STARGAZING

“I hope you never lose your sense of wonder.”
 - Fr. Jet Villarin, SJ

OH GOD ALL MY FEELS I CAN’T EVEN—uh yeah let me do my best to try and organize my thoughts. 

<WARNING: LONG POST>

So. Our school held a Stargazing event for the STC (Science and Technology Cluster) week, and since I am a sap for Astronomy shit, I SIGNED MYSELF UP. I really wished that I could invite friends from outside the school.


What happened (I’ll try my best not to keymash):

  • At first it felt disheartening that yeah, I didn’t have anyone to go with (hihi the people I know are with their significant yeahhh ◔ ◡ ◔ ), but then somewhere along the event, they allowed walk-ins! Some of my orgmates tagged along.
  • The Manila Observatory. It was my first time actually going to the roofdeck of the shit inside our school, since I usually just came there for the Environmental Science Department back when I was a Freshman. We all gathered to the roofdeck!
  • Flying Lanterns! We walked to the Bellarmine Field and lit some big ass lanterns there, Tangled-style. Minus the water. IT WAS AWESOME! ;U;
  • Fr. Jet Villarin SJ. He gave a small speech! He looks very nice and fatherly. He’s the new president of our school, after Fr. Ben. He shared a brief history about the yeah science in Ateneo and well, the Manila Observatory. How things have changed and evolved throughout the years, all that.
  • Mr. Ronald Tanco. Such an awesome guy from the Philippine Astronomical Society. He really knows a lot, and he taught us about constellations and meteor showers and yeahhh ;u; He even lent us his awesome laser pointer (yeah the green strong one) and his binoculars!

THINGS I SAW

  • Stars. Constellations. Obviously. The Summer Triangle, The Winter Triangle, Orion, the Seven Sisters, Cygnus, Cassiopeia, Perseus, Gemini, Polaris of course, and a whole lot more of shit named there. 
  • JUPITER. AND THE FOUR GALILEAN MOONS (IO ◑‿◑, CALLISTO, GANYMEDE, EUROPA). I. SAW THEM ALL. HUHUHU It was a very big deal to me.  
  • MOON. HUHUHU THEM CRATERS
  • THE ORION NEBULA. OH GOD I SAW IT. I SAW IT HUHU I JUST—USED TO JUST PASTE PICTURES OF IT ON MY CORKBOARD AND LOOK IT UP IN THE INTERNET BUT HUHU I SAW THE SHIT OKAY
  • Andromeda Galaxy. This wasn’t much, probably because of the clouds in the way. It looked like a cluster of dust. ;u;
  • THIS AWESOME METEOR OH GOD SERIOUSLY. I WAS JUST LYING DOWN AND LOOKING AT THE SKY WHEN SUDDENLY SHIT IT’S A HUGE METEOR WITH A SLOW FALLING SEXY LINE OF LIGHT AS ITS TAIL. No seriously, it’s not one of those shooting stars wherein you just see a thin white line for a millisecond. IT’S YELLOW ORANGE AND IT BURNED AWESOME—AND THEN IT LOOKED LIKE IT SPLIT INTO TWO before yeah disappearing. I think it took a good 4 seconds, actually. 

Some things to note:

  • Measuring with your fists! A fist stretched out from you is 10 degrees. A knuckle is around 2. (YES BRO I KNOW THIS IS NOSTALGIC. ALL OF IT IS =)))
  • I want a telescope. Sir Ronald recommended binoculars too, preferablyOlympus, Nikon, Canon and that other brand—7x50 or 10x50. Whatever those are. I think they’re lens and shit measurements. XD But yeah he said that if you wanted to get a telescope, opt for the one with the biggest diameter that you can afford. Instead of looking for one with a greater magnitude. It traps more light, and it’s easier to view a lot of things.
  • Meteor Showers—Geminids! My friend and I talked about this before, and she said it’s around December 12-14 or yeah. Well, Sir Ronald confirmed it! He said the peak date was December 13!! HUHU WHAT A BIRTHDAY GIFT (Yes I think I can openly state my birthday now). Though for this year, we won’t be able to see much of it because of the Full Moon. SOOOO WE WATCH OUT FOR THE
  • Lunar Eclipse on December 10! He said that around 10 PM, around the Eastern area (near Gemini), the Geminids will be a lot more visible than the peak date. “Catch it with the Lunar Eclipse,” he says.
  • Meteor Showers on April 21-22 and  May 5. I forgot how you spell what they call them, so I’m not typing them here. XD But yeah I asked about summer sightings and he gave me this.

I THINK I SOUNDED SO ANNOYING BY SQUEALING ALOT AT THE VENUE HAHAHA BUT WHAT THE HELL.

And yeah, all throughout the shit, I wish I was with you there, bro. Seriously <CHEESEMAX> I ALWAYS WAS THINKING “OH GOD I WISH MY BRO WAS HERE AND SHIT” THE ENTIRE TIME. SOMETHING LIKE THIS IN THE FUTURE, YES? ;U; HUHUHUHU ASTRONOMY SAPS AW YEAHHH 

THIS IS PROBABLY ONE OF THE RARE TEXT POSTS I’LL MAKE, BUT I NEEDED TO KEEP SHIT SOMEWHERE. Sorry, cyberspace.  

11 ♥ / 2 months ago
  1. moonsergeant posted this