Mayon Volcano from Space

One of Philippines most active volcano, Mt. Mayon, is spewing lava and ash, seen in this photo taken by NASA’s Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite

photo by NASA

GIant Mysterious Spirals Demystified

The giant spiral light that appeared over the skies in Norway is just a failed Russian rocket launch.

via SpaceWeather.com

Hong Kong Space Museum

Visiting Hong Kong would normally mean shopping and Disneyland, but there's more to the island than unbridled capitalism. You may visit the Hong Kong Space Museum instead.

The museum, located in Shim Sha Tsui district in Kowloon, doesn't have displays as extensive as the one I visited in Shanghai, but there's a gem or two in the displays, including the ancient Chinese rockets, and the diorama depicting the Moon landing.

Entrance fee is HK$20.

Leonids Meteor Shower

I went to the PAGASA observatory in UP Diliman to join my colleagues from UP AstroSoc in observing the Leonids meteor shower.

The inconsiderate news crew of GMA7 and ABS-CBN ruined the experienced by flooding the area with camera lights and flashing the high-beams of their vehicles.

I saw one, maybe two meteors, in two hours.

ARES I-X Launch

Ares I-X was the first test flight in the Ares I program, a launch system for human spaceflight currently under development by the United States space agency NASA. Ares I-X was successfully launched on October 28, 2009. [Wikipedia]

Carl Sagan "Pale Blue Dot"

Carl Sagan's Pale Blue Dot. There are several different versions of "The Pale Blue Dot" on-line. The actual words were taken from Carl Sagan's "Pale Blue Dot" audio-book, the music was performed by Vangelis but was extracted from the Cosmos DVD (English audio track 2 has no narration, just the background sounds and the music.) All the pictures inserted by the author of this video to portray what he feels Carl Sagan was trying to say.

Appeal for Donations

Send relief goods to Caritas Manila Office at Jesus St., Pandacan Manila near Nagtahan Bridge (tel.no. 5639298/5639308)

or

Radio Veritas at Veritas Tower West Ave. Corner EDSA (tel no. 9257931-40).

Goods required are Canned food, rice, used clothes especially for children, milk.