Pluto's 5th Moon

Pluto, the former planet of our solar system, is now found to have 5 moons. This new moon just followed the recent discovery of its 4th moon, P4, last year. The Pluto-system now consists of the Pluto & Charon, Hydra and Nix, P4, and now P5 as of July 2012.

Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope were able to observe the moon orbiting Pluto from images taken with Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3. P5 (not an official name yet, likewise with P4) is estimated to be irregular in shape ranging from 6-15 miles across. It's orbit around Pluto has a diameter of 58,000 miles.

Although it is now found to have more moons, Pluto cannot yet retain its planet classification. The number of small solar system bodies around Pluto's orbit (which may be the reason behind the growing number of moons) shows that it still violates the 3rd condition of a planet.

According to the IAU (International Astronomical Union) a planet is a body:

a) in orbit around the Sun,

b) has sufficient mass to achieve a hydrostatic equilibrium shape (spherical shape); and

c) has cleared it's neighborhood around its orbit.

The presence of the Kuiper belt objects removes Pluto from the planet category and down to the dwarf-planet category (defined by satisfying condition a and b) with it's partner Charon. All other bodies that only match condition a are classified further into SSSBs or Small Solar System Bodies (asteroids, meteoroids, etc.).

We will get to understand Pluto further when the New Horizon's spacecraft will do a flyby on 2015.

Astro Education

Its been a while since I've written anything on this blog. The weather lately has been uncooperative, been quite busy reviewing lessons for my classes, and the net connection at home has been down, but still the art of science documentation must prevail! hehe..

This school year we began one of our classes by running around on a pile of sand, attempting to throw balls at a right angle projection, spun around in office chairs, all in an attempt to create simplified means of teaching astronomy concepts to students. This is the field of astronomy education.

A lot of students are interested to learn about astronomy, yet not all teachers know how to teach it. Our class attempts to create simplified experiments on how to show various concepts in astronomy in a means where the students can be taught the basics without having to rely on technical equipment or settling for textbook style lectures. The experiments are creative and can really challenge the learners to think for themselves.

I tried one of these experiments on disproving horoscopes on my Introduction to Astronomy class. We shuffled the previous day's horoscope and let the students choose which matches their experience for that day. A very small percentage of the class were able to match their horoscope which goes to show how unreliable and inaccurate the prediction of horoscopes are.

Also, I showed them the site where I got it online (philstar.com; June 24 horoscope. Experiment conducted on June 25) and showed a particular line which said "the moon goes into hiding these week,disappearing a little more each night until the new moon in Cancer on Friday" which was very much incorrect since the moon was still in the waxing crescent phase and which means it has just came out of the new moon.

Simple as the experiment maybe, it well proves its point. The development of educational materials in astronomy can really help develop astronomy here in the Philippines, in terms of astronomy education. I'm looking forward to our outputs.

Observation of Venus Transit

Despite cloudy forecasts, astronomers and astro-enthusiasts from all over the Philippines were able to take their glimpse of the last Venus transit of our generation. Also, the media gave a wide coverage of the event - which goes to show the growing interest of the public for astronomy.

I observed the Transit of Venus (TOV) from the University of the Philippines College of Science Amphitheater with the joint collaboration of the university based astronomical societies (Rizal Technological University, UP, & UPLB) in partnership with DOST-PAGASA and the Australian Embassy. The sky was partly cloudy during the event and the sun was concealed every now and then, but still we were able to witness the TOV.

The imaging teams

Dr. Perry Esguerra gives a talk on the TOV

The joint collaboration of astronomical societies

RTU AstroSoc team

My Transit of Venus image taken via MicroObservatory

Partial Lunar Eclipse - Observation Log

This evening, June 4, 2012, was a partial lunar eclipse. This happens whenever the Earth is in between the Sun and the Moon, and they become aligned in a way that the shadow of the Earth will cover part of the moon.

The event happened during moonrise so I had to find a clear view of the East. The best view I could get from my immediate vicinity was from the overpass at Q-mart in Cubao, Quezon City. The sky was also very cloudy due to a recent storm that passed by. I was reluctant to observe but I decided to go with it anyway. I grabbed my Nikon D3100 and a 55-200mm Nikkor lens and waited for the moon to reveal itself.

The moon began peeking through the cloud cover and I started grabbing some images. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get any good shots and the clouds obscured my view of the maximum eclipse (at 38% cover of umbral shadow). Also, I had to leave the site since there were suspicious individuals eyeing my camera (almost lost my wallet to a pick-pocket the previous night; never observe alone in an unsecure location).

Dismayed by my lack of usable images I went home to follow the live TwitCast from the astrocamp observatory. I went out every now and then hoping to catch a glimpse of the eclipsed moon. Fortunately, the skies cleared a bit and I rushed to take out my 6" Newtonian reflector and set it up on the street. I was finally able to get some decent images. Too bad I wasn't able to do an eclipse progression. Maybe next time! :)

Venus Transit - Astro Art

Transit of Venus
medium: acrylic on paper

A picture is said to paint a thousand words, so here is my astronomical artwork in promotion of the Venus Transit. Shown here is the passing/transit of Venus in between the Sun and Earth. Venus here is carried by the mythological figure Venus/Aphrodite - the Roman goddess of love, beauty and pleasure and procreation. On Earth is a refracting telescope representing observation which is done safely through projection method.

Venus Transit

This coming June 6 (Philippines; June 5 in other time zones) will be one rare astronomical event of a life time - the transit of Venus.

The Venus transit is an event wherein the planet Venus will pass directly in between the Sun and Earth, making it appear as a dot moving across the surface of the Sun. This does not happen often since the plane of Venus and Earth are tilted with respect to Each other. This event will not repeat itself until the year 2117 making it indeed a once in a lifetime event. The eclipse happens in a pattern of pairs spaced 8 years apart, and followed by a gap of alternating 121 1/2 years and 105 1/2 years respectively. The last Venus transit was in 2004, so if you missed that this is literally the last chance.

The event will be seen from the Philippines from sunrise till noon. It is not safe to view, so proper protection is  needed. Transit of Venus.org has a list of recommended viewing methods.

If however, you lack the equipment or are unsure of your safety to view the event, you may join the public events hosted by astronomical societies in the country:

• The Astronomical League of the Philippines with the National Museum - Manila Planetarium will be having their public viewing at Rizal Park.

• The Philippine Astronomical Society will be at the Manila Observatory at Ateneo de Manila.

• The astronomical societies of UP Diliman, UP Los Baños, and RTU, with the cooperation of the Australian Embassy, DOST-PAGASA and D' Great Rovers will have their  observation at the CS Amphitheater at UP Diliman.

Partial Annular Solar Eclipse

I missed the partial annular solar eclipse yesterday since my tripod was damaged and I had no accessible sight. Anyways, I'm glad to see the different astronomy groups and astronomy enthusiasts having their observations all around and being covered by the media.

Here are some eclipse photos taken by Jonathan Ponce Javier from Mines View Park in Baguio City.