Last Transit of Venus in 21st Century

In Asia, the transit of Venus will be taking place sometime during the daylight hours on Wednesday, June 6 (somewhere between 9am to 12 noon). During a transit of Venus, Venus shows itself as a small, dark dot in front of the solar disk. Venus, the second planet from the sun, goes in between the sun and Earth in its orbit five times every eight years. Most of the time, however, Venus doesn’t go directly in front of the sun, but rather swings above it or below it. But on June 5-6, 2012, Venus directly crosses the sun’s disk for almost seven hours.

Credit: http://earthsky.org/tonight/transit-of-venus-for-north-america-on-afternoon-of-june-5

'Belt of Venus'

Credit: http://earthsky.org/tonight

I wish the sky remains clear this evening so I could catch the glimpse of 'Venus's Girdle' or also known as 'Belt of Venus'!

I have previously came across the term of 'belt of venus'  on 24th Oct 2010, while lingering around the topic of twilight, which started from learning my way through the names of clouds.. this is the caption from Mr.Wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belt_of_Venus)

"It was said in that article that the Belt of Venus or Venus's Girdle is the name for an atmospheric phenomenon seen shortly after sunset or shortly before sunrise. It is observed as very nearly, surrounded by a pinkish glow or anti-twilight arch that extends roughly 10°–20° above the horizon. Often, the glow is separated from the horizon by a dark layer, called 'the shadow of earth'. The arch's light rose (pink) color is due to back-scattering of reddened light from the rising or setting sun. When the sky is clear, the Earth's shadow is visible in the opposite half of the sky to the sunset or sunrise, and is seen right above the horizon as a dark blue band. A related phenomenon is the "Belt of Venus" or "anti-twilight arch", a pink band that is visible above the dark blue of the Earth's shadow, in the same part of the sky."

trying out windows live writer

windows live writer – does it really works well with blog?

Tsunami hits Japan!!

Japan was hit by what's been reported as the most enormous earthquake in Japan history of 8.9magnitude, on March 11, 2011, that triggered a deadly 23-foot tsunami 230miles northeast of Tokyo.

Read more: Tsunami Factfile: Learn about the tsunami that struck Japan in March 2011 and the Indian Ocean in 2004 — source
 www.infoplease.com
Also, some scary images being upload, which shows how the waves swirl in such monstrous manner.
massive whirlpool image of the tsunami 

Whirlpools are seen following the tsunami in Iwaki, Fukushimacaption

Also, footage of Sendai Aiport being hit by the tsunami Sendai Airport

Sendai Airport was surrounded by water

Cars and airplanes swept by a tsunami are pictured among debris at Sendai Airport

Fishing boats were stranded on shore at Oarai, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan.

Earthquake-triggered tsumanis swept ashore along Iwanuma in northern Japan.




 Our prayers to Japan, they have recovered from what was worse than this during World War, hopefully they'll recover this time around, Ameen..

PE could be a threat to travellers?

PE or pulmonary embolism is a health threat whereby there's a situation of having a blood clot in your lung. It came as shocking read about Serena Williams, the Grand Slam legend - whom is now recuperating from it. Who would have thought  that being active in sports would also landed her as so, but it has further surprised me that other than these stated factor; immobilazation after broken bones, recent surgery or obesity - travelling can also magnify the threat!whoa..!! It is described that sitting for a prolonged period can slow the blood flow in one legs therefore risking the potential of clot formation. The clots were describe as capable of floating through the bloodstreams and lead to our lung, get stuck in the vessels and obstruct the blood flow like a clogged pipe!

So, what do you do to prevent it? I was concern because I do a lot of long distance traveling which usually clock-in more than 2 hours drive, so the given advice was, stop and have a stretch at least every 2 hours of drive or if traveling by flight, get up and walk around the cabin every hour. That should do it, and the rest we'll leave to Allah al-Mighty..

Ipoh via ETS

Safely arrive in Ipoh for a total of 2hrs 15mins. The ETS ride was smooth, but it cost a ‘bomb’ to fork out RM102  (RM30 per adult, RM21 per children between 4-12, of  KL-Ipoh route) to actually get 4 of us (2 adult and 2 children) to travel for a one-way ride from KL to Ipoh, plus the hassle to get someone to send us to KL Sentral from our residence in Subang and again for someone else to fetch us at the Ipoh Station! Whereas, for the same amount, I can get to Ipoh via own car at the comfort of door to door, to and fro!

dark and gloomy platform of KL Sentral

the ride

entertainment on board - top left corner is the speed its going

Economically, that, would be one of the main concern of using ETS, but of course the ride was fun and relaxing, the children was enjoying themselves with the comfort, and the space allocated for each seat was quite generous. Also, there's a 3-pin power point outlet at the wall, just under the seat for each window seat, so people can actually link their gadget to the power, but of course you have to ask for a window seat then (at this moment, the ticket price remain the same).

station on display

escalator is now avalaible to connect between north and south bound platform

However, I think KTMB should take immediate action to clear out all the rubbish which has been littering along the route. It's so horrifying to see all those litter even under the darkening ambience of twilight.Also, I hope better consideration would take place to study the economical factor of the ticket price, since our public transportation were still not efficient unlike Singapore where all the transportation are well integrated. ETS might solve the issue of how to get from Ipoh to KL under 2hrs but you can't easily get yourself around in KL let say Kl  Sentral to Damansara, there is no public transport other than taxi. And ETS management also need to do feasibility studies of the prices that they are offering - RM204 for a family  of 4 for a journey from KL to Ipoh is not feasible at all if you are comparing to the comfort of traveling with own vehicle. I usually spent RM100 which cover the petrol and the toll - to and fro!!

Anyway, if you are fellow Malaysian, do give ETS a try..

Note: ETS counter ticket would be on right-section of KL Sentral, whereas the Shuttle Service's ticket were sold at KTMB counter situated on the left-section of KL Sentral, upon entering its foyer, if you are coming from Hilton Hotel's direction

Interesting Aviation Info

I didn't know that these figures actually mean something in aviation..  ;)
it only make sense when the tip of the wings elevate at certain degree in comparison to those units of degree.

Catch the Geminid Meteor Streak Between 12-14 Dec

The 2010 Geminid meteor shower, peaking the week of December 12-18, should be a good one. Why? The time when the most meteors can be seen should coincide with the time the moon is at the opposite side of the sky and in the process of dipping below the horizon. The less moon, the darker the skies; the darker the sky, the brighter the shooting stars!

The Geminids, created by the embers of a disintegrating asteroid, seem to be blasting out of the constellation Gemini (hence their name) just to the left of Orion, in the southwestern night sky.
Since this time of year Orion and Gemini are seen in the skies of the Northern Hemisphere, the Southern Hemisphere gets short-changed on this one. The Geminids begin to be seen in early December at the rate of one or two an hour. But things gradually pick up. Scientists point out December 13-14 is not the end of the Geminids, however, and more could be seen on in the next few nights after the peak.

If the weather doesn’t cooperate for you, or you just can’t get to a good viewing spot, you can actually watch this year’s Geminids on your computer! NASA says it will feature live webcams this year of the Geminids. Go to www.nasa.gov on the evening of Dec. 13 to log on.

http://www.bashewa.com/wxmeteor-showers.php?shower=Geminids
http://www.meteorblog.com/2010/12/december-meteor-shower-schedule/
http://jerrygarrett.wordpress.com/2010/12/03/where-amp-when-to-watch-december-2010s-geminids-meteor-shower/
http://www.bashewa.com/showers/geminids.jpg

Stargazing on July 17th 2010

After the sunset, when darkness creeping up, I notice a bright 'stars' at the bottom right of the crescent moon. Capturing it with my auto olympus didn't do much justice of describing how wonderfully-bright the stars is!!


and I just find out from (http://earthsky.org/tonight) the bright stars is actually the planet Venus (this bright right white Venus is readily visible above the western horizon from half an hour after Sunset) and there are actually more to it, with a string of bright stars which is actually the planets Saturn and Mars! and there could be Mercury at lower bottom if given a clear sky!! OMG!! am serious in need of good reliable bino (hmmm.. it's still remains as part of wish list)


also check out this link http://astroblogger.blogspot.com/2010/07/dance-of-moon-and-planets.html#links


this could be how the line-up over the skyline would look on 22.07.10!!