2002 Apr 20 - Caught IR#7 's -8 magnitude just outside my window at 6:44 am. Sky is getting bright. For this flare it only took me less than 30 second to response (from sleep) to my casio's alarm. I slept at 5:40am after trying to do a trial -run on Lyrids. Sky was hazy but the 'Summer Triangle' Lyra-Aquila-Cygnus was pretty high up in the sky. Scorpion and the Tea-cup were out in full splendour. Early joggers were threading the pavement. No fireballs or bright meteors were seen. Will repeat Sunday AM hours.[ Peak time is Monday Apr 22 UT 10/14( SGP 6/10pm) - wrong time for us here]. Didn't hv energy left to look for Comet I-Z in neighbourhood high floor block. ( As it turned out Apr 21 was clouded over). No significant reports were filed on Lyrids from around the world. I didn't missed much then

2002 Apr 13 - A minus 8 magnitude iridium flare was schedulled in the 7:25:25? early evening. Despite a thin haze, both Jupiter and Venus were visible. Minutes before the flare, a high altitude jet dragged a visible contrail. I fixed my gazed on elev 45 and 8 degree before North with a just acquired $2.80 compass. It was the size of a '5-cent coin'. Shortly the casio wristwatch alarmed went off and I counted the chime. The flare were on time and appeared close to my guesstimate spot in the sky. Exploring my neighbourhood - looking for nearby high-floor with unobstructed NE horizon. Found two. Meanwhile I will try to attempt viewing a self-illuminated object shortly after mid-nite...If successful I will elaborate further..[ 4/13 -Dammed ! They didn't switch on the cargo bay's light! ]

2002 Apr 10 - The first to appear in the evening western horizon was Venus. Tonight was one of the rare clear night. Knowing the relately high number of sporadic I decided to try my luck with meteor video watching planting my FOV at Vela. Two 'text-book' type meteors appeared slightly off centre of the watec-902H and 25mm f/0.90 set up. Both were slow. After seeing the second candidate I quickly wired up the recording video walk man. For the next 1 hour two swift meteors were caught. Clouds came shortly after midnight and I retired to bed.

2002 Apr 07 - After downloading the latest TLEs , I fired up SatSpy and found numerous pass of USA 160 s and at least one good pass of EGP. Lets see how the weather hold up..

2002 Apr 06 - AS IF sensing my eagerness to see meteors : a fast (>10 degree length), mag +1 yellow meteor appeared just less than minutes after I started to gaze out my window twelve storey up. I was looking at the area bounded by the relatively bright stars of Centauri - Crux area. Earlier on I trained the narrower view 25mm f/0.9 lens towards similar area but caught nothing. Aborted my earlier attempt to watch a mag -8 iridium 7:59pm due to clouds.

2002 March 12 - A Double iridium flares for me this evening. One minute before flare time I walked towards the centre of the field , moving away from the illuminated paths. With only AZ and ELEV and no compass I nearly missed the first Iridium 28 ( minus 8) and some 40 seconds using the former as place marker nailed the equally impressive Iridium 92(at mag -4).

2002 March 11 - I thought I won't make it to view HST tonite. AFter fixing the location ( below Canis Major) HST appeared in FOV as predicted 20:39: 20++is much brighter ( mag 2+) and look kind of strange yellow ( a little green) to me. Not sure this is the true color as a result of the replaced solar panels. Will check again in other locations next time.(++ after the 20s chime)

2002 March 10 - I switched off the MTVand allowed myself some minutes to adapt to the hazy sky through the window. Tonight I expected two friends - Hubble and STS. At 20:20 pm I spotted with x1 power - STS-109 Space Shuttle coming horizontally at elevation of ~20. It sailed below "False Cross". It was on time. Fifteen minutes later the newly serviced Hubble ST arrived but on a higher elevation parallel track. Due to the dimmer magnitude(mag +5) I followed the later in 10x50 binocular, picking it up in the same FOV I expected it to pass close to the foot of the 'horizontal' cross until it entered Earth Shadow and disappeared. Hubble was a tiny dot that 'hurried' by. It appeared white. No flashes and no detectable hue or color changes.( I thought the new solar panel now was kapton wrapped)

2002 March 04 - "Contrail" at night any one? Apart from a drifting sat and two high atitude jets - each with its blinking lights and 4 degree dual-contrails visible in watec902H.

2002 March 03 - Sky was better tonite LM improve over last nite and was approaching +8.5 in watec system. No meteors were seen in a 1/2 hour vigil. Looking out from the window I gazed towards the false cross. Just minutes later spotted a tailless meteor 'descended' obliquely towards the horizon. It reminded me a earth-grazer but this one first appeared 40 degree. mag was +1. The interesting part is the meteor maintain its brightness ( tail probably not visible in the hazy background and lasted a good 1-2 seconds transversing 20-30 degree in length. The non-linear or slight wave-line trajectory was evident.

2002 March 02 - A month had goneby without too much serious visual astro-work. Close to 10:30pm I pointed the watec902H and avenir 25mm out of the sky. Normally I will not engage in meteor searching in such sky. (so no recording was done) The LM of the system was slightly deeper than +6.0. I tried any way - one hour later two meteors were detected in the high resolution b/w monitor- not too bad. In the star- studded fields of Vela. In the 20 x 16 degree FOV, the two were 3 and 7 degree long. Both were slow. The later had multiple nodules of outburst and a partial track disappearing/reappearing ( near NGC 2451). Got familar of the new star fields - a mini- Cygnus 3-4 degree length ( cross-like ) not far from Vela Snr.

2002 Jan 28 Monday - Iridium #65 did a similar pass (19:53:xx) tonite below Saturn/Adebaran. I decided to do just visual. The sky was still bright and slowly as the minutes crept by stars beginning to re-appear. I notice the three stars of the Pegasus Square in the North. Struggling in the bright western sky was Arcturus. It was a nice sight to see IR 65 slowly brighten and temporary formed a triangle with the two. The negative 1 magnitude was white Tonite the pass is a little earlier. Despite the numerous passes I had seen so far, this one still give me the goose-pimple (excitement)

2002 Jan 27 Sunday (yellowish Iridium flare and ISS) - Knowing Iridium # 62 is going to flare to minus 5.8 below Saturn/Aldebaran pair (before 8.00pm), I brought my avenir lens and watec 902H to a nearby field. The sky was pretty clear, moon was up in the east. The flare was on time and visibled in the LCD but I did not record it all for a good cause. Just minutes before the flare, a boy on bike stopped and came over for a look. His sis soon followed. They stayed on the units overlooking the field. I took the opportunity to point out to them the signpost constellation - Orion , Jupiter and Saturn. And came the universal query - " how do you know that is Jupiter and did you study these things? " WE waited and the boy check his illuminated time-piece ( his timing was 1 minute too fast) and watched the satellite slowly brighten a short distance 'below' Aldebaran ( Bull's eye). The next time I will make sure the red recording 'circle' is visible on LCD before I took my eye off the LCD. [ p/s before reaching the field low in the NE ele 30-45 a slow moving 'object' was moving from NW making a loop towards NE - just checked it was ISS!)

Dec 24 '01 - Alarm clock rang at a quarter past four. I went out to the window and check my southern sky. A short yellow meteor flashed through thin clouds. Crux is rising in the South. Despite a few clouds hanging around the sky looks promising. I powered the watec with 25mm f0.90 lens and attempted meteor recording. LM is better than 9 - within a short span ( 10 minutes) two meteors were recorded but the clouds worsen and I got back to sleep.

Dec 23 01' - Comet 2000/WM1(5th sighting) near beta Grus dimmed to an uninteresting smudge- a surprise very bright meteor sliced through my monitor. the brightest seen so far. . So long WM1..

Dec 19 01' - Comet 2000/WM1 easy target in Watec-902H ( 10:00pm). Just a day the comet had moved ~2 degree south. Moon interference is expected over the next few days. Waiting for a chance to have a closer look through C8 and watec-902H. Nothing unusal tonite at the Park. Sky condition slightly worse than last nite.

Dec18 01' - Better sky tonite. ~9:15pm Located Comet 2000/WM1 (3rd sighting so far) was found in Grus using the familiar double-double - mu1,mu2 and delta1 delta2 as locator and move horizontally eastward with Skymap pro from pc monitor). While I was watching it on B/W Monitor, a slow meteor appeared in the middle of the screen, slicing through my familiar asterism and going towards the comet! The terminal burst / debris was clearly seen - what a view in 75mm watec 902H. ( from Eridanus?) LM tonite is +9.0. A few sats were seen - including a short period flasher/ tumbler slowly. a high flying bird was seen flapping its wing frantically. [ just for the record, bought a 60 GB avi 7,200 Maxtor fireware harddisk for the video stuff yesterday]

Dec15/16- No Gems seen in 1/2 check-it-out visual. One thin red meteor appeared and thats all about it.

Dec 14/15 - Survive Friday busy workload - it was a looong day indeed. I was dead tired when I left office at 8:00pm. It had rained earlier! Again checked out the sky at least three time downstairs - the last one being near midnight. Clouds came and give me an excuse to stay at home to do my work. I told myself if the sky was exceptional clear I will dragged myself there to video taped the sky. Earlier brief videotapes review on the avenir lens - indicated only three geminds were seen. The low captured rate is due to the small , about 1/2 Orion size FOV but the s/N ratio was good on this narrower but deeper LM lens. The auto iris -lens captured too much ambient light pollution ( also reflection from clouds)- reviewed of the tape indicate it captured all my visual sightings. - A workable set up for the automatic fireball patrol unit.

Dec13/Dec 14(Friday) 01 - Geminids arrived in Singapore Sky. Decided to catch the pre-peak ( peak at S'pore noon time) level I went downstair at 10:30 pm to check out the sky. The Sky looked promising. Two sporadics fireballs were seen during my 'walk-about' and I ended up lying on the park bench close to mid night ( the same one i used for my full-moon leonids 2000). Time gone by and I patiently waited for the lights to be switched off ( so did the young couple in the other side of the field. I think). The park lights were off after a seemingly long delay at ten minutes passed the hour. Almost instantly I felt I had gained additional 0.5 mag ( to LM 3.5-4.0)- improving my threshold of detectability. Minutes later my first Geminid shot out from Castor/Pollux heading towards Procyon. Then without warning a flurry of dim Geminids appeared mid way on the Pollux branch of the Twin. I counted one-twO-thrEE-fOUR(doublets pair) - in less than 1 minute apart. I was debating myself whether to rush home (to get the recording gear) and risk the brief outburst or viewed the outburst and risked possibility of recording these. When the FIFTH slow short length ball-headed white fireball appeared close to Castor. I bolted and raced home, passing the now 'engaging' couple - I felt like alerting them to the 'better' visual treats 'up there' but decided not to interrupt their physical activity. I returned to the field some 10-15 minutes later. The couple was gone. I wasted no time in setting up the two cameras etc I went back to the bench nearby and started my visual patrol (0:56AM) trying to do voice recording and activating the talking clock whenever I saw a meteor flashed by. It was HOME ALONE IV - only me and the sky in the foot-ball size Mandai Tekong park. My FOV were centred on the Orion with the visual perimeters marked by Capella- Saturn/Aldebaran- Castor-Pollux - Orion - Sirius -Procyon. A total of 13 meteors ( x2 SPOs) were collected in the less than 1-hr long recording. Clouds started to drift in around 2:00am. There was no meteor activity from 1:30-2:00( the first half of the 1-2 am account for 10/12 meteors seen in that hour). The two cameras and recorders had worked flawlessly. I checked the lens for dew by shining a red led on it. Slight dew was just beginning to form ( I had my Kendrick too). If not for the lull and poorer sky I would have stayed and brought out the kendrick and probably took the first half of Friday off. I packed and left at 02:02. Overall it was a GOOD show. Most of the GEMS were white to slight yellow and relately close to radiant. ( unlike Leonids where you can find it all over the sky). Only one Gemind left a wake at 0132am and a surprised bright fireball at 01:44. Severals were not too far from Jupiter. ( most lie less than 2x -Jupiter-Pollux radius ) Slept for less than four hours and gone for work. ( grueling day). A one-hour (or 40 mins) average of 12 Geminids in a casual watch bettered my 'guesstimate' 6 per hour using Gem reports from others. IF YOU HV MISSED THE LEONIDS DUE TO POOR WEATHER - HERE IS YOUR 2nd , third chance to redeemed your METEORS COUPON this Dec 15/16 or 16/17 - post script - dec 16 am sky was OK but no gems seen in 1/2 hr look.-12/16. *May be keep your 'coupon' for next year.

Dec12 01 - " Double 12 today" - Went downstair to check the eastern sky. Have a casual look - nothing unusual - sky is still hazy but still manage to make out the 'y' branch of the Perseus. Pleaides appear hazy perhaps one or two stars visible, faint outline of the inverted 'V' shaped Hyades were seen. Orion start to break free from the horizon and Jupiter is the brightest 'object' in the eastern sky. Looking through the wire mesh of the school fence - beads of water drops sparkled brightly -adding artifical stars to the sky. It was 10:30 pm when I decided to try Comet WM1 again. With skymap pro on the 17" monitor and video images from the other 15" monitor( watec-902H point out the window) I matched the star fields and soon was looking at the comet sitting in Blanco 1 - open star cluster in Sculptor. Hazy clouds spoil the view but it was there nonetheless. Fight to stay away a little while. Minutes later ( as if a consolation) a red long tail mag -1 Taurids-like fire ball zipped across the low southern horizon .. contented I go back to sleep.

Dec 08 01- UT 14:53 *FINALLY - I got my first view of this much talk about comet - Linear 2000/WM1 - after a 'false start' I thought I had it in 7x50s. I tried to image it in Watec-902H with a 50mm lens but the sky had deteriorated and I detected nothing. Sky was bad with only principal stars of Great Sq , Aries, alpha Piscs and the ever-presence Mars visible. Orion rising in the east - 'dagger' star NOT visible. Back at home I was surprised to find beta Ceti visible just outside my window. I rechecked with 7x50s nothing, fired up Skymap Pro - re-acquire field - looked again nothing. Now getting familiar with the background star ( mag 6+) I switched to a larger aperture bino 10x70* and found the 'nebulous' patch next to two mag 6.4 and 6.7 stars. Rechecked - still there, changed watec-902H with a 75mm lens and the unmistaken nebulous patch was there. I then recorded on Hi-8 Digital using my video walkman moving field slightly so that I had postive record of it. This Linear was dim and unimpressive in our sky. ( it was reported spotting a 3-4 degree tail in binos elsewhere). Two Linear Comets in 2001 all seen in Singapore - not bad! Earlier in the evening - met my old friend - 'weather balloon' shinning like a bright star in the sky. One day I will try to detect the instruments dangling below it. [* first light using this 2nd hand Nikon 10x70 bino picked up in Funan]

Dec 06 01 - Thursday- Near mid-nite I took a walk in the neighbourhood. Orion was over head, Saturn and Aldebaran made a distinct pair, upsetting the usual pattern of constellation. Jupiter had been sitting in Gemini for quite a while. Sirius twinkled wildly - sign of very unstable sky. Most of the sky was cloud coverd thwarting my attempts to try Comet 2000/WM1. Since my return from Korea Nov 23 - I recalled only two clear morning AM sky. We had a long spell of bad weather. If you happen to read this my new paid web site is www.ykchia.com with my Korea travel report posted there.

Nov 04 01 - Sunday - A handful of stars were visible outside my viewing window. I switched on the b/w monitor and with the 50mm lens started my wanderings among the stars. Despite the thin clouds LM of the system is tonight ~ +8.5. My latest acquaintance was a tight group of bright stars in Reticulum. Just last nite a medium speed dim meteor plunged towards celestial south pole near the constellation. Nothing unusual was seen tonight except a few birds creating illusion of a tail-less meteors. Then I stumbled across a bright non-stellar object. I retracted my steps and starting all over from the now familar alpha Ret and soon traced my way using Sky Atlass 2000. I then passed the 'c' shaped Horologium and reached a loped sided 'V' shaped stars of Tucana. Moving further down my suspicion is confirmed it was 47 Tucanae in the SMC. Curiously to figure out how far south I could reach I continued and soon reach three stars - gamma 1,2,3 of Octans with declination of MINUS 83 degree. ( just 7 degree away from the pole).

Nov 03 01 - Sky had been bad for a long stretch of days ( or past weeks!). Forecast was for more rains in the next two weeks! Around 10:00pm l took a stroll in the nearby park. Sky was hazy but manage to locate the Square of Pegasus & Aries nearby. The cloud-free patch was centre on Grux. On my way home 10:45pm? I spotted Saturn and Aldebaran flanking on either side of the Moon. Then a high- latitude jet came by - it flew between the duo lunar Guardians and missed the moon leaving a visible night contrail. Meanwhile the neighbour void deck was teeming with activities as a Malay Wedding preparation was in progress. To day is General Election Day.

Oct 20 01 Its Sunday AM the sky was unusually clear. Shielding the park light with my hand and face- up from a park bench I was looking directly into Orion's. I could see Auriga's trio : eta-zeta-epsilon near Capella- LM was +3.5(?). I could discern inverted 'V' of Taurus. Meanwhile three-four individual stars were resoluted in Pleaides. Jupiter reigned brightly, sitting on mid-centre of Pollux's branch of Gemini. No fireball nor meteors were seen in the one hour vigil, perhaps testiment to Orionids of dimmer meteors and my inadequate LM cut off.. In the east rise the familiar 'Sickle' of Leo - a reminder of my next month the Great Meteor Chase expedition in the East Asia. I went home, and trained one video system at the Canis Major. Nothing unusal was spotted except a few birds and one satellite. I returned to the park with a watec-902H, by then clouds (again) thickened and dawn began. The minature lens dewed up almost immediately. Bubbles or droplets of dew was seen when I shone a LED at it. On my way home ( to zZZZZ) spotted the brightest object in the morning sky - Venus.

19/20 01 Orionids peak Oct 21 but decided to do some viewing earlier. Sky was hazy - standing in the nearby park Icould make out first the Square of Pegasus and 'the handle' from Andromeda - making a giant version of big Dipper ( Ursa Major) over head and in the east was Aries ( 3rd star not visible), a hazy patch lower was Pleiades. In the north was Cassiopeia -'inverted E-shaped'. Looking lower were two bright stars forming another unfamilar asterism - Aldebaran (lower) and Saturn. Surprisingly the parks lighting were not switched off after mid-night. Then I spotted in the SW low in the horizon ( ~20 degree Elevation) a bright yellow meteor heading South with a parallel to horizon trajectory. It lasted for more than 1 second ( consider a slow meteor, with a visible trial of ~ 10+ degree). It reminded me of Iridium flares of -2 or -3 magnitude. The head of the meteor was glowing through the thin clouds. I glanced at my LCD watch with help of the nearby park light - 0:02 AM Oct 20. Clouds gathered and soon I left the scene leaving the 'engaging' couples continue into the night.

Oct 13 01 Iridium 47 -7 mag flare Early evening sky look promising - a large patch of blue in the western horizon. SW does not look too good. I hurried home from Jurong. A -7 mag iridium flare was scheduled to be visible at my home. 19:50 -downloaded the latest TLE 19: 53 tripod with watec-902H and a 14mm lens ready with Hi-8 recorder 19:57 - recal my watch - running 8 seconds too fast 20:02 field acquired ( flare location not far from the familar alpha/beta Grux). Rechecked RA/DEC 20:04 my wrist alarm went off and counting down the chime ( 20 seconds long), at 10 seconds I pressed the recorder button. After checking the 'target' was in LCD I look out and saw Iridium 47 flare (20:04:26) through thin clouds, it dimmed rapidly and I followed it in the LCD view finder for a while. Meanwhile Starshine suppose to have a high pass early before 5 AM lets see. [ watec-902H & lens12mm f1.4 - LM of system is +4.5? FOV ~20 d x15d]

Sep 25 01 Apollo 15 Landing Site (Tuesday pm) May be too much moon gazing over the weekends in Sentosa's STRANGE booth I set out to look for Hadley Rille tonight - the Landing site for Apollo 15 thirty years ago! I began looking around the terminator edge (C8 with x87) I can see the familiar Alphine valley and a half of the 'darken' rilles system of Triesnecker/Hyginus basking in the sun light. Using Archimedes (Fig lower corner right) and the nearby cracter Autolycus I 'lunar hopped' onto the little bay of Hadley Mons- (Fig mid upper right) jutting from the main backbone of Apennine Mountains. While my C8 couldn't resolve the Hadley Rille I had fun time scouting the surrounding areas. It was amazing NASA choose this site - it looked 'dangerously' close to nearby mountain. A unnamed little crater near the Hadley Rille was visible - a speck in my video image still ( the Rille itself was not resolved). Just for the record on Monday I spotted a bright star near the darked limb of the moon. I didn't pay much attention and some 20 minutes later it was gone. ( occulted?)

Sep 18 Another MINUS 7 flare@ 8:13:43pm. What a magnificient bright yellow flare from IR 62 outshining anything in the sky. The flare location was conveniently placed just outside of my window!

Sept 04 01 Checked HA and found a minus 7 flare was predicted tonight. I Re-calibrated my watch. It was running three seconds too fast. Then I ran iridflar to get the flare RA/DEC to know exactly where the flare will be. Early in the evening caught my familiar sighting - ' weather balloon' in the same general direction ( Elevation 70 degree, west). A break in the hazy sky allowed it to shine to mag -2 or -3 before it dimmed quickly to below visibility. ( as it was overtaken by the fast approaching earth's shadow). When 8:00pm approaching I walked towards the nearest park to view Iridium 42 flare. Sky was cloudy but the three stars of the Summer Triangle were visible. I located Draco's head and waited for the flare to happen. Soon my wrist watch alarm went off and IR 42 put out a yellowish flare on time. I quickly called out to an approaching young couple to look up ( as the flare was in progress). My gesturing at least caught the guy's attention and he managed to have a glimpse of it. I left the field after a brief explanation of what it was.
Iridium Coordinates Range Sat Solar Flare Peak Std Maximum Flare Bearing

Ir# S Date Local Time Azm El RA Decl (km) N Ill Azm Elev M Angle Mag Mag Mag Latitude Longitude (km)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
42 2001- 9- 4 20:10:11.0 011 42 18h51 48.3 1096.8 A Lit 278 -15.7 L 3.24 1.8 -7.8 1.4 0.5679 103.8184
42 2001- 9- 4 20:10:26.7 010 38 18h52 52.7 1175.4 A Lit 278 -15.8 L 0.25 -6.2 -7.6 -6.9 1.4564 103.8460 4.8 E
42 2001- 9- 4 20:10:44.0 009 34 18h53 56.9 1267.4 A Lit 278 -15.9 L 3.01 1.9 -7.4 1.1 2.4361 103.8773

Sept 02/03. Not exactly visual report but for the record finally I put together a working ALL SKY CAMERA constructed out of a hallway convex mirror, a wooden choping board, 1/4" threaded rods and camera support platform ( with camera through the hole in the middle looking down) cannibalised from a cheap book-shelf I took a few day-time fotos indoors and outdoors. The fotos turned out to be decent. Could tell the difference between focusing at centre of the mirror vs the recommended 1/3 way from the edge. From developed fotos - computed the 'area of obstruction' - turned out to be only around 1 %.( excluding the four support rod). Initial testing - load test indicate it can carry more than x5 times normal camera weight but failed the 'wind blast ' test - standing fan blowing at top speed - the structure was swagging in the wind. Some within-mirror hazing was noticed in bright light. ( a hub cap should be better) - the T-70 remote cable release is handy tool.

Aug13 01 [Aug 12 01 UT18:00-20:00]- Perseids in Singapore 02-04:00 am. Summary: Long trail greenish yellow Pers 4+2: Others 2+2, light dew, Sky LM 3.0. Did some homework on Weather Satellite Image- and notice there is a warm front from Australia - pushing the 'raining-zone' of the SE Asia a bit further North - It means I will have rain-free night! Woke up at 2:14 and dragged myself ( lack of sleep the night before) to the nearby park. Too tired to bring /set up any recording device. Moon was already up but was subdued by the thin layer of clouds and looked less menancing than the Aug 12 at Desaru. LM at best was 3+. Knowing the Perseids always surprised with bright fire balls and earth gazers and negative magnitude members are of significant percentage of the population, I decided to adopt a wait-and- see-how approach. I was thinking : if the sky were showered with fireballs then I will run back and brought my video gears. Looking up at Zenith was the square of Pegasus , I spotted Aries in the North East ( third star gamma Ari mag 3.88 not visible) and the '3'shaped Cassiopeia in the North. Perseus was partially obscured by the housing blocks facing the field. Nothing happened tilled around 03:00 am. Aug 11/12 UT: 19:00 ( I changed my strategy, instead of siting up I lie down on the park bench) a yellowish-green -3 Perseids 40+ degree length shot way beyond the Square heading SW, leaving behind a visible wake. Wow! and who say you need to watch 45 degrees on each side of the radiant. Then another similiar long trail Pers ended with a terminal burst that exceeded a good -7 mag or -8 iridium flare. I was totally overwhelmed by this and yet another one happened again. All three were within 15 minutues of each others and they are on the other side of the horizon. With the meteor trails still fresh in my memory I could visualise the three trails with obvious converging lines. ( to Perseus on the other side of the horizon). Then a slow yellow meteor mag -2, length 15 degree, with a fan-shaped luminous tail ended its flight just before the Fomalhaut( alpha Pisc Aus) with track paralleled to the diagonal stars of Pegasus. Not bad I had four negative magnitude meteors! Then came a long period of nothing. The park light returned at 4:00am. Before I left I was looking at the Airies and a Pers ended slightly below the moon. I walked to another favorite spot of mine near the school. I could see the whole 'Y' shaped Pers and shortly another Persids flashed throught the 'netting' of a tall fense. In the East were Saturn and Aldebaran - Moon and Pleaides ( faintly visible).

Aug 12 01 - Desaru, East Coast of Johore. LM ~ 4.0+ Hazy, patchy sky. While Carol was struggling with the apparently 'software bug-ridden' NextStar 80mm telling us the Mars had not risen and Sirius was visible ( before mid-night ) despite our accurate GPS - positions input. I took time to orientate myself with the stars above. Found out this took me longer than usual to recognise the Summer Triangle through the scattered clouds. Didn't bring my compas and the too many stars through the holes in the cloud disorientate me. In the SW was Mars with the majestic Scorpion . A peep through a 10x45 Leica binoculars revealed star-studded background in and around Vega. But my objective was not DSO - but the Perseids. Shortly after 2:00am both of us were lying on the sandy beach of Desaru much to the amusement of others. ( we had torched light turn on us and people walking by to check what we were doing). To avoid the moon and the low horizontal clouds we had no choice but centred our FOV at the Square of Pegasus - nearly at Zenith. The first Pers was an afterimage after Carol spotted it first. The 2nd one came - a whitish short track very close to beta and eta Peg (corner of the Sq). The hight lite of the night was a negative long trail( 30-40d?) pinkish-red Pers around 03:35am . Thanks to Carol's quick action - I manage to turn around in time and watched the major portion of it. A group of girls nearby let out shouts, apparently was trying to find out what were we looking at. Other meteors included a thin but bright meteor ,and another circular, ball-like white meteor ( end portioned was blocked by the nearby coconut palm. Due to the low meteors count we decided not to wake up Allen. The walkie-talkie lights blinked in Carol's bag. Close to 4:00am, the clouds started rolling in from the SE towards NW. The dew was heavy, the NexStar 80 was covered with sheets of water. The decision on Aug 13 morning was to turn back without spending another night. Just one day stay in the neighbouring county and I had witnessed some interesting events : a driver sat on a on-towed smashed up car, blue belly king fisher on over head high tension wire, a black cobra raising its head along the high way, monkeys on trees, a hotel with ' ROSAK-TAK SUJUT 02/02/01' written on a fridge literally meaning ' [fridge] not working- could not get cold', bath room w/o hot water - the fuse for heater is not there. But it was a quiet uncrowded place. No mosquitoes, sand flies. The seashore offer unobstruced view of the NE to SE - perfect for Perseids ( minus the moon and the clouds and the glaring non-standard front porch florescence lightings) and .. bring your own Instand Noodles.. towels..I left for home ( two hours drive away ) without firing a single shot of film or video recording.

Aug09 01 - National Day. Sticking my Watec-902H coupled with 8mm Pehleng fish-eye, the NDP in the distant SE corner of the Island was visible in the FoV. The laser light and the fireworks bursts created faint but visible glow. Sky was cloudy again. Looks like this year I am going to miss my Perseids.

Aug 07 01- A long stretch of unsettled weather prevent me from testing the new Russian 150 f/2.8 lens. Quick look at very bright Venus (on the right)and Jupiter pair this morning on my way to work before the cloud closed in.

July 30 01 - Early morning saw the very bright Venus closer to Jupiter. Meanwhile the duo unchanging pair still stay put - Saturn and Aldebaran.

July 29 01 ISS tonight & Early hours 3:00am-4:00am. Woke up before the alarm setting of 3:15am.. Gone down to the nearby park and to check out the sky. Many of park benches were 'occupied' by overnight-staying couples seeking some privacy of their own under the dark sky? So I had to resort to sky-gazing standing. The square of Peg was directly overhead. In the west was signpost - Summer Traingle with 'Northen Cross' - Cygnus pointing towards the '3'-shaped Cassiopeia. In the south was another triangle Fomalhaut (alpha PiscAus) - alpha - beta Grus. Using averted vision I managed to confirm the Aries by spotting the confirmation star - gamma Aries. ( mag +3.88) and had no problem detecting the the dimmer flanking stars of Altair - beta ( mag +3.7) with direct vision. So fire ball and meteor +1 or brighter should be visible to me ( rate may be ~1 per hour). Just before 3:30am one of the park bench was vacanted . Seated I rested my gaze around the square and Aries using my back of my hand to block the corridor illumination from facing blocks. One faint meteor was seen and from WRONG direction. In the east Saturn and Aldebaran had risen. Even without optical aid you could tell which is the star or planet. The one on the left is the star - it 'blinked' (Aldebaran - mag ~1.0). By 3:80 the park light flickered on ( can't they turn this on an hour later ) and I decided to call it quit. Lately the weather was bad - and the ever brightening lunar phases prevent me from trying to locate WZ SGE- the recently discovered 'recurrent novae' which had exhibit rapid magnitude oscillation. PM - Finally manage to view ISS emerged from clouds and flew below the stings of Scorpion. What a pretty sight - with Moon, Mars and Antares nearby. A minute earlier I was trying to catch her under the alpha Centauri but the thin cloud prevented me from framing her at f/3,3 C8. The slow drift tonight made her a good telescopic target. 10:00 pm I decided to check out for any fireball and my wished was granted!!! Less than 10 minutes into looking at the Summer Triangle - a green fireball ( mag -2 or -3) flickered on and off between Lyrae and Deneb with seemed to originated from Aquila. Speed was slower than Lenoids. WOW! someone up there wanted to fulfil my earlier day wish. Thanks. Knowing a repeat would be next to impossible butl I headed home and returned with my video gear. Nothing was recorded or seen. Instead I watch my Digital 8 video walkman goubling up tapes in neckbreaking speed.

July 24 Tuesday. Feeling a little bit off color today. Morning sky appeared to be better than expected. Saw the return of Orion. The Saturn - Aldebaran pair remained did not appeared to change much while the wonderous Venus had moved lower to the horizon ( soon with meet with Jupiter in Early August).

July 23 01 Monday Sky looked hazy. Sun down , the first to punctuate the still-dusk sky was Mars followed by alpha Centauri. I took a quick look from my kitchen window and found a few days old moon hung low in the west with its ash coloured earthshine. Just to have a change of 'taste' tonight I hv chosen to look at asteroid - Ceres. Using watec 902H and viewed the live video images from house TV. The mag 7.7 Ceres was an easy target to find - situated at near the handle of the tea pot ( near Ascella or 38 Sag) and close to M54. It was brighter than the fuzy 'star' - globular cluster M54 and 'became' a new member of the ringlet of background stars. I sketched the Ceres position on a A5 card. Earlier while roaming the sky - M4 was clearly seen. A 1/2 degree length bright and pointed meteor zoomed pass the field. I spent some time at zenith - M8 and M20 region - the whole region looked like a shark's mouth - a 2 degree diameter - oval shaped lined the numberous doubles stars, nebulae. This afternoon I finally got to finished the x12 ASA800 film. I did some indoor shots using the Russian 8 f3.5mm fisheye lens. Three of the shots were Iridium Flares recorded months ago and I have forgotten the details! ( Last night tried on using a Nikon f1.8 lens on watec. The focusing is more sharper and better flare control ( and lighter too).)

July 18 Thursday. " LOOKING DOWN SYSTEM " Tried out the portable video imaging system in preparation for catching some early hours meteors. The system consists of watec 902H on 12mm tv lens/ watec 902H and 75mm lens, a photo tripod, 1AHr 12-volt battery and my Sony videowalkman. Soon I was 'roaming' the sky with the 75mm lens and chanced upon ( my first view) of the 'coathanger' see image on the left nicely framed in the 7 degree view. One lady was so concerned that her image could be in my video system that she took a 'U' devour. Overheard a young girl telling her families that I must be watching the stars. The LCD illumination attracted a giant fire ant. It was crawling around the LCD against the backdrop of the starry background. I returned to the field shortly after midnight with my binos. The park lights were switched off but did not help much - the cloudy conditions remained. In the east I could barely make out the top two corners stars of the Pegasus square clearing elevations of 40 degree. I binohop three fields up from the alpha Pegasus but I did not manage to locate the Comet. It was tough looking for a mag +5,5 diffuse patch in the poor sky and if you do not know exactly where the comet was ( w.r.t stars). [Even M22 looked dim in Tea pot and M4 was just a detectable faint smudge].

July 17 Monday. Tired and didn't wake up to check the sky. Quick glimpse of Saturn and Venus close pairing 6:30am.

July 16 Sunday. Cloudy sky star gazing - 'alphas' chasing & reacquainted with the stellar bodies. Trying to find out what can be done with a pair of binos ( 10 x50s) I walked to a nearby park to look at North and Eastern sky ( temporary sick of the Sagi-Scor area). The brightest stars viewed without much effort were Vega(alpha Lyra), Altair(alpha Aq), Deneb was not seen, Acturus(alpha Bootes) and Spica(alpha Virgo)in the west. Blocking the glare from the park lightings, I can discern the slightly dimmer star - again the alphas :alpha Corona Bor, alpha (and beta) Hercules, alpha Ophi. By now my eye had adjusted to the low light and started to discern the upright tail of Ursa Major in low horizon haze. Aimed my binos to locate the Mizar and Alcor. I also looked at the Lyra parallelgram and wide delta 1,2 'double-stars' and Altair orange class K companion gamma Aq. Next looking for interesting objects in binos - traced the 'C -shaped Corona Bor and bino-hop to locate the M13 globular cluster in Hercules. Spent some time familiarizing with the surrounding stars. For comparsion I crossed the sky and looked at M22 on the left hand side of the 'Tea-pot' lid. Visited M8 - the nebulous two-halves was a pretty sight. M4 was not visible in Scorpion. By ten pm the spot-light on the fenced-up area was switched off. This showed that you can still learn a thing or two in a bad sky. Binoculars certainly helped a lot. ( I had clocked more 'viewing' time with my hardly used Russian 10x50 - which was much lighter than my sealed Fujinon 7x50s)

July 14b Saturday. My Neptune 100n controller failed just when I wanted to do some planetary tonight. The encoding rotary switch was torn from the single sided PCB( failed attempt to fix a free-running switch- applied too much 'loctite') and I couln't locate a source in Sim Lim. Luckily there are still leads outside the package and I have no choice but attempted the 'surgery' reattach procedure - soldering the leads to the underside of the PCBA via wires. Now my controller look like "The War of the Worlds" Martian space-ship. At least I could do my Mars imaging in WL's 'scope tonight. Reached WL parent's place before 10:00pm. Now I understand why he asked me whether I had height-phobia. Clouds were aplenty while I watched WL doing his round of 2.9 arc seconds resolution image acquisition using the familar CCDOPS. Despite the Martian Storm, there were enough features to be seen even from the LCD resolution. GT-one is a real beauty. Focusing, centring was a snap and the tracking was silence. For the Neptune 100N work - prime focus, and telecompression using 2.5X barlow, 5X barlow were attempted while I record the video on my Hi-8 TRV120E. I missed the last train home and had to hail a taxi instead. It was a very worthwhile 'outing ,'. WL rated the sky as 7/8 over 10 - a ccd rating I believed.

July 14a 01 Saturday.Woke up at 3:14 am . Revisited Comet C/2001 A2 again( ninth). This morning the sky was exceptionaly clear and I have no problem locating the 4 corner square stars of Pegasus. Comet was not far from alpha Pegasus- ( in 7 x50s 7 1/2 d FOV if you centred on Xi Pegasus) It looked huge. Moon was rising so I quickly returned and phone LJ. ( I am glad he did manage to bag this comet ). By the time I went downstair to video record this comet the clouds had already started moving in. This time I did not bring my bino and used a tripod that could not point at Zenith. Frustrated I gone back and changed the tripod, brought my binos. I re-located the comet and did some real time recording. Two bright meteors were seen flashing through ( length ~ 1 degree) the LCD. A passer-by in his fifties stopped in his track. He stood a respectable distance from me. I invited him to look at the LCD screen. We had a little chat. He was doing 'grave-yard' shift and on his way home. Times are bad. Through the binos - ( I wish my C8 was there around 3 to 3:30am), comet exhibited a somewhat larger bright asymmetric core - and the size estimated using the nearby twin stars (TYC 1158-457-1 and TYC 1158-345-1)- were roughly 25 arc minutes. [Lessons learnt - ALWAYS use a piece of set up you are familar with and CHECK battery power before going out - even my info battery was flat and the tripod I brought down could not reached zenith]. Grab some spares. Well the comet STILL is worth looking. I am surprise how well this comet holds its magnitude and size for so long. [ well, that explain it, the comet had undergo another upburst again!!!!!] By 5:30 am I decided to give my Russian 10 x50s a try. So I walked to a nearby field and using the low fence as support I observed the comet through hazy sky. Two satellites cross my 5 degree FOV and another mag -1 sat drifted below the Square of Pegasus at 5:57:51 and enterred shadow(?) shortly after. Instead of heading home I took my early breakfast in nearby hawker centre. On my way home I saw in the East the 'right angle triangle' formed by the bright Venus - Aldebaran and Saturn. The duo Jupiter - Mercury was seen lower in the horizon. (6:30am). Now I am familiar with both binoculars. Come another day I will try to see the tail.

July Friday 13 (Black - I think it is the haze) 2001 - Surprise clearing near 10:30pm? at Zenith.. LM of the system is better than +8.5 a check with M4 visibility is the tell-tale sign. Spent some time 'roaming' around the Tea-Pot(Sag). Started by looking at the bright one - M22 and pick off the nearby faint ones M28 down to M54 and M50m M69 - mere blur stary points. M8 - with its 2 halves shone brightly. My kids ZH/ZM had their fun time pointing out M7 and M6 with the 5" B/w monitor sitting on SkyAtlas 2000. Astronomy lesson started early in their 6-7 years. Received my first IMO publication. My Neptune shutter speed control unit was out of action - the pot came clean after I torn it off the componets leads! There goes my planet imaging for a while. By 2 am Comet A2 should be above 45 degree.. lets see what happen then. [China get to host 2008 Olymp Games]

July 12 01 Morning caught Venus forming a triangle with Saturn and Aldebaran (Taurus). Lower in the horizon were duo - Jupiter and Mercury. What a lovely sight. The lift came to 12th storey and I ended my less than a minute planets-gazing. Tonight the sky was bad however I resumed my sky scanning with the watec-902H and 75mm f/1.4 lens. While looking at the Omega Centauri's ball of light from the monitor screen, a dim satellite hurried by ( 20:36:53) - quickly I jotted down the sat position w.r.t background star. In all I have seen one deep cycle flasher (V->invisible), a rapid flasher and other 3 sats. All of them going about their bussiness, heading all sorts of direction- as if they have a mind of their own. [ preprogramed or set to drift ] .A fast mover betrayed its birdy origin when I noticed the flapping wings. Did a few minutes recording of Mars through C8 EP 25mm f/10. Some dark shading was seen in the western side - CM =0? Five planets in a day/nite! Space Shuttle STS-? finally taken off again. As expected the earliest viewable date in S'pore sky is Jul 28 - observation window is always TWO WEEKS after launch. Don't tell me the Shuttle need to be facing the host country for 'contact'.

July 08 01 Sunday Am - 3:15am Brought down a 10x50 Russian Bino instead of the usual Fuijinon 7x50 and didn't postively found the comet. Went up and grabbed my 7 x50. The Comet A2 was real dim ( moon was nearby too). But manage to find it next to theta Piscm outside the 'Circlet'. Convinced I brought down my C8 and set up just under my block. The watec-902H finder proved to be a great aid in finding the comet. More stars were visible than both binos with similar FOV. However the hazy sky and the dim comet didn't turn up well even in f3.3. It looked like a M4 in typical polluted hazy sky. One young chap was attracted by the set-up and came over to look. He told me he just came home from nite rider after celebrating his girlfriend's birthday. How sweet. This could very well be my last observation - the EIGHTH VIEWING of it. Good bye Linear A2. Back at home I saw a 'V'-shaped twin beams directed skywards in the SE horizon. ( the same one we saw on Saturday nite at ACS close to 11:00pm).

July 07 01 Sat Am --3:15am . Wanting to view C/2001 A2 in a comfortable elevation I woke up earlier and found the Comet now inside the hexagon head of the Piscs or the 'circlet'. The dimmer- than- previous- night- observation may be due to the brighter background sky from the bright moon. Two young policemen were seen in the void deck and they gave me the 'what are you doing with a binos' look as I walked pass them. I had my binos dangling from my neck , wore singlet &shorts and slippers - do I look like a trouble-maker?

July 06 2001 -Friday AM Linear A2 - my fifth view of this comet happen this morning around 5:20 am. Again the comet was easy to spot at Zenith despite a full moon in the western sky. It was close to 19 Psc at (UT 21:20 Jul 05 ). The comet will be transversing the easily recognisable six or hexagon-shaped 'head' of the Piscs- a golden photographic opportunity to frame this comet. It will barely fit in the 7 1/2 degree FOV.

July 05 2001 - The Partial Eclipse was in the progress as I wrote these lines. I left my TRVDCR-102E on a foto tripod pointing out of my window. The hazy sky had degraded the lunar view significantly. By 10:30pm it looked like a big chunk of the moon is gone instead of the expected circular-arc 'bit-mark'. 10:34 pm the arc-shaped shadow became evident. Sky condition had not improved. May be this was another observation that proved that earth is round. ".... I remembered one of the full lunar eclipses in New Zealand a long while back in 80s. We gathered in the courtyard, surrounded by the folliage and gazed at the copper-color earthshine in the cool night. We used no scope no binoculars. We just a group of oversea students taking a break from the nightly study. This March I revisited the same house. Everything had changed. Gone were the courtyard and the leavy surroundings. In its place sprung a Real Estate office. I had never met the same group of friends again. I stood there transfixed by the unfamiliar view. A slight drizzle fell. It was a lonely afternoon. I somehow felt I didn't belong there any more. "

July 03 2001 - My fourth viewing of Linear A2. Getting dimmer by the days and the thin clouds didnot help. In 7x50s located the Comet within the 7 1/2 degree FOV that emcompassed the parallel-gram stars ( iota Ceti, 33 Ceti..)and with the seemingly larger but fainter comet at the opposite side. If not for the hazy sky I will go to get my C8...

July 02 2001 - Catching the sight of C/2001 A2 Linear became a routine. Again I woke up at 4:00am and took a few minutes walked to a nearby observation site. Using beta Ceti as a reference point I just picked up the bino and got the comet in FOV at the first trial. Sky was hazy and worse than Jul 01. Tonight I decided to fix an electronic finder to my C8 and set up the portable LCD. Tried on Jewel box in Crux and switched to C8 ( @!f3.3) - the trangular clusters resolved into numerous faint stars. Next target - Comet Linear A2. Tried to trap UoSat 12 at mag 7+ but surprised this sat was not seen. Wondering which set up should I use on the coming Lunar Partial Eclipse I finally settled on C5 OTA on a foto tripod. Even with f/6.3 reducer I still could not get the whole disk in. While trying on the nearly overhead moon out of my window I notice a brightly illuminated raised edge against the dark terminator. A short while later this 'visual treat' gone when I video recorded the moon using a color ccd. Using Rukl's Atlas of the Moon, I identify the site to be Aristarchus (40Km/3000 m)

Jun30/Jul 01 2001 - Sunday morning 04:15-04:45 'Fuzz ball' Comet C/2001 A2 located in 7x50s for the second time (Elev of ~40+, Az 110). This time the comet had formed a 'rectangle' or with mag 5.9 (HD 3807), 7.24 mag(HD 4661) and the other star mag 6.14 in Cetus ( after July 2 the comet will move into Pisces). The fuzz ball looked dimmer than June 25. Sky was hazy so I decided NOT to bring out the C8 setup. Meanwhile the bright Venus rise in the east, Teapot(Sagittarus) hung low in the west with 'handle'-side up. In the Northern sky the square of Pegasus was visible. Saturday evening 7:42?pm- viewed a negative magnitude pass of ISS (International Space Station) between Antares and Mars with Edy in Bunoes Vista MRT Station. The night was spent in ACS trying out the C14 with the Neptune100N. Could not really get a good contrast on Mars. Turned to Moon and enjoyed some great craters flypass. Neptune 100N output was projected onto a large screen via a LCD projector. Interesting lunar features include the linear dark line from 'straight wall', Alpine Valley and the nearby Plato. Did a brief recording of Clavius with its' ring of craterlets. By the time I reached home it was pass mid-nite - early hours on Sunday.

June 25 2001 - Monday -COMET 2001/A2 'recovered' ! - Alarm clock woke me up at 5:15am . I took a quick glance out of my bedroom window revealed a cloudy sky. I went out and check my Southern window - a few stars were seen. Grabbed a pair of binos and look at Grus - well more stars are seen. Convinced I went downstair and using Venus as a starting point I bino-hopped to 4-5 fists to the left and spotted the unmistaken comet-like circular spot. At 5:30 a naked eye satellite was seen travelling towards east. Curious of its brightness I followed it and it flared to -1 or -2 magnitude and continue its journey east wards. I went home and picked up my watec-902H imaging system and wasted no time in re-acquired comet again ( to confirm position w.r.t other stars). No visible tail was possible in the hazy sky. As dawn approach the comet was climbing ( due to earth rotation ) higher and higher - away from the billowing horizontal clouds. Back home I fired up skymap pro and verify the observed position indeed housed a comet and not something else. Using fresh TLEs no iridium flares were in that area and the HST was in the vicinity. I might have seen a flare from this space telescope!

June 21 2001 - Forgot to set the alarm clock and woke up a 'later' than planned. The sky was hazy but still managed to make out the familiar 'trio' - Formalhaut (alpha Pisc) and beta-alpha Grus just outside my window. Checked with heavens-above and a Iridiium 49 minus 6 flare was supposed to be visble in too bright morning sky . At quick check with Robert Matson Skymap with fresh TLE revealed nothing! Ir 49 was not visible in the stated time. Will check with Chris Peat what went wrong. Later in the day drafted a short Mars article for Carol. In-door Mars Observation : Mars closest to earth today - Spend a good portion of time observing Mars - at UT 12:14 CM 290 degree. My portable system - a C8 OTA sitting on a wooden stool near the lift common corridor. As Mars climbed higher I observed through my usual 'window to the universe' instead. Useful magnification was (15mm on a x2 barlow) x266. Even at x80, the central feature was visible. Syrtis Major was slight off centre disk - very prominent feature. A red filter help a lot to bring out the contrast. In moment of steadiness I could discern the narrow bridge of Sinus sabaeus. Without the filter, Syrtis Major color is unmistakenly deep blue (not black) contrasting with the overall yellowness. There is a hint of whitening in the trailing NW limb... I picked up Mars again 9:15 pm and was still on Mars till 11:15pm doing some video recording Mars with watec Neptune through C8 at ep projection ( 15mm Plossel). As Mars rotates more features were seen.The darkest patch of Edom was visible - situated at the end of a 'F' shaped arm. At the 'back' of Sinus Sabaeus was another branch off - Mare Serpentis. The sky became a little better. M4 was faintly seen through the haze at 12:30 with 7x50s. Did a quick video recording of M4 - stars were resolved to the core but the visible stars didn't look circular. ( a closer look at the recording reveal a central N-S concentration of stars in M4, no wonder the nick name of cat's eye). A bright star sat were seen next to Mars through the finder ( 36 Oph). By mid night the Teapot /Sagittarrius slowly swung into position but the hazy sky stop me from exploring the globular gardens there. What a night worth of astro work... Interesting Asterism of the 'night' was - 'the celestrial pin' - a short linear string of stars where NGC 6537(not visible) situated. It caught my attention as I was sweeping the areas near M6. The stars 'line-up' was striking.

June 18 2001 - Moon met Venus - Woke up to a hazy sky. On my way to work I saw bright venus and Moon less than 3 lunar diameter away. What a lovely pair. The thin clouds accentuated the effect.. Felt like rushing back to grab my digital camera but this is Monday - a fresh day for the week and I did not want to be late for work. I was a pleasant surprise when one of the causual sky gazer co-workers mentioned in passing of this morning pairing. ( .. I lost count of the numerous occassions when people approach me and mistaken astrology for astronomy). Took a scrolled in the nearby park in the late evening. The sky was overcasted but the - 2.6 magnitude Mars 'punched' through the thick clouds signalling his presence.

June 14 2001 -'Fishing' for satellites tonight. Decided to do some satellite traping, I parked my 7 degree FOV watec-902H and 75mm f/1.2 tv lens on alpha Centauri and waited for the bait. In a short 15 minutes duration saw 4 satellites crossing the field. I drew the satellite and noted the time ( down to seconds) on a pencil sketch of the FOV. The 15" monitor make this type of observation less tiring and I can even afford to have the study light on! Sat Identification was done only a day later. Using fresh TLES ( mccants.tle) & Skymap I managed to ID the four to be - south-bound satellites - duo - DMSP B5c-03 followed by DMSP B5c-04 which went right through the alpha centauri. Both were dim ( +7.6). The other two were North- bound Cosmos 1803 and the much much brighter Meteor 1-30r. A night before June 13 while centring my similar set up at NGC3532 with better sky than June14, three Sats were seen in a span of 21 minutes. Only one was successful IDed to be ETS-7 at +5.2 mag.

June 9/10 2001 - Sat/Sun - Mars (~20.0") was visible outside my main viewing window 12 storey up after 9:30pm. But waiting for it to climb to a 'scope-accessible' position means I need to wait till passed 1:30am. The weather was bad -M4 was no where near Antares in my 7 x50s, killing my idea of bring the scope down.. Using EP projection ( 25mm) and Neptune100N b/w ccd I manage to video tape a few 'runs' of Mars using drift acquire method. The mini-5" b/w TV (S$90) proved to be useful for this type of focusing work. I still can make out features like Mare Sirenum and Mare Cimmerium - the former forming a 'land-bridge' to Chrysokeras and hinderland. In six oclock positon partial Nilokeras 'peninsula' was seen. ( viewing the recorded vdeo and using PB zoom). ( UT 17:10 June 09 2001 - CM 106 degree). Viewed a Mir reentry CNN news video taped and send over by Daniel F. It certainly brought back many memories of the trip. Alarm clock did not sound this morning and I missed my iridium flare next to the blinding moon.

June 03 2001 Sunday - More clusters of stars... Saturday night sky was a wash-out so woke up early on Sunday at 4:15am. Slight haze filled the sky but the Tea-pot ( Sagittarius) was in nice position for me to do somework through the window. M22 -the compact circular spot was easily visible through the 7x50 binos. (M22: 3rd brightest globular clusters). So I set up my C8 and did some video recording of M22 followed by M8 and the nearby M20 and back to M7 and M6 collected NGC6231 ( near the 'bent' of the scorpion sting). M4 near Antares ( the Mars rival) eluded me but visible in wide field Fujinon set up. Did a quick and dirty real time images capture of M22 through the pc's capture board. Images were far from perfect but the 'rift' running down the core cluster was plainly visible. Will do another attempt in near future.

June 01 2001 - Friday!! and the weatherman was WRONG. Instead of a predicted thunderstorm, we had a hot sunny day. In the evening, I decided to head home and do some 'star-thing videoing'. Sitting the C8 on a tall stool, and pointed this out of my study window. I looked at jewel box NGC 4755 for 'starter' playing with various magnifications and get my two kids to take turn to watch. The sky condition tonight was better than a few days before. Next I located the 'soft spot' of omega centauri in the finder. At f/10 I couldn't resolve it in tonite bad weather. Then I swapped out the visual back and replaced with the hefty f/3.3 adapter. Omega Centauri (dia 53 ') was resolved into individual stars - the 'two' patches ( often over-exposed in ccd imaging) were easily seen in the 15" b/w monitor. The kids were thrilled. The low lux ccd did the trick. At a FOV of more than a degree this set up allows me to sweep the sky and locate objects. Then I stumbled into a screen full of closely spaced stars! Turned out to be the 'two halves' of the NGC 3532. I decided to take a video stacking of the celestrial ball and the image above ( top) left showed clearly the two patches. I caught two far-away commercial jets. Guiding the C8 in the finder is easy - next will be ISS! Later when everyone had gone to bed, I tried Omega again. At x2 barlow ( x160) easily resolved to the core, removed the barlow and look through, 1-2 seconds later the view snapped into focus - stars are resolved. Nearby the moon didn't interfered much with this object. Shifted to my non-dominated left eye- same view. ( poor left eye.. I must do justice to this eye more often..) Waiting to video tape M4.. but Antares is still too high in Zenith...

May 24 2001 - Just for the record - again less than 2 minutes into looking at the Southern Sky, a meteor - the luminous pale yellow head appeared like a star slowly glided across the sky above Centauri ( 20 degree) towards east. Visual LM was better than 3.1. time ~11:15pm? I was in my kid's room looking out. High spirited I set up a 12mm tv lens FOV 25 x 20 degree (LM of the system 4.0? )hoping to snare another one but decided to gone to bed after a 1/2 hr watch without success. Earlier in the night I revisited the Jewel Box using the 8mm Ultra wide angle EP on C8 @ f/10. Despite the less than perfect sky, the view is magnificient, I guess the main red star spiced up the view. Tried briefly via video in Hi8 Digital using watec-902H and C8 @ f/3.3... still nothing beats the view in color.

May 22 2001 - Evening sky not much better than Monday. Swept the low Western but couldn't locate A2. Did some in-door star gazing and captured the circular ball of Omega Centauri in my usual watec-902H and Fujinon set up. I left the 3 metres RCA cable connected to the pcs. Grabbing any images from my set up is as easy as turing on the pc. Also take a quick look through C8 ( OTA on a C5 tripod).

May 21 2001 Met my old friend again - the evening weather balloon appeared at the place I expected to see and by 7:15pm drifted so close to Sirius forming a spectacular twins. By the time I fumbled to put on a new HI-8 tape ( damned the wrapping) into the video cam the high altitude balloon vanished. By 8:10pm I tried to locate A2 in my neighbour's corridor but without avail. I located Betelguese and bino-hoped down the dagger towards Lepus. Alas the low clouds were obstructing the view of the comet. ( Unless I lived in desert with horizon to horizon clear view I think I will give this comet a miss). My daughter followed me and I took the opportunity to introduce to her Sirius and Canopus. She was counting the stars tilled twenty something. Did some video imaging tonight - two sats strayed into my FOV. Stumbled upon another familar 'complex group of asterisms'. At 100 mm zoom, the group is pretty large - close to a degree. The diamond-shield-like arrangement warranted my closer look. Then I pulled out the drawer with my Atlas 2000 opened at the 'correct' page and wasted no time to identify the group as NGC 3114. No special mention from Burnham's Celestial Handbook - simply another inconspicious entries of open star cluster.

May 19-20 2001 Sky was hazy but to break the monotony I decided to try something new tonight - real time pc video capture. Eta Cariane was just outside my SW facing window. So I did a quick and dirty stack w/o bothering about dark frame substration. The resulting image was interesting - the 'Y' shaped dark ridges was clearly seen. ( not apparent on the b/w monitor). It matched the S & T -June John Sefick's fantastic image on page130. Next I swung the tripod mounted lens to Omega Centauri and did a few grabs - faintest stars reached 8.9 mag - Not bad. The dead pixels showed up as a series of small meandering dots. (took me a couple of days figuring this out many months ago). Early in the evening on 19 I managed to locate Orion - sword and belt in 7x50s binoculars low in the evening horizon. No chance to glimpse the Comet at all. Later around 11:00pm I gone downstair to check out the sky. Mars had already risen. The bright reddish Mars was not far from the tea-pot, outshining Antares -' the Mars rival'. I remembered in Fiji, Mars was further up then. It had travelled further down parallel to Scorpion. Nearby stood the majestic '3' shaped Scorpion. Facing north and following the tail up Ursa Major lead me to the orange-yellow Arcurus in Bootes.

May 14 2001 JUST for the record at 10:11pm against a hazy sky - a bright orange yellow 'meteor-like' fireball was seen. AZ=S, Elev 50-60 travelling towards SW. Length < alpha-beta centauri. The 'meteor' ended with a 'sharp triangular' flash of bright light ( mag -8). I was just starting to star gaze out of the window.

May 09 2001 Not EXACTLY an astro event. This morning on my way to work07:31am I happened to chance upon the weather balloon moments after it was released a short while after the morining packed trained pulled into Paya Lepar Station. It must be quite a distance away since the man-height balloon appeared small. I was expecting to see this again at Eunos and sure enough, a venus-like bright object was seen against a blue sky. The balloon must have ascended quite enough to reach a greater height. ( Weather balloons are being released twice daily - am and pm and they can go up 20 miles in so called upper atmos study, beaming back air velocity, temperature and humidity from the instruments dangled underneath)

May 01 2001 - Labour Holiday. Wondering where was ISS tonight ( missed out ISS last night to the low clouds)- I fired up Rob skymap and got a prediction of direct overhead pass not far from Crux. I glanced at my watch and found I had only a minute to spare. Sticking my head out of my usual observatng window I notice first a 'bright' star moving in the position and to my surprised some distance away were another orange bright guy. No blinking were seen of both and just to be very sure I picked up the 7x50s and verifed both of them. I followed the bright one until it suddenly dimed off ( entering earth's shadow). I noted the position and time. Recheck heavens-above and confirmed they were STS-100 space shuttle followed 30 seconds later by ISS ( with Earth's first space tourist Mr Tito onboard ( perhaps recovering from his first taste of space sickness!) 

April 14-15-16 -2001 Tonight (4/16)looks like the weather had us again. Just have a peep out of my window. Manage to have a glimpse of the Pointer - alpha and beta Centauri - rising in the SE - making a near vertical 'pole'. Last nite I sticked my watec-902H and Fujinon zoom at where Comet 2001 A2 suppose to be. Thin clouds presence and coupled with low elevation make my LM of the system hovering slightly above mag8.5 - comet not seen. A night earlier I resume my scanning fo the nite sky. I stumbled on a group of stars which I mistaken as Southern Pleiades( I 2602). Closer look indicated it was 2516. Another interesting clusters of stars are 3114 - four degrees east of Eta Carinae Nebulae.

April 01' 2001 - Back to Singapore and tonite is my first night of watching satellite against a lousy sky- I watched ISS (- mag 1.9) rising from az 210 out of my observation window. It brightened as it raced towards Canis Major. ISS is the only satellite with structure visible to a tracking telescope. Found out it is close to impossible to bag this fast moving satellite using the Fujinon Zoom and manual guiding on tripod. Didn't seems to pick out the fainter ~ 2.8 mag. Soyuz TM-31 which shared similar trajectory and transit time.

March 09 - Well, a change of plan required me to share a viewing window with others. There goes the plan for saturated video recording using multiple video sources. Hopefully the less-than-perfect DCR-120E can make out something. Given a choice of viewing with a binoculars vs video recording I will choose the later. Tonight I tried out my mobile system- in answering to the challenged posted above. A 50mm f/1.3 lens + watec 902H worked wonderfully with DCR-120E.(as a recorder). The system detected amd split pleaides almost instantly when I pointed this sytem out from my kitchen window. A tandem system with another similar but 75mm lens is also attempted.

Feb 24/25/2001[b]. Missed out my last three chances of viewing Mir in AM sky due to bad weather. Today even a MINUS 7.8 iridium#59 ( ground track less than 100 metres! from my site ) could not be seen against the billowing evening clouds. Nearby Canopus twinkled on and off through breaks in the passing cloud. Last night the sky was better. While scanning the sky using my 7x50 binoculars and my video set up (Neptune 100N +75mm f/1.4 lens) I came across old friends - three distinct star clusters. Starting with the triangle of star of Cr 135 (main star Pi Puppis), it appears like the head of a praying mantis looking down on me, the effect accentuated by the orange red Pi.. Eastwards five degrees away are two clusters - stars of d1-d2-d3 and NGC 2451. Further east of NGC2451 - a misty patch caught my attention while watching the video on the monitor. At first I thought it must be a passing cloud. Some time passed and the 'patch' still have not move. Adrenlin started to flow but first I checked my StarAtlas, sprawled across one of my drawer ( ran out of linear space on the table). It was NGC 2477 and not some nebulous object - eg comet. Later a check on the internet and I found description of it - LM 5.8 - 25' size, and made up of stars mag 10.0+ . I can faintly make out the patch in 7x50s. ( in rural area this should be very easy). Tonite while testing the 50mm f/1.3 with watec 902H - the patch is evident ( poorer sky tonite) because I already knew where to look The 50mm is really a small lens ( cf to 75mm for example) and through it I could detect all the stars in the SkyAtlas 2000. If teamed with a Sony video walkman eg GV-200E(w/o LCD) you will have a perfect & 'sleek-est' mini-standalone star field astrovideo recording system with FOV =5x7 degree, LM >+8, 0.0003 lux) in the world ( tripod not included). Spent the better of the weekend re-tweaking my air-borne video system. Further testing revealed some 'weakness' of the system. The frontal profile constraint by the size of aircraft window is something I was trying hard to adhere to. Tonite I put together my last week concept of a 'standalone- self support camera system' using entirely off- the- shelf items. Perfect for aircraft usage. No drilling/glueing required. However actual testing will have to wait. The next challenging thing will be exposure determination to be programmed. Earlier in the evening I took the chance to check out Panasonic latest 3ccd digicam corder - Leica Digicom. ( S$3999). I found out I can set shutter speed and f/ speed like a normal camera. But the slowest shutter speed is 1/50s and there are no super shot equivalent ( even slower shutter speed). Notice there is a digital still out. ( may be for outputing still captured through memory card or something).

Feb 17 2001- Watched MIR as it sailed above Venus from my kitchen window. Managed to tracked Mir in my videosetup. This time I used a color 1/2" ccd (0.01lux), the LM is shallower but the noise is much lower compare to watec-902H. (mag4 vs mag9+). Ten minutes later I returned to my main window and video taped & photographed Iridium #33 MINUS 4 mag flare. I can see Ir33 coming from Hi-8 LCD screen, moving vertically down pass beta Pictor and followed it until it sinked below mag 4.0. Earlier on (~ 6:35pm) saw the return of the weather balloon, contrasting with the majestic Venus. By the time I returned with my CP950 it had drifted somewhere. Mir with less than one month's life.. the 2nd largest satellite structure visible in small scope will return to earth March 12-14.

Feb 10 2001- It had been a while.. At least tonight I can see some stars. For the past few week! I am deprived of my starry companion. Tonight, I saw Venus hanging like a lantern in the the western horizion, the dimmer Jupiter and Saturn was high up in the western sky. Been busy with my preparation. Bought a 5.6 TFT LCD monitor (12volt DC) for my mobile tracker. Re configured my air-borne video system and put my bet on 'quite a sizeable debris spray'.. Found out my earlier Watec-902H died! My latest configuration will be : one 50mm color ccd + 1 Hi-8 pair, one 20-100mm zoom+ Digital Hi-8 and the 3rd will be the largest LCD Hi-8 teamed with C5@f6.3. The fourth will be last minute addition- probably just a stand alone camcorder. The LCD will also serve as alignment purposes so that all cameras optics are parallel to each other. Cables and batteries are most unreliable component in the system. Notice Orion was at zenith, with clouds drifting in and out. Not wanting to miss this opportunity eventhought I felt so tired after the whole night with my video stuff, I quickly placed the C8 OTA on a low stool. Next I swapped the EP holder & visual back with the massive Maxfield f/3.3 to 'c' adapter, took out one of the watec. The view ( from cam corder LCD) of the M42 was very very bright - I have not seen M42 that bright before. I did a few minutes 'drift accquire' on both my analog and digital cam corder. Image processing (eg stacking) will be next. Tried out Canon T-70 linking up another T-70 ( one with command back). Found out firing of any camera in the link will trigger others to do likewise. Will continue this array camera project after my trip to NOWHERE. - an automatic exposure camera-array for meteors. Astro scene - pretty quiet - now Comet 1999/T1 will be pretty dim and unexciting. There are isolated reports of Torricelli (12 x 19 mile) observation minus any 'ground-breaking' brightening on Feb 09 in the net. (also the event was not visible here). [ if you had observed our closest companion you will notice Aristarchus- the brightest spots in the moon] Just sticked my head out of the window - the clouds had returned.. What a busy day and I have achieved so much...

Feb 02-09 2001 - Bad weather lately. Ventured into feasibility of doing TDI with my pixcel ccd.

Jan 27 2001- 4th day of CNY Lately the weather had a similar 'pattern'- late afternoon heavy shower and cleared sky after 10 or 11pm. To night thin clouds at zenith dashed my testing out of C8 with Maxfield FR 3.3 and 'c' adapter. This however did not stop me from trying out the Ultra Nite vision (UNV) DSP 0.005 lux camera with watec 902H on a side- by- side comparsion. I also set up the remote control of a 4 in two out -video splitter. This helped to flip back and forth the video on monitor between these two cameras. The DSP camera had significant lower noise ( S/n was spec as 48 db!) but watec902H showed dimmer stars easily. I tested UNV camera on the star clusters I.2391 ( near delta of the False Cross) and video taped a few minutes ( for post stacking operations). A lone satellite drifted across my FOV. It was a quarter passed ten - not too many satellites still wondered in the sky at this hour. I moved the lens around the field and checked out Canopus. Remembered the LMC was not too far from here I star-hopped (with UNV) down to Tarantula nebula. Tonight the nebula was situated with elevation of just 30 degrees, shrouded in thin clouds. The non-stellar nature of the nebula was obvious - appearing like a 'soft' spot of light. Moving higher in elevation I dwelled on the small compact asterism of Reticulum (where I video-taped 'double' Iridium flares on previous nite), made up of iota-beta-gamma. I stumbled across a 'bright' star marked 'R' on SkyAtlas2000 and notice it appeared much brighter than the nearby star -eta. A visual check with 7 x50s revealed this is an orange color star. ( t the near- IR sensitivity of the ccd 'accentuate' the visual mag!). By now the sky slowly improved and I manage to notice slight more stars than Sky Atlas detected by this camera. ( camera setting: gamma -0.45, lowest shutterspeed, gain of 6 or 8 db is optima for tonight setting- the peak is preferred over average). In general bright stars appeared much sharper in this camera. The other added advantage is : there are two video out - monitor out and video out. How convenience.

Jan 26 2001 - 3rd day of CNY Picked up Astronomy Now Jan 2001 at Times City Hall. Funan was deserted( all shops were closed). In it were articles on the webcam and imaging. Topic is not new but the images of horse head and flame nebulae acquired by uncooled camera get me a little excited again. Went to a site that uses Watec-902HS that had impressive images of M42 but the number of frames were mind bogling. -9,000 frames.If i had a mount that good I won't even bother with uncooled camera. I did my usual evening stroll again. Notice bright Venus was making its presence in the western sky. Below it were the bright sky - illuminated by the Kranji Race tracks. I thought it might be a good idea to film it. Ten minutes later I returned with the tripod and CP950 and shot a couple stills ( 2-8 seconds exposure). The timer help to eliminate physical pressing the shutter button. Any way still brought down my C5+ OTA and watec 902H @f/6.3 . Locating the near zenith on a normal tripod head is difficult. I managed to keep the tape running and nudge the OTA to show the misty M42. The tiny ( 2 1/2") LCD was directly below the tripod, viewing it while I struggled to keep the M42 within the LCD. No too bad either. Back home viewed the LCD - the outline of the Great Orion Nebulae was apparent - I can make out the 'v' shape between 'two' star and the trapezoid. The nebula spread more on the opposite side of the v-shaped 'fish-mouth'. So watec 902H recorded it! Earlier in the day, I tried out COAA's software for stacking FIT files. A handful of fits file stacked ( using manual - and specified the ref star on every file) helped to registered the images. A quick PS work reveal many stars. Average faint stars are around mag +9.5 - similar to visual from the b/w monitor. Now I have an easy way of making mini-star fields map which I can cross referenced from SkyMapPro 5.0 ( they are now at version 7!).

Jan 25/26 2001 - 2nd day of CNY -During the days I tested out the first configuration for coming airborne observation. The system is made up of a C5+ OTA and two other watec ccd. Guiding was relatively easy. ( will have to do more live test - chasing sats). All units sit on a tripod.It had been raining in the early evening. Missed my -7 flare tonight. Sky condition is getting better after 10pm. It was not until 1 am that I decided to check out Neptune100N camera on Jupiter and Saturn. With C8@f/10 with EP(25mm projection) the 0.001 lux camera showed both reasonably well. From the LCD of the cam-corder I can see the Jupiter 'Secondary' belt clearly and Saturn Cassiva division is easily seen. Replayed the tape on TV, the image was fair and I really need a clean EP. Then I evaluated the new Ultra-Ni-vision with near Infrared 0.005 lux 1/2" ccd with DSP and microlens ( Sony ExviewHAD) with a fast f/1.4 75mm lens. From the high res monitor there are many stars on the screen, noise was MINIMAL! Curious how a watec 902H will perform, I replaced the ccd with 902H - and WOW, (despite the noise) the number of stars were overwhelming. The sky was NOT that good and through watec I was enjoying the star fields in Puppis - tight group of stars like Cr135, NGC 2451, Cr 140, and dwelled on ' a linear chain of stars' for LM determination. mag 8.8 is star is easily seen with mag 9.5 just visible on the monitor.

Jan 24 2001 - First day of CNY - South bound - Iridium 11 & 22 Missed out Mir earlier morning due to bad sky. Spend the whole day sleeping trying to catch up some sleep. Tonight I set up to capture Iridium 11 and Iridium 22. Both were to flare within 46 seconds of each other and sharing the approximately same locations. While the mag-0.6 and -0.8 was not going to be spectacular any why I try for the fun of it. I checked out the star field using 7 x50s and found myself in a group of stars - triangular ( l-delta-Gamma Reticulum). While scanning this groups of stars I chanced upon a satellite slicing through alpha Reticulum. [ post analysis identified this to be Cosmos 2333r - rocket junk again]. Both passages were caught by the video with watec but with the flaring outside the FOV missed by almost 2-3 degree. I have decided to replaced the color ccd with watec since the former low light detection was so much poorer. ( nothing matches up to watec).

Jan 23 2001 - Set up C8 to catch Mir. Instead were awed by the negative magnitude of it that I forgot to look at the EP!

Jan 22 2001 - Near Daylight minus 8 Iridium Flare - Monday(6:33-6.52) I reckoned I can watch the two space birds just before I go to work. Armed with last nite last minute sketch/note of Ir 70 details and Mir positions I went to the block facing the school compound. In normal days I would be heading for work. The old crescent moon was low in the east, barely 15 degrees above the horizon and I had 10 minutes spare. I can see twilight approaching fast. I did see a bright 'star' moving towards north emerging from the low level clouds for a few seconds. I guess it must be it. The only reservation I had was Mir appeared to be much brighter than expected. Not wanting to miss my negative 8 Iridium Flare I walked towards my usual bus stand. Using alpha Bootes as a sign post and the sketch I did last nite, I fixed my gaze on a spot where the flare was going to happen. I positioned myself so that the trees blocked the street light. By now I have missed two buses and the sky was getting lighter and more cloudy. When the time came, Ir 70 delivered a 'search-light' flare enhanced by the clouds. ( sun was just around 5 degree below horizon and the Crux and pointers merged into the bright twilight.)

Jan 19/20 2001 - Saturday/Sunday AM - Saturn and Jupiter were viewable from my kitchen window after 1:00am. To test how bad my C5 hazing, I viewed both with 25mm and a x2 barlow. The brownish eq belt of Jupiter was plainly visible, saturn was beatiful with ring spreading out. The OTA passed the test and will join my other battery of instrumentation for my next once-in-a-life-time airborne-observation. Next I trained my C8 on Saturn and Jupiter, images are bigger and clearer. Below the Jupiter skyline, clouds were billowing pass. In a short while it had 'risen' to shallow both planets. Woke up around 4:30am. Fired up my Sky Map Pro 5 and sketched the star fields for Comet 1999/T1. I went down with my Hi-8 recorder and watec/lens/tripod. Mars was sitting next to the alpha Librae. Using this and the other star from the Libra's triangle I star-hopped 1 1/2 times and found myself looking at epsilon Serpent. I let the recorder run for a couple of minutes. ( the tape was re-examined by replaying from hi-resis monitor and star fields sketched and compare with 1999/TI expected position. Despite a LM 9.0+ star reached, comet was not detected in the video). In the North the dipper's handle 'extended' to the yellowish Arcturus (alpha Bootes). About the same elevation to the east lies the compact and conspicous constellation of Corvus. Below Corvus and pass the Libra triangle was the familar top part of the majestic '3'-shaped Scorpion. The yellow old cresent moon rised in the east. I walked to the other side of the blocks and shielding my eyes from the street-level light pollution and found the sickle of Leo. Orion sets in the west.

Jan 15 2001 - Monday - Pretty tired after work. Venus was the brightest object in the west. In the southern-SW sky, Canopus and Archernar dominate the cloudy sky. After dinner I headed downstairs to relax and gazed at the sky. The afternoon shower must have cleared some of the clouds and dust in the air. The Eastern sky was perfect. Never have I been able to make out the inverted 'V' of the Taurus that easily. I was thinking of bring the C8 and gear for video recording. Fatigue took the better part of me and I let the idea passed. ( may be over the CNY holiday). Pleaides are individual star by averted vision. Nearby were the brighter Jupiter and Saturn. Auriga - the pentagon-like constellation with its main star Capella shine brightly. I also traced the sparsely 'H' shaped stars of Lepus - the Hare below the M42 ( two or three 'stars' were seen ). Leaning on the HDB wall I held my gaze centring on the Orion. Shortly I observed a slowly drifting satellite. I followed it till it make a 'direct line' with the belt star and I noted the time -20:18:21(-2). Magnitude is similar to the belt star. Back at my desk, it took just a few minutes to obtain the latest TLEs and I had my sat IDed - it was Cosmos 2237 r Norad#22566 predicted mag of +3.4. The SkyMap plot matches exactly with what I saw.

Jan 14 2001 - Sunday - Got the 'wind' that there is a linear string of sunspot in mid-disk. A quick check with my C5+ and thousands oak's solar filter confirmed that. Later in the noon time I did some observation - trying out the Neptune 100N. It was while doing the EP projection I found out the 25mm lens was filled with 'dirt' - more prominent that the 'Philipine archipelago-like' solar spots. Sun spot video did not turn up well.( Some very sharp images were seen on cam-corder's LCD but did not turn up well in PCI-capture board set up.) Sound like I need IR blocking filter to 'cut-down the glare'. The 'baby' 12 Volt DC FM/TV/Monitor works well - the larger image beats the LCD. In between drifting clouds I was actually side-tracked by watching TV - b/w of course. The week end was spending playing with my earlier video images of moon, cleaning the dirty 25mm ep. On the rocket launching scene - China's - Divine Boat - ShengZhu #2 never make its appearance over S'pore and Mir will not return till 18 of this month. The next best pass of ISS only occur end of the month.

Jan 13 2001 - Early AM 5:30- Seeing Crux and the two pointers outside my window I decided to go down and checked out the eastern sky. The east was cloudy, took me some times to faintly make out the stars. I had checked Comet 1999/T1 before I came down and wasted no time to find Mars. The color of the red planet is unmistaken at 7 x50s. Within the same FOV is alpha Libra. No hope for comet hunting in this type of sky. I walked back.

Jan 10 2001 - The clouded Total Lunar Eclipse. Alarmed clock rang slight pass the hour. One glanced at the outside sky sent me back to zZZZ. I reseted the alarm to my normal wake up time, thinking of giving this eclipse a- miss. Somehow my inner self was telling me to give it a try. I woke up, check the time - it was 4:40am! The total eclipse should be in full swing - I rushed down. It took me a few minutes to figure out where the moon was. The sky was cloudy, I shielded the street-lights with my hand and found the eclipsed moon in the west. I observed for a while watching the clouds drifting across the darken moon. Even the occassinal thinning of the clouds could not bring out the real eclipsed moon. I gave up. Later I watched the moon from the kitchen window. At maximum eclipse, my DCR-TRV120E could not pick up the moon ( + too much clouds cover). There seems to be a slight sliver of light left at the N- NE border. By then the eastern corner ( 1 ocloclk position), bright cone of light slowly creep back. I went back to sleep at 5:00am. The next time the alarm rang I woke up, peep throught the small 'window' and saw the majestic 16 d moon shinning through! The eclipsed was overed before 6:00am. No the best eclipsed - blame it on the weather.

Jan 08 2001- Brought my C8 OTA and video gears Neptune100N - camera downstair for 'first light' testing. With a f/6.3 reducer, the moon shows amazing details in the Hi-8 CCD LCD. eg The radial rays system from the Tycho and the bright comet-tail like Aristarchus. The controller box allows me to play with shutter speed and gain of the ccd. Next I trained the OTA to nearby Jupiter - at this image size, the Jupiter is over-exposed but the satellite came out bright and nice. The four Galiloo moon visble in the LCD were Callisto, Europa 'touching' the Jupiter's rim and Io and Ganymede on the other side. ( ID from Nasa's on line space-simulator). The Pleaides were resolved into a mini- 'dipper' in the finder view. I was puzzled why the main scope was showing a 'linear string' of stars - only to find that indeed it was the familar sight I have seen before in watec with 100mm zoom lens. Next, I turned towards Saturn - at this set-up and the super sensitivity of the ccd, the ring was not resolved but near its place shone few 'moon-like' stars. Simulator indicate a similar configuration of 'stars', the labelling option suggest it was Tethys-Mimas-Enceladus- Dione and a unknown nearby star. I will verify this on another clear night. I stood my OTA on a high wooden stool and attracted several passer-by to peep at my LCD (I was doing video taping). One thing I don't understand is why ( young boys and adults) had mistaken the moon for the earth. ( and this is not the first time). I have to correct them saying it is the MOON not the earth that they are standing on!