February 20, 2016 ALP NAW Closing Activity Report

February 20, 2016 ALP NAW Closing Day Report
by James Kevin Ty

Last February 20, Astronomical League of the Philippines (ALP) held their National Astronomy Week (NAW) Closing Day event at SM Exploreum and SMBY. Members who are present are ALP President James Kevin Ty, Secretary Christopher Louie Lu ,Treasurer and NAW Chairman Andrew Ian Chan , Auditor Edgar Ang, directors John Ray Cabrera, Ronald Sison, Shubhashish Banerjee; Justine Garcia , Arnel Campos, Per Edman, Mark Ian Singson , Joaquin Fajardo and new member Alvin SIa.

The event started at around 2:00pm with ALP NAW Chairman Andrew Ian Chan welcoming members and guests to the closing activity of ALP National Astronomy Week 2016. Grade 4-6 students of St. Claire Elementary School happens to be at the Exploreum on their tour and accepted our invitation to listen to the lectures. First lecturer is ALPer Jan Karlo Hernandez who lectured on "The future of Space Robots and Rovers." This talk will touch on the history of current robots and rovers that the space agencies around the world has and also the future of it. By giving a brief background of the robots that have been deployed and the rovers which are currently being used, we can get a view of the technology that we have now. The main focus of the talk will be the problems that the robots encounter and the different plans and technologies that the space agencies are trying to create to overcome those set of problems, Examples of these problems would be the terrain where the robots traverse through and the limits of where the robots can explore. The future of the robots is very interesting knowing that through this innovation, we can now explore the places that robots cannot access before. This was followed by ALP directors John Ray Cabrera on "Terraforming Earth 2.0 : Seeing Our Final Frontier ." The discussion tackles on the endeavours of human colonisation on other planets. When that time comes it is likely that the first colonies will be in self-contained domes that carry a bit of the Earth with them. Eventually, however, many people envision transforming whole planets into ecosystems that can support Earth life without the need for isolated containment facilities.

Last but not the least, ALP director Shubhashish Banerjee lectures on "Basic Fundamentals on Propulsions and How Things Fly."The presentation was aimed at demonstrating the historical evolution of aerodynamics and rocketeering. He discussed about the basic physics and fundamentals on how things fly both - terrestrial & space. He spoke about factors affecting flight and methods that are used today to enhance flights on Earth's atmosphere.

After discussing planes, he moved to rockets to talk about -

- history of rocketering to illustrate the changes and advancements that lead to our space programs.

- different rocket propulsion systems and the advantages of one over another, also about future propulsion methodologies.

- stages of rocket flight and separation along with smaller components that make it possible

- Various space programs by NASA and the future stages and intent of developments

He closed off the session urging audience to promote study of propulsion and rocket science so that we encourage interest and possibly future developments.

At around 6:30pm, ALPers proceeded to SM By The Bay North Side which is beside Vikings Restaurant and conduct a free stargazing session to the public. ALP President James Kevin Ty setup Meade 8" f/10 SCT on Vixen GP-DX mount ; ALP Treasurer and NAW Chairman Andrew Ian Chan brought along Skywatcher 80ED refractor on Vixen GP mount ; ALP Secretary Christopher Louie Lu with his Celestron Powerseeker 80 refractor on CG-2 mount ; ALP director Shubhashish Banejee brought along his Willaim Optics Megrez 90ED refractor on Celestron AVX mount; Cutting Edge staffs with their Celestron Astromaster C130 Newtonian reflector on CG3 mount; ALPer Per Edman with his Orion XT6 Dobsonian mount; ALPer Arnel Campos with his Celestron C127 Newtonian reflector on CG2 mount; . More than 1300+ people got to look through various telescopes brought along by ALPers. Interesting night time objects observed were the Moon up close and personal as well as Jupiter, Orion Nebula and bright star Sirius. The session ended at around 10:00pm . Afterwards, they posed for some group shots before packing up their telescopes. Some of them also proceeded to Razons to have a very late evening snacks as well as chill out after a long and tiring but enjoyable NAW closing day event!

ALP Treasurer and NAW Chairman ANdrew Ian Chan welcome members and guests tot he closing activity of ALP NAW 2016.	More than 50+ students of St. Claire Elementary School are ALP's guests for the event.
Students of St. Claire Elementary School await the start of the lecture series.	ALPer Jan Karlo Hernandez lectures on "The future of Space Robots and Rovers."
ALP director John Ray Cabrera lectures on "Terraforming Earth 2.0 : Seeing Our Final Frontier. "	ALP director Shubhashish Banerjee lectures on "Basic Fundamentals on Propulsions and How Things Fly."
ALP director Ronald Sison received a certificate and token of appreciation on behalf of ALP director Christopher Louie Lu for his lecture on "Going Beyond: A Brief History of Space Exploration."	ALP director Shubhashish Banerjee received a certificate and token of appreciation for his lecture on "Basic Fundamentals on Propulsions and How Things Fly."
ALPer Jan Karlo Hernandez received a certificate and token of appreciation for his lecture on "The future of Space Robots and Rovers."	ALP director John Ray Cabrera received a certificate and token of appreciation for his lecture on "Terraforming Earth 2.0 : Seeing Our Final Frontier. "
Long queues starting to grow as ALPers set up their telescopes at the park area besides Viking Restaurant.	ALP Treasurer and NAW Chairman Andrew Ian Chan pointed his Skywatcher 80ED refracting telescope on the Moon.
This kids means business when it comes to observing the Moon up close and personal :)	ALP director Ronald Sison points his C90 telescope toward the Moon.
Several bikers also got interested on the stargazing session and also take a peek at the Moon.	Vietnamese guests Jim Nguyen posed beside the Meade 8" f/10 SCT after viewing the Moon at high power.
ALP director Shubhashish Banerjee beside his William Optics Megrez 90ED refractor on Celestron AVX mount.	Cutting Edge staffs were also there to support the stargazing session with their Celestron Astromaster C130 Newtonian reflector on CG3 mount.
ALPer Arnel Campos was also there with his Celestron C127 Newtonian reflector on CG2 mount.	Viking's chefs also got to view through the various telescope setup by ALPers.
Photo Enthusiasts who were there for the PyroMusical event also come in troops as they got excited also to observe the Moon as well as imaged the Moon through the Meade 8" f/10 SCT with their DSLR and smartphones.	Viking's chefs and staffs also didn't miss the opportunity to observe the Moon and Jupiter up close and personal.
ALPer Andrew Ian Chan also let the viewers get some shots off through his telescope for their souvenir image of the Moon.	More than 1300+ people attended the stargazing session from 6:30pm to 10:00pm!
ALPer Arnel Campos also let students take some shots of the Moon through his telescope.	ALPer Per Edman wow the viewers with some great views of Jupiter through his Orion XT6 Dobsonian reflector.
Non stop queues swarmed all of ALPer's scopes till the end of stargazing session at 10:00pm.	Some balikbayans as well as their foreigner friends also got to view Jupiter and Moon before the conclusion of the event.