Emanuel Mumpuni

Astronomers are studying the feasibility of constructing two observatories in the central and eastern parts of Indonesia, where the sky is still relatively free from light pollution.

Hakim Luthfi Malasan, an astronomer from the Bosscha Observatory near Bandung, told the Jakarta Globe on Friday that the two planned observatories could provide a number of direct benefits to society, such as the ability to sight the thin crescent of the new moon that determines the start of Ramadan

This would help end the annual debate between the country’s two largest Islamic organizations, Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, in determining the beginning and the end of the fasting month.

Nahdlatul Ulama uses visual computations, or hilal , to determine the dates, while Muhammadiyah uses hisab , or astronomical computations.

Emmanuel Sungging Mumpuni, a space and solar system researcher from the National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (Lapan) agreed that would be one of the benefits gained from constructing new observatories.

“[The observatories] would also be part of space weather studies and would acquaint people in other parts of Indonesia with astronomy,” Emmanuel said.

Hakim, who is also a lecturer at the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), said “it could also widen the observing window for the study of celestial objects since we have three time zones in our country.”

He said Indonesia currently only had one observatory, Bosscha in Lembang, West Java, and that the blinding lights from homes, businesses and streets in Bandung and its surroundings had increasingly interfered with telescopic observations.

“For the past five years we have been studying the feasibility of building an observatory in the central part of Indonesia,” Hakim said, adding that astronomers from ITB were looking at two potential sites, on the eastern foot of Mount Rinjani in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, and on Mount Timau, near Kupang, the capital of East Nusa Tenggara.

He said both locations had equally good sky conditions. He added, however, that after consultations with the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), a possible problem with the Mount Timau site had been discovered: it is seasonally affected by dessert dust from the southwestern part of Australia, carried by subtropical storms.

Hakim said a comprehensive study would be undertaken to determine the best location for a future observatory. “The study would require on-site observations for about a year, including meteorological, geological and accessibility studies for both locations,” he said.

He added that any new observatory would require energy, transportation and telecommunication infrastructure support.

Emmanuel said Lapan had also been studying the feasibility of constructing an observatory on Biak Island, Papua.

“What we have learned so far is that the atmosphere there is in good condition and not as polluted as it is in Java. The atmospheric contents such as steam are quite good, however, this is not yet conclusive as we are still conducting studies,” he said.

The observatory would be employed to observe the sun using a hydrogen alpha telescope equipped with an optical filter to capture light in the hydrogen alpha wavelength, he said

“The most important solar dynamics are observed within that wavelength. We could do an analysis to predict if there would be any negative effects on satellite or communications systems,” Emmanuel said, adding that such studies could be used to anticipate an event such as the 1989 power blackout in Quebec, Canada, caused by solar flares.

Neither scientist could provide information regarding the budget that would be needed to finance the observatories.

“It would depend on the final results of the feasibility study,” Emmanuel said.

Hakim said that ITB astronomers were hopeful the project could start within the next three years, adding that they had talked with the State Ministry for Research and Technology and the Ministry of National Education about the proposal.

“We hope to get the full support of both ministries,” he said.

(An interview with The Jakarta Globe).

Conference of The Indonesia Astronomy & Astrophysics

Finally, the conference of astronomy in Indonesia has ended, left so much memories about the current activities of astronomy in Indonesia. There were various astronomy-goers flocked, from amateur to professional, from high-school students to researchers, from educator to communicator; surely the biggest event for astronomers in Indonesia, where they share their works, discuss the possibilities for collaboration, and to make new friends from various background. Not only attract the local, but this event also attract the colleagues from the neighbour country (Malaysia). Well, there is no border in astronomy.

Prof. Rutten gave general talk on Solar Physics

The event culminated by the launching of the new solar telescopes in Bosscha Observatory, new eyes to the sky! For this occasion, Prof. Rob Rutten (Sterrekundig Institut Utrech, Institutt for Teoretisk Astrofisikk Oslo & The Dutch Open Telescope) gave general lecture about current progress in Solar Physics in the world.

All in all, things might be exciting, but in my own opinion, the whole process should wait for a ‘critical mass’, should astronomy evolve into a new phase of acceptance by much more people in my country, nevertheless, it has a profound repercussion. As long as they have fun in astronomy, they will find their way.

Posters about various activities

What the universe say

Conference of The Indonesia Astronomy & Astrophysics

Finally, the conference of astronomy in Indonesia has ended, left so much memories about the current activities of astronomy in Indonesia. There were various astronomy-goers flocked, from amateur to professional, from high-school students to researchers, from educator to communicator; surely the biggest event for astronomers in Indonesia, where they share their works, discuss the possibilities for collaboration, and to make new friends from various background. Not only attract the local, but this event also attract the colleagues from the neighbour country (Malaysia). Well, there is no border in astronomy.

Prof. Rutten gave general talk on Solar Physics

The event culminated by the launching of the new solar telescopes in Bosscha Observatory, new eyes to the sky! For this occasion, Prof. Rob Rutten (Sterrekundig Institut Utrech, Institutt for Teoretisk Astrofisikk Oslo & The Dutch Open Telescope) gave general lecture about current progress in Solar Physics in the world.

All in all, things might be exciting, but in my own opinion, the whole process should wait for a ‘critical mass’, should astronomy evolve into a new phase of acceptance by much more people in my country, nevertheless, it has a profound repercussion. As long as they have fun in astronomy, they will find their way.

Posters about various activities

What the universe say

Tintin - Shooting Star

This panel from the comic Tintin (The Shooting Star), for me, is the primary source of astronomy, at least in my childhood. Okey, i will not discuss about comicology in this post, perhaps later. Instead from what i have learnt, the phenomenon of shooting stars could invoke stories, excitement, awe inspiring wonder, even indepth science exploration. Choose your own path for wondering the universe.

sometimes, the occurence can be predicted, sometimes, things just happenned. (more…)

Astrocamp

Last weekend, i went to the camp with the group of HAAJ (Jakarta Amateur Astronomy Club). For the HAAJ, they made the trip as one of their agenda for celebrating the 25th of HAAJ, as well as for the World Space Week. While for me, it was a great opportunity to escape from the tediousness of the city, and away from the city of light. (more…)

Tempus fugit, time flies. It seems like yesterday, when i started to write for cosmic diary, but, as i finish some of my tasks, i just realized, today is the last month, of the 9nth month of the 2009. Wew .. suredo .. tempus fugit.

I just finished my abstracts for the upcoming Indonesian Astronomical Society Conference (next month, on 29-31 Oct, 2009), it is an exciting time in IYA 2009, to see various activities of astronomy grow in here.  Somehow, i have been drown into various activities, here and there, helping my friends, colleagues to work on various projects in astronomy.  Simply because i like to do so, a concise experience in astronomy.

In summary, here are some of projects that i have been involved so far in this year:

Avivah Yamani, M.Si.
- Astro 2.0: langitselatan as the implementation of web 2.0 in Indonesia

Endang Soegiartini, M.Si.
- Estimation of the origin of 1566 Icarus Asteroid

Yatny Yulianty, S.Si.
- Compiling Starlore Across Nusantara

Irma Hariawang
- The Main Stupa of Borobudur as a Gnomon

Ferry M. Simatupang, M.Si
- langitselatan activities during IYA 2009

Emanuel Sungging Mumpuni, M.Si.
- Preliminary Report from the Astronomy Site Testing for the Candidate of Observatory in SPD LAPAN Biak
- Simple Photometry to Measure the Sky Brightness using a DSLR Camera

Tempus fugit, time flies. It seems like yesterday, when i started to write for cosmic diary, but, as i finish some of my tasks, i just realized, today is the last month, of the 9nth month of the 2009. Wew .. suredo .. tempus fugit.

I just finished my abstracts for the upcoming Indonesian Astronomical Society Conference (next month, on 29-31 Oct, 2009), it is an exciting time in IYA 2009, to see various activities of astronomy grow in here.  Somehow, i have been drown into various activities, here and there, helping my friends, colleagues to work on various projects in astronomy.  Simply because i like to do so, a concise experience in astronomy.

In summary, here are some of projects that i have been involved so far in this year:

Avivah Yamani, M.Si.
- Astro 2.0: langitselatan as the implementation of web 2.0 in Indonesia

Endang Soegiartini, M.Si.
- Estimation of the origin of 1566 Icarus Asteroid

Yatny Yulianty, S.Si.
- Compiling Starlore Across Nusantara

Irma Hariawang
- The Main Stupa of Borobudur as a Gnomon

Ferry M. Simatupang, M.Si
- langitselatan activities during IYA 2009

Emanuel Sungging Mumpuni, M.Si.
- Preliminary Report from the Astronomy Site Testing for the Candidate of Observatory in SPD LAPAN Biak
- Simple Photometry to Measure the Sky Brightness using a DSLR Camera

There's a little black spot on the sun today ... taken with pocket digital camera using afocal method, today on local time

Okey, today we have Sunspots, that would be nice. But does that mean this appearence as a sign that we already in the active cycle? (See my previous post in here). Or just another spot, and then we have to wait for another some times before another spots to appear? Surely,not an easy to predict, but exciting to find out what will happen next.

Kafeditepisemesta is the name of a discussion group of writers, editors, journalists, lecturers,  scientist, and so on; whose share the same concern, which is about how to popularize science for general public in a hilarious way. Seriously, the name ‘kafeditepisemesta‘ is derived from the series of Douglas Adam’s satire “The Restaurant at the End of the Universe”. Literally, ‘kafe di tepi semesta‘ is translated to ‘café on the edge of the universe’.

Pineapple Muffin or Muffin Pineapple? ..

But this is not about parodying the masterpiece, instead, all we did just share the idea about how exciting the universe is, in anyway we perceived, either through, books, comics, music, and of course .. food! (A café without food & coffee?).

On our last discussion, we’re reaching to a point, which is, seems, there is a problem on science journalism here. ‘Seems’, that means, we only sense, without enough supporting evidence. But, we felt that somehow, science journalism in the verge of ‘free fall’.

In this modern digital world, news, (including science), rapidly propagate, instant and free. So, who will take the responsibility for the quality of the news? (more…)