JIVRAYS Skyevent: Night Sky Observation at SJKT Nibong Tebal, Pulau Pinang

Venue: School area of SJK(T) Nibong Tebal

Date: February 21&22, 2014
Presenters: Jivagaran and Veerayen
Facilitators: Uma and Vijay
Target Group: Students (100ppl)
School Program : 12

Successfully Viewed:

February 21
- Jupiter and its 4 major moons thru scope

- Orion Constellation

February 22, early morning
- Southern Cross Constellation and Big Dipper asterism

- Saturn and its moon (Titan), Last Quarter Moon, Mars, and Venus. All thru scope

We felt much excitement to conduct our School Program number 12. Without the good thought and hard work by all the school teachers, we wouldn't have made so successful. I must say many many thanks especially to Mdm Mylampah and Mdm Vatsala and of course the rest of teachers, parents and also the school HM Mr Rajarajan.

We impressed with school arrangements for the event. This is definately the finest school that have made the arrangement very well. Apart that, students with school t-shirt, with slogan "Tamizhal Mudiyum" looked very nice and very well disciplined.

Once we completed the theory sessions, then, we had the science officer from JPN, Mdm Asmah for the opening ceremony event. She was very delighted to see the students excitement who were waiting to observe the night sky wonders thru telescope. In her talk she expressed her gratitude for the school management and our team for made this happen for the students. She would like to see the students to become an astronaut in the future. Very visionary woman indeed !

After the opening ceremony, Mdm Asmah observed planet Jupiter and its 4 major moons thru an 8" newtonian scope. She personally liked the view. Later students and teachers take turn to observe Jupiter. We had another scope too, a refractor, to cope with huge number of students.

We were seeing some clouds moving in and out. That little obstructed the smoothness of the first observation session. So we allowed students to take their supper and then we moved to quiz session. The quiz session was very interactive between the team members. There were 8 teams, which each had the planet's name. After the test time ended, we discussed the answers. Group Mars performed very well in answering 19 questions out of 25. We ended the first day session at 1am of Feb 22.

After 3.30 hours of sleep, all were woke up for another much anticipated observation session which includes Saturn with its biggest Moon, Titan, Waning Gibbous Moon, Mars, and crescent shaped Venus. Also successfully viewed are Big Dipper and Southern Cross. We ended the session at about 6.40am.

Overall it was fantastic event. We strongly believe the students have received the best out of the program. Also we would like to have yearly basis program to the school. We are eagerly looking forward for the next session .

Report by

Veerayen M.

Some of event pictures: