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It's raining meteors, hallelujah!
By Karen Soo • Urbanwire
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Karen Soo joins a group of youths who would rather dance under pulsating lights light years away than the blinking flashes of synthetic bulbs over a dancefloor. This time, they've chosen the biggest meteor shower in the year, when Earth crosses the path of comet Swift-Tuttle, as their canopy…

Ancient Greek mythology tells us of Perseids and Andromeda, a heroic couple given a place in the skies for their love and virtues.

As if having a star named after him wasn't enough, Perseids shows off with the Perseids meteor shower getting stargazers transfixed between the nights of Aug 11 and 13, peaking on the dawn of the 12th.

Trailing the Ngee Ann Astronomy Club to Pulau Ubin on the first night of the meteor shower, I was warned by the club president, Charlie Tan , to be physically prepared. Being the weakling that I am, I packed my bag to the brim, gritted my teeth and braced myself for a sleepless night.

The trip to Chek Jawa
By 1pm, I'd taken a ferry to the Pulau Ubin jetty, squeezed myself like the other sardines in the 8-seater van and trekked a few kilometers to a campers' "suite:" near Chek Jawa, close to the western part of the island. Definitely my idea of fun. All that so I'm faced with the prospect of a seemingly haunted cottage, dark water in a stream and no less than a well that could have been the resting place of that cursed spirit Sadako.

Reaching the little cottage by the sea at about 4pm, the entire group of about 30 members took time off to relax and recharge.

We went around exploring a mangrove swamp, fending off a wild boar and fishing. But at the back of out minds, we were all waiting for nightfall's magic.

Not a stellar meal
Dinner was a wreck. Trying to cook with a measly fire and some canned food was a major turn off. Many like Neil Woo, a first-year Electrical Computing Engineering student from Ngee Ann Polytechnic, simply summed up the food fiasco with a sarcasm-laden "SHIOK!"

No one in their right mind enjoys burnt bread, instant noodles and half-cooked chicken stew, fortunately there's something about cooking outdoors that makes food more yummy.

I spy with my super eye
Looking at our miserable dinner, you'd never have guessed at the expensive toys these people had brought along. The Celestron 8 inch was a telescope made for viewing the skies. And it cost a cool $10,000. This 8-inch telescope magnifies an image by 800 times. Also, there were not 1 but 5 telescopes boasting different magnifications.

If you have one yourself, and ever wanted to know the name of a specific star or a particular constellation visible at any given time, check out the Planet Sphere.

It's showtime…
The bewitching hour began just around midnight when the sky started to clear and the clouds moved off revealing a beautiful picture painted in the sky.

If you are watching the skies for the first time, Charlie advises, "Just lie down, relax and look up into the sky and just enjoy the enchanting night."

the star trail

An enchantment it was indeed, as the constellations of Cancer, Libra and Gemini rose.

Constellations are actually patterns in the skies made up of stars. The Cancer constellation, for example, is made of a few stars that look like a crab when you join the dots as a toddler would. Don't expect to see anything sensible though, unless you have a little imagination.

Lights! Telescope! Action!
The time was 2.30am and I was struggling to keep awake. With red flashlights, budding astro-photographer, a Year 2 Biotechnology student, Daniel Huang was trying to catch a star trail. As I flashed my torch at him, 1st year Mechanical Engineering, student Aaron Loy, jumped in and told me to turn my flash off.

"Use a red film to cover the torch," Aaron said. "Red has the longest wavelength of the spectrum of light and the red lights won't affect our eyes as much as other colours. Because when you use white lights, it 're-sets' our eyes and cause us to be temporarily blind and you can't really see the stars very clearly [then]."

Speaking of a clear view of the stars, Charlie adds that Pulau Ubin is a better place to view the meteor shower as it is not as light-polluted as Singapore. At night, no matter how dark it is here, there will be stray lights, so the stars are not as obvious as they would be at Pulau Ubin.

Where's the meteor shower?
The Perseids meteor shower was not showing its glory at all. But The Astronomical Society of Singapore President Albert Lim witnessed something different, "In Malaysia, the meteor shower was more obvious. It was a very nice experience and the scene was very beautiful. [The] Perseids meteor shower was amazing!"

Tough luck for us, though I managed to catch one shooting star and nothing more. Many people were pointing out more shooting stars, alas! My luck seemed to have run out.

Charlie provided an explanation for the poor showing of the shower.
"Astronomy is a weather-permitting hobby, so you can't blame anything, and besides the peak could be on the final day."

Though there was the lack of an array of shooting stars, the beauty of the stars rising and setting was simple amazing. The experience was exhilarating. People at the jetty were singing camper songs. Those at the cottage were checking out the stars, mingling with one another.

Reflecting on the day's and night's happenings, I felt I learnt a lot. For first timers like me, it was not very tough physically. You just need to be mentally prepared. Now, I'm just enjoying the stars just casting their light on me. It's times like these that you feel one with the cosmos.

What are Meteors?

Meteors are streaks of light that fly through the night sky. They are composed of tiny particles of stone or dust that burn up due to friction with Earth's atmosphere.

When these particles are in space, they are called "meteoroids". Only when they are burning in the atmosphere and we see the light, are they properly called "meteors", though they are commonly referred to as "shooting stars". If the object makes it to the ground without being totally incinerated, that object is then called a "Meteorite".

Meteor Showers occur due to the Earth passing through or near the path of a comet. Comets are made of ice and as the comets melt and sublimate due to the sun's energy, they release thousands of tiny dust particles. As Earth meets these particles, the particles burn up again because of friction with Earth's atmosphere. We see more meteors during a shower because we are passing the comet's orbit, which has far more particles than normal space. Since the Earth passes that same spot in its orbit at the same time each year, meteor showers occur on nearly the same dates every year.
Information derived from www.northern-stars.com

It's raining meteors, hallelujah! >>>
Why call it the Perseids Meteor Shower? >>>
Things to bring for an outing under the stars >>>

Why call it the Perseids Meteor Shower?

According to www.spaceweather.com, although all meteors within a shower fall toward Earth in parallel paths, to the observer it appears that they are all originating from one spot in the sky. The spot that the shower seems to stem from is called the "radiant". The constellation that a given meteor shower's radiant falls within is what the shower is named after. Since the Perseids have their radiant in the constellation of Perseus, they are thus named Perseids Meteor Shower.

To check out pictures taken from different parts of the world, click here.

Comet Swift-Tuttle is the largest object known to make repeated passes near the Earth. It is also one of the oldest known periodic comets with sightings spanning two millennia. Last seen in 1862, its reappearance in 1992 was not spectacular, but the comet did become bright enough to see from many locations with binoculars. The unseen nucleus of Comet Swift-Tuttle is essentially a chunk of dirty ice about 10 kilometers in diameter. Comets usually originate in the Oort cloud in the distant Solar System - well past Pluto, most never venturing into the inner Solar System. When disturbed - perhaps by the gravity of a nearby star - a comet may fall toward the Sun. As a comet approaches the Sun, rocks, ice-chunks, gas, and dust boil away, sometimes creating impressive looking tails. In fact, debris from Comet Swift-Tuttle is responsible for the Perseids meteor shower visible every July and August. Comet Swift-Tuttle is expected to make an impressive pass near the earth in the year 2126, possibly similar to Comet Hyakutake this year or Comet Hale-Bopp next year.

To view a table of the Major Meteor Showers, click here.

It's raining meteors, hallelujah! >>>
What are Meteors? >>>
Things to bring for an outing under the stars >>>

Things to bring for an outing under the stars
(first timers, take note)

1. Binoculars

2. Water

3. Sleeping bag (optional)

4. Groundsheet

5. Food Lots of Food

6. Camera

7. Mosquito Repellent

8. Extra clothes

9. Toiletries

For more information on Astronomy Outings or Observations by Ngee Ann Polytechnic Astronomy Club, please contact Charlie Tan, 9049 5983.

Saturday 31st August 2002, there will be gathering of astronomers enthusiasts from all over Singapore. Organised by the Ngee Ann Polytechnic Astronomy Club. For more information, please contact Charlie Tan, 9049 5983.

It's raining meteors, hallelujah! >>>
What are Meteors? >>>
Why call it the Perseids Meteor Shower? >>>