During the past weeks, I couldn’t help but be engrossed with astronomy and the stars and the far reaches of the universe. Diliman Preparatory School’s mobile digital planetarium had been released by customs of several weeks. Now local astronomers were busy studying the capabilities of the accompanying software and hardware, which made the planetarium the first and only fully interactive planetarium in the Philippines.

After attending my fifth viewing this morning, I still learned many more bits of information about our night sky, and astronomy as a field.

For instance, a Filipino amateur astronomer, Christopher Go from Cebu, discovered the  second of Jupiter’s red spots in early 2006. Other astronomers worldwide confirmed the discovery, actually the change of the spot’s color from white to red, and was eventually dubbed Red Spot Jr., or Red Jr. The history and developments on Jupiter’s Red Spot Jr. are recorded on http://redspotjr.christone.net/.

Some days ago, I had searched the net for the Digitalis website, and excitedly downloaded a sample astronomy simulation software Nightshade, and had fun experimenting with images of the sky on my PC. Coupled with the free sample astronomy curriculum, one can easily get engrossed in self study about outer space. Stellarium is another planetarium program, in Open Source, that can also be used on regular computers for astronomy classes.

Of course, these are too far behind the technology of the Digitalis software that  powers the interactive presentations at Diliman Prep’s mobile interactive planetarium.

The local astronomers said enough about how they were not only getting used to the many varied features of the Digitalis program, but will soon be inputting the localized images that will enable more Filipinos to relate and understand astronomy.

We found out this morning that while many of us are more familiar with the formation and names of constellations based on the Roman gods, various cultures had looked at the same skies for millenia, and had interpreted and formed their own images from the heavenly bodies based on their day to day life. We were showed simpler formations in the shape of a house, or standing person, or a box among the cultures of Indonesia, China, Polynesia or the American Indians.

We also learned how constellations can be recognized as asterisms or as illustrations, and that these can vary greatly from culture to culture, as they recognized shapes among the heavenly bodies from their day-to-day lives.

Filipino folk lore had referred to Orion’s belt of three stars as Tatlong Maria — Mariang Mambabalut, Mariang Magmamane, and Mariang Magtuturon (or whatever). The astronomers hinted that they will be inputting more localized interest topics into the presentations to include perhaps the local astronomers and imagers who have discovered several of the heavenly bodies, and have been cooperating with the international community to leap and bound farther into the deepest recesses of the universe.

We also learned how constellations can be recognized as asterisms or as illlustrations, and had downloaded to my laptop,

I can’t wait till my next opportunity to view yet another presented in the mobile digital planetarium, for I’m sure that even with my own revitalized interest and research  on the universe, I will still acquire a few more its of information about the nature of our universe.

I am sure that my interest in astronomy now is not a coincidence. And beyond the willingness to ride the waves through this most interesting phase of my life, I have awakened a keen desire to remember knowledge that I know we all already possess. For we are star people, ever connected to the universe that we continue to understand with our limited minds. Deep inside though we know that every bit of new information brings us closer to a better understanding of ourselves.

In my whole life, I remember visiting a planetarium only three times, twice at the Pag-asa Planetarium on Agham Road in Quezon City as part of school field trips, and once at the Griffith Observatory and Museum in Los Angeles. These planetariums were huge simulations of the night sky, brightened by an illuminating bulb to simulate day time.

At the Pag-asa Planetarium, the positions of planets,  stars, galaxies  and nebulae were fixed, but all rotated together as the holed projector cover they were projected through was moved.

At the Griffith Observatory which I visited with two of my siblings and their families in 2008, we watched a 20-minute film documentary — about the history of the universe, a simulated trip to the Sun, the Moon, and Mars, and highlights of space adventure –  that had left us feeling awed and a little more knowledgeable than before. The space museum that supported the planetarium was breath-taking, which was partially interactive.  We particularly loved the weighing scales calibrated to show how we would weigh on the moon, and on other planets.

Today, however, my daughter and I experienced a preview (three in fact) of the vast infinitely deep outer space  at a 7-meter-diameter Mobile Interactive Planetarium set up at the gym of the Diliman Preparatory School along Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City.

Our view from Earth

Real live astronomers Bamm Gabriana and Rochelle Derilo asked us to note the local time on a digital clock near the horizon, toured us through tonight’s night sky,  the rising sun tomorrow, traveling up across the sky and down again towards the western horizon and sunset. They explained that the earth’s atmosphere causes the day and night illumination of the sky as the light from the sun is reflected through it.

I can only assume how this happens but I should have asked the astronomers after the preview — Why and how does the atmosphere create the day and night on planet earth? Does this happen on all planets? So many whys and hows? All the while I thought it was as simple as the earth facing the sun half of the time.

At one point, Bamm advanced the sky view to May 5, 2010.  Some of us shrieked in delight as we caught meteors streaking through the night sky. He explained that on May 5 and 6, the Eta Aquarids will peak and be radiant in the constellation Aquarius,  best viewed in the east after midnight.

Closing in at warp speed

Two planets can be seen from Metro Manila tonight — Saturn and Mars. We closed in on Mars and noted its polar cap composed of  frozen carbon dioxide. We flew in to Saturn at warp-speed and checked its thousand rings of debris and empty space,  and 7 of its 56 satellites.

Back on earth again, with a click on the remote control pointed upward, Bamm revealed the imaginary line connections that form and give the constellations their names.  We viewed the night sky with superimposed views of the constellations and their boundaries.

Turns out that on a totally dark night, the naked eye can see some 6000 satellites, planets, stars, galaxies, nebulae (3,000 or so from each hemisphere), as opposed to the claim that one can see a million stars. But beyond some of these luminous specks in the sky are galaxies and nebulae that contain millions of galaxies with billions of stars.

With another flick of a button, we see the artistic rendition of the constellations and their imaginary boundaries. More ohhs and ahhs.

AstroLOGers, not astroNOMers, would refer to aspects of our birth charts based on the position of the sun, moon and planets within these constellations at the time of our birth. AstroNOMer Bamm noted that reading palms does not make one an astroNOMer.

Orion Constellation

We closed in on the constellation Orion, the hunter of Greek mythology.  At his shoulder is the bright North Star. We recognize Orion’s Belt of three stars — Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka.  Local folk lore refers to these stars as Tatlong Maria.

Below Orion’s Belt is a vertical group of bright objects forming the Sword of Orion. One of these objects is the Orion Nebula some 1,450 light years away, where so many new stars are being born. Again we flew in closer to the nebula and were aghast at the thought of millions of stars staring back at us.

Hubble’s Deep Field

Finally, Bamm zeroed in on an area of space that scientists call the Hubble Deep Field, a tiny area which the Hubble Telescope focused on for a long time, and came up with images of galaxies and stars far beyond our vision.

January 15, 1996: One peek into a small part of the sky, one giant leap back in time. The Hubble telescope has provided mankind’s deepest, most detailed visible view of the universe.

Representing a narrow “keyhole” view stretching to the visible horizon of the universe, the Hubble Deep Field image covers a speck of the sky only about the width of a dime 75 feet away. Though the field is a very small sample of the heavens, it is considered representative of the typical distribution of galaxies in space, because the universe, statistically, looks largely the same in all directions. Gazing into this small field, Hubble uncovered a bewildering assortment of at least 1,500 galaxies at various stages of evolution.”

(Sourced from Hubblesite)

Watch a video about the Hubble Deep Field

I couldn’t resist asking: If  the most sophisticated man-made telescope was able to record how far reaches of the universe looked like billions of years go, do we have an idea of how big the universe is?

Astronomer Bamm Gabriana casually replied: “We can only speculate, but not actually say the actual size of the universe. We use the only fixed measurement that we have right now — the speed of light at, 299,000 per second — and are able to compute the approximate distance of many of the farthest objects we see. Beyond that, we can only assume.

Piqued my imagination again

The 20-minute re-introduction to astronomy inside the Diliman Prep School Mobile Interactive Planetarium pique my interest in astronomy again. It inspired me to record this most memorable experience here on my 365 Stories blog, with some online research on the bits of facts I learned, and photos of space (in place of the blurry ones that I tried to take with my smartphone) to link my story to.

“Astronomy is the starting point  for most youngsters to get interested in Math, Physics, Chemistry, the earth sciences and the environment,” says  Bernard Llaguno, a professor at the Philippine Science High School who heard about the mobile planetarium’s  launch and wanted to see how his students can experience it too.

Outside the planetarium in the Diliman Prep gym, almost a hundred other people waited their turn to enter the planetarium. But they did not have to wait too long as time went by more rapidly with the fantastic collection of NASA space photographs taken through the Hubble telescope and several space missions, and a hands-on meteorite exhibition.

Many posed for photos with Diliman Prep president, former Senator Nikki Coseteng, or some of the astronomers, with one of two state-of-the-art telescopes (purchased by the school in January this year, in time for the annular solar eclipse on January 15 2010. I believe I wrote a blog item on this not too long ago.)

The planetarium will be on tour to various schools nationwide, starting July this year, so that more Filipinos can become interested in astronomy and the various sciences.  As Nikki Coseteng explains, more creative and scientific minds can help us Filipinos meet the growing challenges of our life on this earth, including climate change.

This article was originally posted on my multiply.com. site on January 9, 2009. Back then, my friend Marivi Dizon had opened her island get-away to small groups of friends.  This time, she has opened it to interested parties for lease.

Location: Cavinti, Laguna Province, Philippines

Just discovered a unique and  little-known retreat from families and groups– an island in a lake on a mountain.

Isla Shekhina is a pearl on Lake Lumot, nestled in Cavinti, Laguna, in the Sierra Madre Mountain Range.

“Your paradise for the moment is just three hours away from the city.

Think of it – your own 3,000 square meter island for the weekend in the clear waters of Lake Lumot, Cavinti, Laguna.

Go boating, fishing, wading, strolling, bird-watching, star-gazing, isle-hopping or just meditating and counting your breath slowly while viewing blessed Mt. Banahaw in the distance. If you are a certified swimmer, you will enjoy doing laps on the eastern side of the island.”

I did check the website at http://islashekhina.angelfire.com and fell in love with the place immediately.  Isla Shekhina is like no other regular resort.  It’s very private, and allows for great communing with nature. Amenities are sparse, but then that’s the beauty of the experience, right. One can sleep in the 4-person cabin, or sleep under the stars, in tents or in the gazebo. Electricity is available 4 hours in the night, enough to charge your cellphone, or check mail on your laptop. Torches light your way the rest of the night.

What to do on Isla Shekhina? Swim in the freshwater lake, catch fresh fish for your lunch in the open lake, run around with the 2  resident pet dogs, count the stars and constellations, practice your yoga or taichi exercises, watch the grass grow, contemplate on your life achievements,  “stare in amazement as the rising moon’s reflection becomes a pillar of light that breaks into a million shards across the lake.” Of course work-a-holics will surely have fun conducting mini-workshops on the island.

Suggest you bring you own pillows and beddings, sweater or jacket, flashlight, fishing rod, swim wear and towels, food supplies, a bible or your spirituality book.

Visit Isla Shekhina website to whet your appetite for a simple outdoors retreat, which is only a 4-hour ride from Metro Manila, via the zigzag road of Rizal Province through Pelilia and Paete, or via the SLEX through Los Banos and Pagsanjan in Laguna Province.  A motorized banca provides round trip transfers from docking to house,which is just 3 min.away from the barangay.

Here’s another email that has piqued my imagination, one that I know I will want to go back to every now and then.

Astronomers Select Top Ten Most Amazing Pictures Taken by Hubble Space Telescope in Last 16 Years ‘…they illustrate that our universe is not only deeply strange, but also almost impossibly beautiful.’ Michael Hanlon/AH (Nov 25th, 2006)

After correcting an initial problem with the lens, when the Hubble Space Telescope was first launched in 1990, the floating astro-observatory began to relay back to Earth, incredible snapshots of the ‘final frontier’ it was perusing.

Recently, astronauts voted on the top photographs taken by Hubble in its 16-year journey so far. Remarking in the article from the Daily Mail, reporter Michael Hanlon says the photos ‘illustrate that our universe is not only deeply strange, but also almost impossibly beautiful.’

The Sombrero Galaxy – 28 million light years from Earth – was voted best picture taken by the Hubble telescope. The dimensions of the galaxy, officially called M104, are as spectacular as its appearance It has 800 billion suns and is 50,000 light years across.

The Ant Nebula, a cloud of dust and gas whose technical name is Mz3, resembles an ant when observed using ground-based telescopes… The nebula lies within our galaxy between 3,000 and 6,000 light years from earth

In third place is Nebula NGC 2392, called ‘Eskimo’ because it looks like a face surrounded by a furry hood. The hood is, in fact, a ring of comet-shaped objects flying away from a dying star. Eskimo is 5,000 light years from Earth.

At four is the Cat’s Eye Nebula.

The Hourglass Nebula, 8,000 light years away, has a ‘pinched-in-the-middle’ look because the winds that shape it are weaker at the centre.

In sixth place is the Cone Nebula. The part pictured here is 2.5 light years in length (the equivalent of 23 million return trips to the Moon).

The Perfect Storm, a small region in the Swan Nebula, 5,500 light years away, described as ‘a bubbly ocean of hydrogen and small amounts of oxygen, sulphur and other elements’.

Starry Night, so named because it reminded astronomers of the Van Gogh painting. It is a halo of light around a star in the Milky Way.

The glowering eyes from 114 million light years away are the swirling cores of two merging galaxies called NGC 2207 and IC 2163 in the distant Canis Major constellation.

The Trifid Nebula. A ‘stellar nursery’, 9,000 light years from here, it is where new stars are being born.

Everyone can view many other fantastic  photos from Hubble Space telescope and the various pace missions in the collection of NASA Space photos anytime at the Diliman Preparatory School campus on Commonwealth Avenue. telephone 9519403

Today was Open House Day at Diliman Prep. Though we had expected many more people, we did get quite a number of interested influential individuals, including dear friend Minnie Elizaga and Queenie Escalona, to attend and get interested in the programs and facilities of the school.

The highlight of the day was the opening of the first-ever  digital and interactive planetarium to the public.

Inside the 7-meter dome, our voices was surprisingly audible, as sound bounced off the curved walls. When the guy across us talked to his friends, it sounded as if he was right in front of a mike.  We could only assume that we sounded the same to them, so we had to make sure and whisper only.  The astronomer-guide had to stay a a specific spot in the center of the dome to make sure that every one in the audience heard her perfectly.

We entered as a 5-minute intro video was playing. Then the astronomer guide took over, and we were treated to various views of the day and night sky at precise dates and times. We previewed simulations of the day and night skies are precise moments such as daytime at 11:20 am today in Manila, sunset on April 23, 2010, the night sky in London and at the North Pole, and the view of the skies on an audience member’s birthdate. We “travelled” through Saturn rings, and observed its moons up close.