in Indonesia on 1st of January 2009. Read here for further story.

The Cosmic Diary

Happy New Year! Welcome to the 2009, the Year of Astronomy. In this year, i also involved in the Cosmic Diary project, so for the next writing i will put most my writing in my Cosmic Diary project, and put the link to this blog. The journey continue!

Then There is a Vision of a Planet on Fomalhaut

It is a wonderful first magnitude star for the southern hemisphere, its name means ‘the mouth of the (southern) fish’, derived from the Arabic, (فم الحوت ); representing a mouth of a fish lying on its back, drinking in the waters pouring from the jars of Aquarius. The lying fish is well known as constellation Piscis Austrinus, and the bright one on its mouth is known as Fomalhaut. Fomalhaut is well noted as one of the brightest star in the southern hemisphere.

Piscis Austrinis - Image from solstation.com

Since the ancient time, Fomalhaut has play cultural significance for many observers around the globe. One well known name is Lonely Star of Autumn, because it is the only first-magnitude star in the autumn sky of mid-northern latitudes. For the Persians, Fomalhaut is one of the four ‘royal stars’, that is ‘The Watcher of the North’. Not just for the ancient, Fomalhaut still play major roles for human endeavor in the sky until the modern time. So, what about now?

Nearly Outside Visual Domain

Sometimes, just boring with all the tediousness, and doing something outside the ordinary. But, doing what? Suddenly, the idea came up, well, let’s take some pictures out of the ordinary? Then i grabbed my camera, put the filter on, take the picture. Because of the filter is in NIR (Near Infra Red), according to the brochure, which is on 7200 Å, added with UV blocker, that would be sufficient to block out the visual domain from our view, and this might be as if we see from the NIR domain. That would be out of ordinary, out of visual domain.

The Intangible Universe

Last week, on Oct, 18th 2008, LAPAN (The Indonesian Institute of Aeronautics & Space) was organizing the festival of space science. With the help of Unawe-Indonesia & Langitselatan community, they catered many activities that related to space science, from just playing many games with the children, learning the basic concept of rocketry & space travel by simulation of water-rocket, quiz competition for junior high-school, and visual-aid creation competition for senior high school.

Indeed it was a fiesta.

APRIM the 10th & IYA 2009, Yours to Discover?

The last APRIM, the 10^th, was held in Kunming, China. Such an exotic land. Consider this picture:

Stone Forest

or this one?

The Graduation on Unawe Indonesia

Unawe Indonesia is like a travelling troupe, always moving from place to place to share the knowledge. Not just the team is always moving, but also the members are always changing, one come, one go. Nevertheless the unity bound all the member into one big family of unawe Indonesia. Like on previous week (19th of July, 2008), it was a happy moment for Unawe Indonesia, one of the gang, Yanti Yulianty had finally graduated from dept. of Astronomy, ITB. Hip hip hurraayyy … Surely there is celebration for the moment, (but for BOROS family only). LoL …

When The Future of Our Planet is Bleak

What will happen to humanity in the future, if the water is no longer available to support life? Gee .. that must be a harrowing projection of our future on earth. But, consider any models from climate expert on the changing climate, every models will agree that the trend of global temperature is increasing.

The Giant Snakes and Ladders of Unawe Indonesia

It is great experience to joint another adventure of Unawe Indonesia. Well, i will not go in to the detail of the Unawe stories, since the story can be read from here. Instead, what is so interesting about this adventure, we always bring joy & fun for the kids, and like this time, there was another innovation came into play, that was … The Giant Snakes and Ladders!! (Of Unawe Indonesia).

Yeap, with such a 25 square-meter board, that should be fun for lot of children to participate in the game. Basically, the game is merely another snakes & ladders, but instead of ordinary snakes & ladders picture, the board is full of astronomical pictures, and the ladder & snakes replaced with the rocket & wormhole. Geee, i am landing on the moon, maybe that’s what a kid thought.

See the pictures below here.

Vatican: The Extraterrestrial Is My Brethren

If for some times believing in alien, extraterrestrial being, ET, is only a discussion in science or even pseudo-science; let’s turn the page! Because here comes a new era, when this topic is welcomed by religion. Vatican astronomer says believing in aliens does not contradict faith in God. Right, so humanity is step into a new era.

But before we move forward, are there really exist extraterrestrial life-forms?