Your Personal Astronomy Guide

Dead blog is alive again! Maybe not...

2009-09-05T16:57:00.002+08:00

Fellow stargazers...

I'M BACK

BUAHAHAHAH

okok...
just being lame

Anyways, its been almost half a year since my previous post, so i guess i should update it!

CJC astro is really fun. the members are really cooperative and i would really thank them to keep this club running. ok, maybe i got one or two not so enthu ones, but generally i am very satisfied with the lot. well, i managed to get almost all of them to go for at least one stargazing trip to the science center, which means that they should have some experience for future things coming up

So, here are the members:

Zong Yang (me!)
Jun Da
Leong Jie
Chow Han
Suraj
Kang Wei
Yi Chin
Velda
Mary
Joel
Jun Xiang
Wei Yang
Enoch
Duc
Jonathan
Raymond
Justin
Shan Jin
Rachael

being the president is really stressful... juggling it with normal school work, the pressure can be crushing.

so... the sky for this season:
Jupiter rises high into the sky at 9pm, with scorpius and sagittarius joining it in the west

early in the morning Venus dominates the eastern sky, while orion and the whole group can be seen directly above us.

Also keeping in mind with the upcoming CIP for Maris Stella, i will perhaps put this blog into hibernation once again...

So, all the best with the upcoming promos for the J1s!

Zong Yang

Semakau skyfill

2009-04-08T18:28:00.002+08:00

Aww damn

Why must the sky be so cloudy?! GAH!!!

It looks like i had wasted 30 bucks to watch clouds, lie around and sleep, when im supposed to be stargazing the whole night. On top of that, it RAINED! !@#$^@$%!@#

therefore, we only saw these objects:
The Moon
Saturn
M42
M41
M45
M44
and we had to wait all the way until the morning at 4 am...
Omega Centauri(NGC 5139)
Jewel Box (NGC 4755)
M4
M6
M7
M8
M22
M17(possible)
Jupiter
Venus

What a bummer

On the bright side, i had my very own LASER POINTER!!!! WOOTS!!! Also,it seems that our astro club J1s are very enthusiastic about this trip, and they ran around, made a fool of themselves, talked cock, walked around the island once(i followed reluctantly) and were very patient with my lectures. Three cheers to them! =)
Well, expect pictures quite soon, i will post them when i have the time

See u guys this Good Friday at the science center!

ZongYang the Chinzynator

Telescope Mania

2009-04-02T18:12:00.002+08:00

Oh boy, oh boy
CJ astro club is getting a 4-inch refractor tomorrow. WOOTS

Mr tan said that the computerized GPS C8 schimdtt cassegrain is a complete waste of money, the telescope CPU broke down (oh no) and had fungus growing all over the lens. he could had bought 3 manual scopes and done a better job with it

well, while chatting with mr tan at his office, we came up with crazy ideas, like buying 10 plus beginner scopes and do a telescope dance(pratically means, when someone shouts "alderbaran", all telescopes will point at that star, u know what i mean). even better, we could buy 3 decent scopes and do a messier marathon in Singapore, yes, SINGAPORE! eh, how tough could it be?

it would seem silly to install a 16 inch(40cm) scope in my house and enclosed by an observatory. price? 2 mill sing dollars. with all those filters to reduce city lights. well, mr albert lim sounded kinda silly with a decent 40cm scope in a very light polluted singapore

Anyways, there are 3 types of telescopes. the refractor, the reflector and the compound telescope. the refractor uses lens to bend light, the reflector uses angled mirrors and the compound telescope uses both. in my opinion, the long tube reflector is the best bang for buck scope. with decent optics, the pleiades to the orion nebula will be a piece of cake for this! also, take note that singapore is too bright, we usually travel overseas to stargaze, so our telescopes must be portable. forget about C8s or scopes any larger.

Semakau here i come!

Zong Yang

Back from Desaru, and on to SEMAKAU!!!

2009-04-01T17:32:00.003+08:00

I have to say that CJC astro club was really busy eh!

Desaru astro camp:
NIGHT 1)
We arrived at the middle of the night at 2am to somewhere near Desaru, got stuck in school waiting for that stupid van for coming(it came at 9pm when its supposed to come at 6).On the way there, Deborah(my senior)was screaming "i can see the big dipper!!" throughout. Well, upon reaching there, i just raised my head and all i can see are STARS. you gotta believe me. STARS and nothing else. there might be zillions of them.

oh damn

i got a leg injury and all i can do is to hobble around, while my fellow J1s had to learn how to operate the telescope( we brought a C8!) In the end of day 1, the telescope CPU spoilt, but its better anyways because i prefer manual stuff. Also, bitten by the first wave of mosquitoes... Which preludes to...

DAY 2)
Well, everyone stayed up the whole night, so of course we have to sleep during the day. Breakfast was decent, though=P
After that, everyone went on to do a project of what we saw last night, so the guys built a somewhat realistic model of the solar system, while the girls made clay figures of the zodiac constellations. cute. this shows that we astro guys are nerdy?

another note is: the beach is excellent. we had so much fun eating and talking and running all over the place after doing the project

Night 2)
After dinner, we started the stargazing session again. well, here's a list of objects i found:
PLANETS:
Jupiter
Saturn
Moon(well its not a planet, but its a solar system object anyways)

DEEP SKY OBJECTS:
Messiers:
4,6,7,8,22(possible),35,36,37,38,41,42,43,44,45,46,47
Omega Centauri
Jewel Box
Eta Carinae Nebulae and surrounding star clusters

Of course, who will forget the first look of the Milky Way? at Desaru, its a band of light arcing across Sagittarius and Carina. Just simply stunning to see even with the naked eye.

Well, definitely the last and the least of this trip is the DAMNED BLOODSUCKING MOSQUITOES. its like every 3 minutes i will have one biting my exposed ankle and it was swelling really REALLY big. i practically have to drag my feet home after the trip

DAY 3)
Not again. Our van broken down and was replaced with another van which could almost run out of its juice. oh yeah, then we raided the 7 Eleven at the petrol kiosk before going back through the causeway.

**THE END** (of the trip)

On to Semakau...
As a note to Semakau, it might not be as good as Desaru, but hey its much better than to stargaze in Singapore! Anyways, Semakau is notorious for its sandflies and freaking strong southern winds, so bring a jacket and come in jeans, last but not least, LONG SOCKS, trust me, u will need it for anti sandfly procedures=P

As suggested by Mr Tan, i will have to bring my scope and he will bring another refractor as our C8 is pretty much damaged (with all those dew, haiz).

Wishing clear skies and great weather
Zong Yang

Cj Lightbulb jokes...

2009-02-15T15:29:00.002+08:00

i found this in Alphonso's blog and laughed my ass off over this
JCs and their methods of changing light bulbs =D

Q: How many RJC students does it take to change a light bulb?
A: 4 whole faculties. One to design the new bulb, one to
manufacture and test it out, one to write a proposal on it and one to market it.

Q: How many HCJC students does it take to change a light bulb?
A: The whole school. To compete with RJC.

Q: How many VJC students does it take to change a light bulb?
A: The whole school. One student to screw it in and the rest to cheer and wave flags and banners to give him/her support.

Q: How many NJC students does it take to change a light bulb?
A: None. They can study without light.

Q: How many AJC students does it take to change a light bulb?
A: They're too busy trying to be one of the top 5 JCs.

Q: How many ACJC students does it take to change a light bulb?
A: None. They'll rather use all their money to employ YJC to do it for them.

Q: How many YJC students does it take to change a light bulb?
A: None. Only one teacher to tell them what a light bulb is in the first place and to demonstrate how to change the light bulb. (So how do you think they're able to change it for ACJC?)

Q: How many CJC students does it take to change a light bulb?
A: They'll prefer it to be darker. (Hmmmm?*raises eye-brows* )

Q: How many JJC students does it take to change a light bulb?
A: None. Their physics is so bad that they made their macho male physics teacher cry.

Q: How many TPJC students does it take to change a light bulb?
A: None. Would they even bother?

Q: How many SAJC students does it take to change a light bulb?
A: None. They believe in praying for it.

Q: How many NYJC students does it take to change a light bulb?
A: None. They are still using oil lamps.

Q: How many SRJC students does it take to change a light bulb?
A: Huh, what litebarb?

Q: How many PJC students does it take to change a light bulb?
A: Heck the light bulb lah, the principal would do something about the rightbarbs. Let's do 300 jumping jacks for not wearing the proper school attire.

Q: How many MJC students does it take to change a light bulb?
A: None. They are too busy trying to get promoted.

Q: How many IJC students does it take to change a light bulb?
A: None. They are Innovians. They'll find ways out of the dark.

Q: Who wrote all this?
A: A TJCian.

Q: How many TJC students does it take to change a light bulb?
A: None. They think they are already very bright.

Ok, a quiz for now...

2009-02-14T20:29:00.004+08:00

Ok guys, i never did this before, but i'll give it a try...

THREE NAMES YOU GO BY:
Chinzy!(2MD, 4JT)
Yang Yang(Relatives, close friends)
Noob!(in dota)

THREE SCREEN NAMES YOU'VE HAD:
huh?

THREE THINGS YOU'VE DONE IN THE LAST 33 MINUTES:
DotA
Finished my Bf-109 German Fighter
Twiddling with my mouse...

THREE THINGS YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF:
I'm musically trained and enjoys classical music
I'm an astronomer (haha!)
I'm super tall(woots!)

THREE THINGS YOU DISLIKE ABOUT YOURSELF:
I'm not very fit(NS beware!)
My dress code(why always t-shirts and jeans?)
Super bad in time management

THREE THINGS YOU ARE AFRAID OF:
Hmmm... this is hard...
Smashing my telescope
My dad(when angry)
Eating Garlic

THREE THINGS YOU ARE WEARING RIGHT NOW:
CJC orientation T-shirt, grey OP pants and flexible specs

THREE IMPORTANT OBJECTS:
My telescope, my handphone, B-29 aircraft model

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE BANDS:
If you count Il Divo as a band, i will consider...
If i can say an orchestra, i'll say the Berlin Philarmonic orchestra

THREE OF YOUR EVERYDAY ESSENTIALS:
Wallet, mobile phone and spectacles

THREE WAYS TO BE HAPPY:
Play the piano
Go stargazing
Play DotA

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE SONGS AT PRESENT:
can i list classical stuff too?
Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture
Liszt's Liebestraum no.3
Butterfly Lovers Concerto(liangzhu)

THREE NEW THINGS YOU WANT TO TRY IN THE NEXT 12 MONTHS:
no time pple, no time=P

THREE THINGS YOU REGRET:
being such a jerk in school
basically, thats it

THREE THINGS YOU WANT IN A RELATIONSHIP:
Love, understanding and basically long-lasting happiness

THREE IMPORTANT THINGS YOU'RE GIVING TO THE WORLD:
My love of music, reaching out to the poor and contribution to astronomy(i'm such a geek)

THREE PHYSICAL THINGS YOU LIKE IN THE OPPOSITE SEX:
hmmm... difficult... i find them easier to talk to, easier to get along well with and deeply emotional sometimes(is this good or a bad thing? i dunno...)

THREE EMOTIONAL THINGS YOU LIKE IN THE OPPOSITE SEX:
I have absolutely no idea=P

THREE THINGS YOU JUST CAN'T DO:
Lucent Beams, Pointing the telescope to uranus and handling a relationship

THREE THINGS YOU MISS FROM YOUR PAST:
Carefree and no pressure from the exams
my sec4 class(i missed u guys already!)
my purity(ahem!)

THREE REASONS WHY YOU ARE WHO YOU ARE:
Class 6/4 of 2004 had given me a taste of whats going on in the real world, i must thank them for that. class 2MD 2006 had pushed me beyond my limits to study hard and treat pple wif compassion and care. class 4JT 2008 had given me friendship and acceptance.

THREE OF YOUR FAVOURITE HOBBIES:
Aircraft modelling
Stargazing
Playing the Piano

THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO REALLY BADLY RIGHT NOW:
Study DAMN SIBEI HARD! Thats JC life
Get FIT! Get ready for NS
Get the person of my dreams

THREE CAREERS YOU'RE CONSIDERING:
Astronomer(US?)
Musician
Music Teacher

THREE PLACES YOU WANT TO GO FOR HOLIDAY:
Japan(again!)
USA
Anywhere in Europe

THREE CARTOON CHARACTERS:
Inuyasha
Pikachu(pika pika?)
Gundams

THREE GIRL'S NAMES:
OH. MY. GOD.
where should i begin?

Rachel Phang- I'll not explain much, but she's a buddy of mine for many many years. Those who knew me well will know why i put her in this list.

Jasmine Hui- She's like one of my best friends for quite some time(2 plus years) as well. She's always there when i'm down and depressed and all i can say is that she is a friend matched only by a few.

Yee Yin- Ok, being blunt, i know she hates me. But, her presence made me constantly remind myself what i kind of person i am and what i must do(or not to do)to those i meet in the future, so she's like a person god sent down to help you but uses a different(and cruel) method to do so. i might not have the chance to say thanks to her, but if she sees this blog, i hope my message is clear...

THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE:
Make a contribution to astronomy
love that person all my life
and enjoy the rest of my long long life ahead

THREE PEOPLE WHO HAVE TO TAKE THIS QUIZ (OR DIE PAINFULLY):
Hmmm
Yue Lin
Jocelyn
Kevin

Dee End!

Anyways, have you noticed the sky was full of bright stars recently?
Any questions please ask me on the tagboard or msn!

Tata~

Zong Yang

Upcoming Stargazing Sessions

2008-11-26T17:55:00.003+08:00

Due to the job i had to do, the stargazing sessions with me will be varied:
27th November
(4-9 December at vietnam)
11/12 Dec
18/19 Dec
25/26 Dec

The B-29 looks magneficent with its engines and propellers on XD

Tata~

Zong Yang

Back from Semakau, Sleep-Deprived and Starstruck

2008-11-23T13:02:00.002+08:00

I'm back from Semakau landfill!!!

The twilight sky was cloud-covered, and even i had problems seeing Jupiter. Plus, my not-so-massive-but-quite-ponderous 76 mm Newtonian is kinda damaged! Luckily, a TASOS member helped me to repair my scope and it returned to operational standard soon enough.

After midnight, the rare miracle of a superb clear sky gave all of us a mega-clear view of the majestic constellation Orion, with Taurus, Gemini, Canis Major/ Minor and several other constellations too bothersome to state out surrounding Orion.

So far, My 76 mm, Valdrick's 4 inch and TASOS' 8 inch Schmitt0-Cassegrain had revealed several star-clusters, nebulae, and 2 planets, plus the moon

Messier Objects:
M35 (Gemini)-{Star Cluster}
M41 (Canis Major)-{Star Cluster}
M42/43 (Orion) [Great Nebula of Orion]
M44 (Cancer) [Beehive/ Praespae Cluster]
M45 (Taurus) [Pleaides/ Seven Sisters]
M46 (Puppis)-{Star Cluster}
M47 (Puppis)-{Star Cluster}
M78 (Orion)-{Nebula}

Failed to spot these objects (even through the 8-inch)
M1 (Taurus) [Crab Nebula]-{Supernova remnant}
M31/32/110 (Andromeda) [Andromeda Galaxy]=Too near the horizon

Planets:
Jupiter
Saturn
Moon

Will post pictures of the event once i upload all of them=D

Zong Yang

Stormy clouds ahead...

2008-11-20T15:39:00.002+08:00

Ok I know there was somebody out there probably trying to critisize me or something, but i won't care a damn.

Firstly let me explain this: IT IS PERFECTLY FINE TO STARGAZE IN SINGAPORE(although it was a little too bright). I explain why. Singapore is in the equator, enabling it to see both stars in the northern and southern hemisphere, and with a pair of binoculars, you can already clear the light pollution. This adds an advantage in Singapore, so why not?

I'm resisting from spamming her sms inbox when i saw that girl's blog(too bad i didn't)

Anyways, tonight's stargazing has been cancelled due to a family outing AND lack of people. So please come either tmr to the science center or maybe on other weeks.

Current pple going tmr:
-Cheng Feng
-Angela
-Me
-Valdrick
-And maybe some unknown pple

Watch out for super bright Venus just after the sun sets
Near Venus is Jupiter, another bright "star"
The famous winter constellations will be rising from the east, as Orion peeks in at 10pm

Ugh i seriously need to carry the hulking Celestron 76mm scope to the science center on friday... haiz....

The Pulau Semakau Trip is coming, dead ahead in 3 more days. hope i can see the Andromeda Galaxy this time!

Getting really fustrated, and a little tired

Zong Yang =\

Well, its all over...

2008-11-15T00:26:00.004+08:00

Whoo, posting this in the middle of the night,...

The o lvls are finally over, WOOTS!! Anyways, after the o lvlz, the stargazing bug had caught me again(O.O) and i went stargazing 2 days in a row! However, the sky wasn't very helpful, and all Man Yau, Valdrick and I saw was:

-the Moon
-Jupiter
-Venus

ARGH!

Plus my phone was sent to servicing, so i didn't take any pictures (sniff)

Anyways, i will be at pulau semakau landfill next week for TASOS stargazing session for the whole night, and i pray hard hard for the weather to be more merciful

So anyways, as jupiter and venus crashes to the west with the sun, look out for the constellation taurus, the bull at the east. if you had a pair of binoculars, look out for the pleiades, or the 7 sisters cluster, or the big hyades cluster near aldebaran, the eye of the bull.

Next to taurus will be orion, the hunter. To all astro newbies out there, please please go and study the constellation before coming to me for stargazing these few months

Alright, its very late and i need sleep so

tata~

Zong Yang

3 more tiny MCQs to go!

2008-11-07T12:41:00.002+08:00

Hi pple!

Ok, so many exams had passed, and there are 3 tiny not-so-tiring exams left! Yes, 3! Lemme summarise the o levels...

A Math P2 was difficult(or so i think)
E Math was PSLE standard(right?)
Physics was quite easy(not to most others, haiz)
Biology was a no-brainer
History was history
Social studies was quite easy on the essays, but the Source-Based was a killer
HCL was surprisingly not so difficult, considering my chinese was very noobish
MUSIC WAS HELL, DAMMIT=(

Leaving these stuff aside, i would like u to take note:
Astronomy stargazing session resumes from 13th November onwards, after the Biology MCQ. Those who want to come along please notice me via the tagboard, email or sms. Looking forward to seeing you back on the field!

A very exam-sick and exam-tired
Zong Yang-.-

O Levels! Update 1

2008-10-23T22:09:00.003+08:00

Hi pple
Three papers are over... dunno how many more to go...
chemistry is really easy!
english is mind boggling
a math paper 1 is a mixture of hard and easy....

Oh well, its E math P1 and A math P2 tmr.

Anyways, for astronomy, jupiter is edging further to the west every night, while orion moves slowly to be seen at around 10-11plus pm.

All the best for our last 3 weeks of o levels!

Zong Yang

"O"s coming... Sigh

2008-09-22T21:09:00.002+08:00

Hi pple,
Hate to say it, but "o"s coming in a month's time. I haven't updated this old timer for several months already, so here i am...

Anyways, if u guys are wondering, jupiter is that bright thingy in the middle of the sky @ 8-9pm. Whats more- Orion and company is coming out from the other side in the morning, so stay tuned! Grab your starmaps and get out there when the exams are over!

Have Fun!
Zong Yang

Come on people, ask questions!!

2008-07-31T23:26:00.002+08:00

Hello guys,

Please tag questions at the tagboard! I can help to answer!
These few nights so clear...... GAH! I WANNA GO DO ASTRONOMY BUT I STOPPED MYSELF... *sniff*... anyways, all the best for upcoming exams and o levels!

Sighing off... *haiz*
Zong Yang

Observing... Summer '08

2008-07-09T21:02:00.006+08:00

Hello fellow amateurs

Sorry to be stagnent for so long, i'm too busy with talentime these few days^^.

Anyways, during the class bbq i managed to take several pictures of the planets and saw several stuff i would like to share:

the constellation of Scorpius

NGC6231

M6(Butterfly cluster)

M7 (Ptolemy's Cluster)

Now for something out of Scorpius: Omega Centauri(NGC5139)

Jupiter and moons

Jupiter thru my telescope with my camera=P

Last but not least, the Gibbeous moon

Enjoy the pictures=P

Zong Yang

Saturn! Chapter 1

2008-05-12T19:09:00.010+08:00

saturn taken from earth....
this beautiful image is from the recent nasa mission cassini, the orbiter around saturn...

Back to the observing log......

Hi all!! Due to the examinations, i only managed to find time to do this lesson. Although i'm supposed to start with Jupiter, i shall start with his smaller, flashier cousin, saturn, with the title " lord of the rings" to boot. Today, topic will be on saturn's beautiful rings that can be seen in even the most modest of telescopes, and the ever-increasing number of 63+ natural satellites

Saturn's main satellites(moons) can be divided to several portions: inner large moons, outer large moons, shepard moons, irregular moons and moonlets. For the inner moons we have Mimas(looks similar to the death star in star wars), Enceladus, Tethys and Dione. Outer large moons include Rhea, Titan, Hyperion and Iapetus. Shepard moons include Prometheus, Pandora, Pan and Atlas and several others i won't bother to list... Irregular tiny moons make up the rest of saturn's vast number of moons, the largest of all is the oddball Phoebe, a captured asteroid(maybe).

Mimas, the innermost big moon of saturn, has this huge crater sticking out... the shot could had killed it. look for similarities with the death star of star wars in the pic below....
nice issit?

Enceladus
notice how bright this guy is? its because of the possible liquid ice underneath a surface of solid ice reflects alot of light back at us! This moon is said to have sprouted the microscopic particles for saturn's E ring(discussed later)

Look at this giant shallow crater! Tethys almost suffered the same fate as mimas, crater named oddysseus is 2/5 the diameter of this moon! heavily cratered, it is a typical moon of saturn with a twist: the moon has a giant rift not shown in this picture called Ithaca Chasma

many knows the biscuit called dione, this rocky cookie is dione, a moon of saturn! the wispy surface details are a highlight of this moon, but still heavily cratered like the others

Rhea, the second largest moon in the saturnian system. its surface is similar to dione, with wispy surface markings and heavily cratered, but bigger.

Titan, the largest moon of saturn and second largest moon of the solar system, bigger than mercury and pluto(not a planet now=P), has a thick orange atmosphere containing methane and other organic molecules. Seas of other higher hydrocarbons are predicted.

Cassini-Huygens space probe launched in 1997 lands Huygens onto the titanian surface, and only to see something like this:

tag to give your views

Hyperion! this holey potato got its shape from a explaination that it was blasted into bits from a larger satellite, fragments like this became Hyperion. mostly made of dirty water-ice

this strange moon with a strange name, Iapetus is known for one side much darker than the other! a possible explanation is iapetus swept up the fragments from the blown up hyperion mentioned earlier above and got one side dirtied. this is because only one side of this perticular moon faces saturn, like our own moon...

Phoebe, the oddball from the allerged asteroid belt or a stray comet, is highly cratered and strange, rotating in a retrograde orbit(different from other satellites) and taking 550 days to rotate saturn just once...

Saturn's complex ring system is divided into different sections, mainly D, C, B, A, F, G and E rings. Each photograph of the ring below will describe... Anyways, Saturn's ring system is made up of ice and rock particles sizing from dust bits to an average bungalow. If the ring is as thick as a sheet of paper, the ring must be 1 mile wide to keep the scale. Incredible eh?

the D ring, dark and closest to Saturn....
the C ring, can be seen from Earth, this ring is just outside the D ring

the B ring, the brightest and most massive of them all! this beauty is seperated from the A ring by the cassini division.....

the A ring, the outermost ring we puny Earthlings can see, split by the encke gap and stayed on shape by tiny shepard satellites only a few kilometers across...

the F ring is just outside the A ring, kept by two tiny shepard moons named Pandora and Prometheus, watch the animation for ripples in this peculiar ring.....

the G ring is a faint ring outside the F, and is much brighter on the inner edge. this is similar to the rings of neptune O.o

The backlit E ring, with Enceladus silhouetted against it at center. the E ring is the biggest of all, starting from enceladus and extending all the way to rhea. however, these fine rings of microscopic material, F,G and E cannot be seen from earth as they are too dim

Lesson will continue next week....

All astronomy buffs/astronomers, please take note that the next observing session will be at 23rd of may 2008, 7.30pm. For any enquiries, please tag on the blog for questions, or tllm if u go to wikipedia. until then, may the skies be clear for that night=P

Zong Yang=D

SUPERNOVA!! Lesson 1

2008-04-05T22:02:00.006+08:00

Okies pple, now i go chiong info le ^^. Ok, so on supernovae... everyone always think that its a big bang rite? Type II Supernovae are formed when a massive star around or more than 3x our sun's mass (O.O) starts to run outta hydrogen to fusion into helium, so it starts to fuse helium to lithium, berylium, and when it runs outta helium, it keeps on going. Yes, fusing lithium and so on down the periodic table. Ok, then the star will stop fusing at iron. For beginners, the star prevents collapse under its own gravity by fusing elements into heavier elements, therefore the heat produced will keep the star balanced, or gravitational energy in the stars = energy produced by nuclear fusion(heat and light), therefore the star remains stable. When a star reaches the stage fusing iron, it cannot do it anymore(dunno why eh, go wiki learn ba XD), therefore the mass of the star collapses under its own gravity, and nuclear fusion cannot support its collapse, so the outer layers shrink to the core and crushing everything into the density of an atomic nucleus, then it rebounds backwards into space, causing a brilliant explosion called a supernova. Here i shall show some sizes of big stars and supernova remnants:)

Within a massive, evolved star (a) the onion-layered shells of elements undergo fusion, forming an iron core (b) that reaches Chandrasekhar-mass and starts to collapse. The inner part of the core is compressed into neutrons (c), causing infalling material to bounce (d) and form an outward-propagating shock front (red). The shock starts to stall (e), but it is re-invigorated by neutrino interaction. The surrounding material is blasted away (f), leaving only a degenerate remnant.(source from wikipedia)

The onion-like layers of a massive, evolved star just prior to core collapse. (Not to scale.)

Multiwavelength X-ray, infrared, and optical compilation image of Kepler's Supernova Remnant, SN 1604. (Chandra X-ray Observatory)

For that, i think i should end this lesson 1 then^^. Signing off!

Zong Yang=P

Starting new blog eh...

2008-03-30T16:20:00.008+08:00

Saturn(must zoom ar)

various phases of the moon

Hi all, starting this blog

This blog will be devoted to astronomical studies and stuff. It will be a virtual textbook to all. Astronomical info will be updated every week[will try lar =)] Hope ya all will enjoy^^. Here above i have included previous images to astronomy, some thru my own telescope. Pics of Moon and Saturn here.