A typical Christmas
holiday for my family involves a lot of traveling. Depending on our
mode of transportation I would usually just take my camera along and
take some unguided long exposures of the night sky whenever possible.
However, since this holiday we had a large enough space for
transportation I decided to take my EQ4 mount along with my Celestron
C90 for a series of free telescope viewings (FTVs).
Our first destination was
my hometown and summer capital of the Philippines – Baguio City.
Manila had been cloudy due to the t
ropical storm passing through the
Visayas, but clear skies dominated most of the nights here. The high
altitude and good transparency of Baguio always made it a pleasure to
observe during good weather. I setup my telescope in front of the
Quezon Hill Community Church. Carollers and passersby got to view the
Moon up-close as well as take photos through their phones. A group of
kids stopped by after every round of carols they made. Initially I
wanted to get in touch with UP Baguio Astronomical Society to join
forces for an FTV here but time constraints and consideration for the
students being with their families made me decide to setup on my own.
My next FTV destination
was at Agoo, La Union. This is where my grandparents' house was
located, and where my grandmother built a dedicated astrodeck for my
use. From late in the afternoon until the evening I would take out my
telescope to the basketball court of the local barangay (native
Filipino term for a village; district or ward) to view the waxing
gibbous Moon. The court was filled with people playing basketball and
kids and adults watching. The kids were first to gather around the
telescope, and little by little players would slip from their game to
take a peek until eventually everyone came to see.
The following day we
traveled to San Juan, La Union to stay overnight in a resort. Several
resorts lined the beach as it was a frequented surfing spot. I took
my telescope out on the beach for an FTV. Visitors of the resorts who
saw the setup came to take a look and have discussions about
astronomy. The resort owner, who happens to have an interest in
astronomy and how the ancient Polynesians used the stars to navigate
the sky also joined me and welcomed the idea of doing an Astronomy
Night event for the resort.
When we headed back to
Agoo, I was surprised to learn that the children waited for me in the
past night to look through the telescope. I did a second setup in the
basketball court where a larger group of people got the chance to see
the Moon and stars.
For the remainder of my
nights in Agoo I stayed in the astrodeck – yes, I pitched my tent
there – observing throughout the night and taking short naps when
some clouds start to roll in.
After New Year we headed
back to Baguio. I didn't get to do anymore FTVs after catching a cold
– probably from spending a number of chilly nights in the
astrodeck, and hot weather during the day. Being from Baguio, we
tried to visit spots that we haven't been to or are not crowded by
tourists. One of the places we went to is the Maryknoll Ecological
Sanctuary. Why am I adding this to this log? Because of the
cosmology/history of Earth inspired nature walk. The hiking trail was
entitled Cosmic Journey where they trace the formation of the
Universe to the evolution of man.
After the long holiday
break it's back to Manila where I return to my laptop and cram my
astronomy talk.
