Preface

Knowledge of Astrology

Star Signs at a glance

Equipments for Stargazing

Ideal Places for Stargazing

10 Things You’ve Got to Know

Zodiac Love Stories

Safety Instructions

Acknowledgements

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It’s an exciting time to become a stargazer. This user guide is a complete one to help you get started in dis-covering astronomy. Exploring the stars in the night sky is amazing and popu-lar in Hong Kong. We hope this guide could raise popu-larity of stargazing among colleges, arouse students’ in-terest in astronomy and provide comprehensive instruc-tions for the college students. How to use this guide This guide contains 7 topics and provides you with an in-dex bar in each topic of the page to help find the topic easily. In addition, there is a character of a boy named “Astro Boy” to remind you important thing when neces-sary. Enjoy the stargazing! Jaco To and Derek Lam Editors of Astronomical Association

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Satellite A satellite orbits around something else. For example, the moon orbits around Earth and is thus a satellite. The Earth orbits around the sun and is a satellite of the sun.

Planet A planet is defined by three properties: • It is a celestial body that orbits the Sun. • It is massive enough that its own gravity causes it to form a spherical shape. • It has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit.

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Star Cluster Star clusters are groupings of stars held together by gravitational bond. Globular clusters are tight groups of hundreds of thousands of very old stars, while Open clusters generally contain less than a few hundred members, and are often very young.

Galaxy A galaxy is a cluster of stars, nebulae, dark matter, and other astronomical objects. Most galaxies are tens of thousands of light years in diameter, and contain billions of stars.

Pluto is no more defined as planet.

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“Viewing stars require your much imagination. When you link star 1 with star2 and 3, a triangle forms. Take another example, when looking at the picture of Leo below, you will see different stars linking together forming Leo’s head, body and legs, and you will see running Leo in the sky. That’s why many people keen on this activity. It’s interesting!”

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There are total 88 star signs, if you are interested, please go to website of Hong Kong Space Museum.

Stargazing at Your Fingertips: Starts with Binoculars For the beginner, you are not required to buy any ex-pensive equipment to enjoy the stargazing, only bare eyes will work fine. Want more fun? A pair of binoculars can also bring you enjoyable experience. The binoculars are affordable and easy to carry and are widely avail-able in town such as outfitters and some stationery shops. The binoculars show you a wide field of view, making it easy to zoom in or zoom out by shifting a button. We suggest you to buy binoculars size of 7 x 35 which means an object will appear 7 times larger.

When Using Binoculars… Do not view in day time. It will harm your eyes.

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Equipments for Stargazing

With our aids, you can be a professional You can borrow a set of equipments from our association under the guidance of professional coaches or subject teachers. “Telescope” gather more starlight A telescope is a powerful tool to gather more starlight for clear vision. The electrical telescope equips with state-of-art technology for you to take photo of stars and to record the location by Global Positioning System (GPS). Navigate the night sky with Star Chart Star Chart is a all-sky map for user to navigate the night sky in an easier way. The star chart can be found in the book store or bor-rowed from our association. Chair and ladder Bringing a suitable chair or a ladder would make you com-fortable when viewing stars. A chair will give you a padded seat and a ladder will help you adjust the height.

When Using Telescope… Be sure to optimise it to avoid missing starlight.

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A sample of Star Chart

1. Less light pollution

To view dim stars, we should escape from strong light. Light pollution includes residential lights, street lamps, and highway lights,etc.

2. Convenient

To reserve energy, drop-off location should be near to the places (walking within 45 minutes is suitable for beginner).

3. Safe

To be safe, we should go to the places without dangerous species like snakes, spiders and etc. The place should have no crime so that we can view stars with much fun.

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4. Clear in vision

To look for a starry sky, city is not a good place because high-rise buildings are almost every-where. Places where buildings or trees are not obscuring your view too much will be pretty good.

Beginners are recommended to join the activities organized by some Hong Kong stargazing communities.

1. Bring necessary items before going to stargazing: a bottle of water, a coat, a flashlight, towel, batteries, a map, a compass, mobile phone, mosquito repellent and refreshment such as biscuit and orange juice.

2. Check out the weather forecast before going to stargazing. You are suggested not to go out for stargaz-ing in case the weather condition is or will be cloudy, rainy or foggy. You are advised to check the time of sun-set and sunrise on weather website.

3. An adequate intake of vitamin A from foods such as carrots, cheese, eggs and most green vegetables will help enhance night vision. You are not recommended to take vitamin A from pills or to take excessive quantities of vitamin A. It may be harmful to your health.

4. Sleep well before going to stargazing. It’s impor-tant because the activity of stargazing is all night long.

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5. Bring a device of Global Positioning System (GPS) to help you navigate the location effectively if you are not familiar with the place.

6. Dress code would be more casual. Skirt, short pants or slipper is not recommended.

7. If you go out for stargazing alone, tell your friends or family members. We suggest you go out with your friends in order to take care of each other.

8. Powerful equipment isn’t everything. Try to use cost-saving eyepieces such as binoculars to view the starlight.

9. To avoid your eyes tired, take short breaks, and do simple eye exercises for every 20-minute or so. Simply look away from the telescope or binoculars, then relax and eyes closed.

10. When stargazing at public area, you are advised to watch out your personal belongings. Any valuable stuffs are not suggested. In case of emergency, dial 999 or 112 for assistance.

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Six more to go

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For more details, please go to http://www.twelvezodiac.com

Parental/ Coaches’ Guide If you are a first-time user, you should need a guidance of parent, coaches or teachers. Do not use the eyepieces without instruction from them.

Beware of Broken Glasses In case the eyepiece is broken, stop using it to avoid harming your eyes. Beware of the broken glasses when pick it up.

Beware of Slippery Slope When stargazing in country park, be-ware of slippery wet rocks, espe-cially after rain. Bring a hiking stick if necessary.

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Acknowledgement User Guide: Stargazing at your fingertips Group Name: Lam Hon Mo Derek 09904171t To Hiu Wan Jaco 09915702t Photo/ Graphic Credit: 1. The cover is designed by our team. 2. The character of Astro Boy is designed by our team. 3. The drawing of Safety Instructions is designed by our team. 4. The images in Page 4 to 5 are extracted from Hong Kong Space Museum http://www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/Museum/Space/StarShine/e_index.htm

5. The images in Page 6 to 7 are extracted from http://img.club.pchome.net/upload/club/other/2009/6/1/

pics_suki5566_1243867091.jpg References: 1. A Good Place for Stargazing in HK http://www.scout.org.hk/article_attach/8976/HKS283_26.PDF 2. What is a Satellite and What is a Galaxy http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-satellite.htm http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-galaxy.htm 3. What is a Planet http://www.nasm.si.edu/research/ceps/etp/pluto/pluto_planet.html 4. Getting Started in Astronomy http://media.skyandtelescope.com/documents/GettingStartedNorth.pdf http://www.skyandtelescope.com/howto/basics/3308331.html 5. Hong Kong Space Museum http://www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/Museum/Space/StarShine/