Haze Haze Haze

When will the sky be blue again?

It is now almost October 2015. We thought that the haze might soon go away, but as of today (25^th September 2015), we can see that it is still there, and we do not know exactly when it will go away. It has been a talking point for quite some time now, and there seems to be no true solution…so probably we just have to live with it and take the necessary precaution and measures to reduce the health risk and danger. Are we prepared? Do we really know what haze is?

What is haze?

From Wikipedia…Haze is traditionally an atmospheric phenomenon where dust, smoke and other dry particles obscure the clarity of the sky. Sources for haze particles include farming (ploughing in dry weather), traffic, industry, and wildfires.

You may have heard the words haze, mist, fog, smog, and vog. What is the difference?

Look at the pictures below. Can you identify which is haze, mist, fog, smog and vog?
See end of post for the answers...

 

 

 

Below are some definitions from Wikipedia to help you…

Fog is a complex atmospheric phenomenon. It is a visible mass consisting of cloud water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface. Fog can be considered a type of low-lying cloud, and is heavily influenced by nearby bodies of water, topography, wind conditions, and even human activities. Fog has affected many human activities, such as shipping and transport, warfare, and culture.

Mist is a phenomenon caused by small droplets of water suspended in air. It can occur as part of natural weather, when humid air cools rapidly, for example when the air comes into contact with surfaces that are much cooler than the air.

Smog is a type of air pollutant. The word "smog" was coined in the early 20th century as a portmanteau of the words smoke and fog. The word was then intended to refer to a familiar and serious problem in London from the 19th century to the mid-20th century. This smog is caused by the burning of large amounts of coal within a city, and it contains soot particulates from smoke, sulphur dioxide and other components. Nowadays the word smog refers to a type of air pollution derived from vehicular emission from internal combustion engines and industrial fumes.

Vog is a form of air pollution that results when sulfur dioxide and other gases and particles emitted by an erupting volcano react with oxygen and moisture in the presence of sunlight.

Both fog and mist is due to water droplets but how are they different?

Fog and mist differ only in their overall locations and density. Fog is a cloud that reaches ground level, even if that "ground" is a hill or mountaintop. Mist forms wherever water droplets are suspended in the air by temperature inversion, volcanic activity, or changes in humidity. Fog is denser than mist and tends to last longer. In terms of visibility, fog reduces it to less than one kilometre, while mist can reduce visibility to between 1 and 2 kilometres.

 

Rain can reduce haze…is it true?

Heavy rain may have provided respite from the haze, but an expert has cautioned that although the air may seem clearer after the showers, toxic gases are still present.

Dr Erik Velasco, research scientist at the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology said the public should still keep their N95 masks on, especially when the Pollutant Standards Index enters the Hazardous range.

“Haze is a mix of particles and toxic gases, and the rain helps to remove particles but it doesn't do too much to remove toxic gases, that is why after this rain, we are still smelling that acrid smell,” he said at an Urban Air Quality and Public Health symposium at Nanyang Polytechnic on September 15.

Another way rain can help reduce haze is by actually helping to prevent, reduce, or put out the fires that actually produce the smoke particles that cause haze in the first place.

Looking back to the occurrence of haze, it usually happen in August and September…why?

The main cause of haze in Malaysia is the smoke from slash and burn practice by farmers and smoke from peat fires blown by the wind from Indonesia especially in Sumatra, which mainly affects the Peninsular Malaysia, and in Kalimantan, which mainly affects East Malaysia. It is believe that this practice of slash and burn happens more frequently during this time of the year, and the peat fires happens more due to the dry weather conditions also during this time of the year.

If the fires happen in Indonesia, why is it affecting Malaysia more?

This is probably due to the weather in Malaysia. The weather in Malaysia is characterised by two monsoon regimes, the Southwest Monsoon from late May to September, and the Northeast Monsoon from November to March. The Northeast Monsoon brings heavy rainfall, particularly to the east coast states of Peninsular Malaysia and western Sarawak, whereas the Southwest Monsoon normally signifies relatively drier weather. So during the months of August and September, all the factors come together…slash and burn farming in Sumatra and Kalimantan, peat fires due to the dry weather, and the Southwest Monsoon carrying all these haze particles from the Southwest (Sumatra and Kalimantan) to the Northeast (Peninsula Malaysia, and East Malaysia).

 

Answer to pictures (from top to down):

 Fog, Smog, Mist, Haze, Vog

Tracking the Moon

Dear Moon, When Can I See You?

Most of us probably have this difficulty in understanding the Lunar Phases. We probably have a hard time figuring out the current lunar phase, or trying to locate where in the sky and also when is the best time to actually see the Moon.

The series of diagrams below may be able to help you. Probably you need to dedicate yourself a full lunar month, and observe the sky (possibly every night!), then hopefully you can have a better idea of the 'movement' of the Moon.

Try it! The next new moon will be on 15 September 2015 ( 1 Zulhijjah, 1436 - Islamic Calendar). Use the diagrams below as a guide.

Before you start, here are some assumptions that you need to make when using the diagrams....

Sunset is at 6.00 pm local time

Middle of the night is at 12.00 midnight

Sunrise is at 6.00 am local time

Middle of the day is at 12.00 noon

Equal day and night, 12 hours each

Good Luck, Happy Oberving!

Perseid Meteor Showers

Perseid Meteor Showers 2015

Starting today and for the next few days, observers in the northern hemisphere will be able (if weather conditions permits) to see the Perseid Meteor Showers. Below are some information gathered from the internet.
(http://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/meteor-shower/perseid.html)

Location in the sky tonight

NOTE: Table below changes every day to show the coming night's location

Perseids meteor shower for Kuala Lumpur (Night between 11 Aug and 12 Aug)
Time	Azimuth/Direction	Altitude
Wed 01:00	32°	3.2°
Wed 02:00	31°	11.0°
Wed 03:00	29°	18.5°
Wed 04:00	24°	25.2°
Wed 05:00	18°	30.6°
Wed 06:00	9°	34.0°

Direction to see the Perseids in the sky:

• Azimuth is the direction, based on true north, a compass might show a slightly different value.
• Altitude is height in degrees over horizon.

Condition for this year might be good because at this particular time the sky is almost free of moonlight. Better still if you can get out of town so as to avoid any ambient light from the city lights




What is the Perseids Meteor Showers?

Meteor showers basically come from the dusty, icy remains of comets. When a comet travels through the solar system, parts of it are blown off by the solar wind and forms the comet’s dust tail.

As Earth passes through this tail, the tiny remains enter the Earth’s atmosphere at about 130,000 mph.

When these icy bits enter the atmosphere at such tremendous speeds, they rub against molecules in the air, generating heat from friction. The heat grows to 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit and vaporizes the materials. The light we see in the sky is actually the air around it that is so blazing hot that it radiates light.

Below are some Perseid Meteor photos from wikipedia.



Perseid meteor in 2010



Perseid meteor in 2007

So get yourself ready and observe the sky for the next few nights. Best time to watch... between midnight and dawn. Happy observing!

Pluto Flyby

Pluto Flyby

Today the 14th of July, the spacecraft New Horizons will be having a flyby across the planet Pluto (wait! Pluto is no longer officially a planet, as of 2006 it is demoted to a dwarf planet in our Solar System).



(Pluto viewed from New Horizons)

This is a significant event happening, 25 years after the last similar event when the spacecraft Voyager 2 made a flyby near Neptune (currently the official furthest planet from the Sun). 

Since New Horizons was launched in 2006 (7 months before Pluto is demoted to a dwarf planet), the spacecraft has traveled more 3 billion miles. After nine and a half years traveling it finally arrived, and will be sending information and images from this celestial object that was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930. The spacecraft will also make a flyby near Pluto's largest moon, Charon, which is actually considered big since it is about half the size of Pluto itself!



(Pluto and Charon viewed from New Horizons)

News of this fly-by is the hot topic now with many magazines publishing it as the cover story...

Google search has a doodle on this event...


Hopefully with the images sent by New Horizons we will get a better understanding about this dwarf planet.

To learn more about Pluto check out:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pluto

Earthquakes

Earthquakes and Movies

On April 25th 2015 the world is rocked by a major earthquake in Nepal. Latest figures indicate that the 7.8 magnitude earthquake is responsible for more than 8800 death.

And recently in Malaysia, we are also experiencing earthquakes... in Sabah. The big earthquake with a magnitude of 6.0 has rocked the area around Ranau on 5th June 2015, and since then there have been more than a hundred aftershocks and minor tremors. This earthquake phenomena might be something common to those people living in earthquake prone areas such as in Indonesia, Japan, South American countries and many other parts of the world, but to think that it can actually happen in Malaysia, is something that we might not be aware of.

What are earthquakes?

If you want to learn more about earthquakes you browse the internet, as there are sites such as Wikipedia that can provide some general information; or look out for books in the library (or bookstore), or you can watch an earthquake movie. But while watching movie might give you an exciting experience and a visual explanation, be careful as some explanation in movies can sometimes be a bit 'illogical'.



I remember when I am in high school in the mid 70s, there is this blockbuster movie called Earthquake staring Charlton Heston. In the 70s the in-thing at that time are disaster movies, such as Jaws, The Poseidon Adventure, The Towering Inferno to name a few. Earthquake is quite revolutionary since it uses the innovative 'sensurround' effect, the first of it's kind, which is later being used in other movies such as Battle of Midway and Rollercoaster. This movie is a hit in Malaysia as people are wanting to feel this 'sensurround' effect.



I also remember when while I am taking my first Geology Class in university (Geology 100 - Earth Studies) in 1979, my lecturer made all of us watch a few earthquake documentaries. We were shown footage of the Great Alaskan Earthquake and a movie that I still remember until today called San Francisco: A City that Waits to Die. This is a movie about the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906, and the prediction that a 'big one' will happen soon. Well a 'big one' did actually happen in 1989. 

The earthquake in the San Francisco area is actually cause mainly by the San Andreas Fault which is a 1300 km transform fault stretching along the western coast of the United States. It is a strike-slip fault meaning that the earth movement is more of a horizontal motion, unlike the 'vertical' plate movement at 'thrust' faults located in the big earthquake areas such as the one that caused the Great Alaskan Earthquake (1964), the Valdivia Earthquake in Chile (1960), and the Boxing Day Earthquake in Indonesia (2006).



I encourage you to watch the movie San Andres, still showing in theaters right now, although some 'facts' are slightly exaggerated such as our ability to predict and pinpoint exact earthquake (which I think is still a long way before we can actually do it) and the formation of a tsunami (which I think highly unlikely as tsunami usually formed at areas with thrust faults - where large volume of water need to be displaced).
Watch the movie and see what you think of it? Will it happen soon, and are we prepared...

Do you know T-Rex?

T-Rex - the most recognizable dinosaur!

When people asked about dinosaurs, T-Rex will always come to mind. Why?
Maybe because of its ferociousness, maybe because of its size, maybe because of its weird features (big head, large legs, tiny hands)...

T-Rex full name is Tyrannosaurus rex, which means 'tyrant lizard king'. How much do you know about T-Rex? And do you really think scientist know much either? There are no living dinosaurs today (at least not that I know of...do you?).

What we see in the movies regarding the dinosaurs are mostly based on theories, and these theories are mostly based on evidences gathered by scientist such as from fossils.

Here are some facts about T-Rex that most scientist believe...

• It is thought to lived in what is today western North America
• It lived during the Late Cretaceous Period (or in layman's term 68 to 66 million year ago)
• It is about 12 meters long, 4 meters tall, and weight up to more than 6 metric tons (very BIG!)
• It is considered to be the largest known land predator

Some questions that remains a debate among scientists regarding dinosaurs...

• Is it a predator or a scavenger, or both?
• It is warm blooded or cold blooded?
• Does it has scales like crocodiles, or feathers like birds?
• Is there a female and a male dinosaur?
• Is it's posture 'erect' or is it 'parallel to the ground'?
• How fast can it move? This can also lead to some answers regarding its predator vs scavenger behavior..
• Is it an 'intelligent' creature?
• Do T-Rex move in pack like wolves or do they hunt alone?
• Do they practice cannibalism?

To answer these questions scientist have to investigate their fossil remains and try to conclude on their body structure and behavior.

Some myth regarding T-Rex...

T-Rex and humans lived or have coexisted together...probably because in some 'stone age' movies, we can see human devoured by dinosaurs.
Not true since the last dinosaurs lived about 66 million years ago, long before human existence.

T-Rex lived during the Jurassic Era...probably because of Jurassic Park the movie
Not true since T-Rex lived between 68-66 million years ago which is in the Cretaceous Period, and the Jurassic Period is actually somewhere between 205-138 million years ago.

If you want to learn more about dinosaurs, be sure to check out documentaries on TV regarding dinosaurs. There are plenty of them especially on National Geographic Channel

The Night Sky Tonight

The Night Sky...

If you look at the sky tonight (June 3rd, 2015) at about 8.00 pm in the western direction (direction where the Sun sets) you might be able to see two bright stars. Well these two bright objects are not actually stars but they are actually planets, the planet Venus and the planet Jupiter. 

Venus

Jupiter










The very bright star like object is the planet Venus which is actually the third brightest object in the sky after the Sun and the Moon. One thing to note is that Venus will always appear only at dawn or at dusk. This is because the orbit of Venus is smaller than the orbit of the Earth, meaning to say that it is always closer to the Sun as compared to Earth. Thus it will always 'follow' the Sun (if it is visible during dusk) or being 'followed' by the Sun (if it is visible during dawn). That is why Venus is sometimes called the 'Morning Star' or 'Evening Star' although it is not an actual star.

The slightly fainter 'star' is the planet Jupiter. Even though Jupiter is actually very much bigger than Venus in size, it is actual very much further from us. And furthermore it is also very much further from the Sun (source of light), thus it appears to be fainter than Venus.

The other 'naked eye' planets are difficult to be seen at this time. Mercury and Mars are now being obscured by the light from the Sun as they are located in our sky mostly during daytime. It is still possible to see Saturn but it is quite faint and difficult to be seen and differentiated from other stars. Furthermore the Moon is still 'full' right now and the light from the Moon will make it even more challenging to see it clearly.

( graphics from www.astronomy.com )