Tag Archives: sky

International Dark Sky Week

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It’s the International Dark Sky Week starting from 20th April to 26th April 2014.

Celebrate the stars! Created in 2003 by high-school student Jennifer Barlow, International Dark Sky Week (IDSW) has grown to become a worldwide event and a key component of Global Astronomy Month. The goals of IDSW are to appreciate the beauty of the night sky and to raise awareness of how poor-quality lighting creates light pollution.

Light pollution is a growing problem. Not only does it have detrimental effects on our views of the night sky, but it also disrupts the natural environment, wastes energy, and has the potential to cause health problems.

IDSW is a great time to host a neighborhood star party to introduce the idea of preserving a dark night sky to your community or to evaluate your own lighting to make sure that it is dark sky friendly.

There lots of great ways to participate. The more people there are that turn out their lights, the less light pollution there will be. How can you help the cause? Find some great ways to fight light pollution and some cool IDSW events at the International Dark-Sky Association’s IDSW page.

Follow the Dark Skies Awareness blog and check out these Dark Sky Resources.

Please Watch out this post for further updates

At the mean time, try finding dark skies near your location area. Try to conduct a Sky quality test via iPhone Application Named “DSM” – Dark Sky Meter. And for Android users, “Loss of the night

Enjoy the dark skies while watching the Lyrid Meteor showers

Let Me Shine

I just received this brilliant poem from a friend and would like to share it here.  All thanks to Micheal who wrote this shiny poem.  Well Done

When Galileo was alive, he could see every Constellation in the sky
Through the centuries Men, Women, and Children sang night time songs
Never knowing it would soon be gone
Then some damn fool invents the Street Light
We all said goodbye to the skies at night
Now it’s up to us to find the ways
To get back the good old days
We spend all night awake, looking for a solution
For this nightmare of ours is called Light Pollution

– by Michael Uberty, USA.

Celestron SkyScout

AstrO Gears Product showcase: Celestron SkyScout Personal Planetarium. AstrOceanOmy Store

“This is the device amateur stargazers have been waiting for since, well, Galileo..”  Popular Science Magazine

SkyScout

SkyScout is a revolutionary handheld device that uses advanced GPS technology with point and click convenience to instantly identify over 50,000 stars, planets, constellations and more.

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SkyScout Features:

  • Identify: Simply point the SkyScout at any star in the sky and click the “target” button. The SkyScout will instantly tell you what object you are looking at.
  • Locate: To locate a star or planet, select the objects name from the menu and follow the directional arrows through the viewfinder. SkyScout tells you when you are on target. It’s that easy!
  • In addition, the SkyScout also features a ‘Tonight’s Highlights’ function which provides you with a customized list of the 20 best objects you can view for your exact date, time and location anywhere in the world.
  • Learn: Once you have targeted an object the real fun begins. The SkyScout includes entertaining and educational audio and text information, including facts, trivia, history and mythology about our most popular celestial objects. If you locate a star that is part of a constellation, the SkyScout will even talk you through every star within that constellation along with providing a detailed onscreen map on the whole constellation. A fun learning tool for all ages, the SkyScout personal planetarium puts the knowledge of an expert astronomer in the palm of your hand.
  • Click here for more from Celestron website.

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Not to forget that the Celestron SkyScout Personal Planetarium is the “Official Product” of the International Year of Astronomy (IYA) 2009!

I already purchased mine since long time back and would like to share some pictures:.

photo 1  photo 2

photo 3  photo 4

While opening the box, I’ve noticed something strange and funny in the package 🙂  . I’ll come up with more details in the next post. Please visit for updates.

SkyScout is available for purchase in AstrOceanOmy Store .

 

Anyone in Oman who would like to purchase, please contact me.

Clear Skies