The time is 2300 hours. Equipped with little more than my handphone, GPS receiver, cousin’s Giant road bike, army glasses, I set off to find an “wulu” (deserted) area around my neighborhood where I could graze at the stars.
(courtesy to Google maps)
Why the want to look at the stars? Some friends might have know my love for stars, (not so much in exams) that in my bedroom are glow-in-the-dark stars linked with adhesive to the ceiling. When overseas even in Malaysia, it was nice to look up and see the beautiful sky we seldom chance on at home. During my army’s guard duties, it was nice to step out of the building at night, with the dark surroundings, gave attention to the bright backdrop of stars overhead.
Although I always ask others if they knew how to look at stars, I never get to learn, and so I always had my own way of looking at them. Until I visited this webpage, The Night Sky, with over 80 pages of night photos, teaches you how to identify stars, direction, constellations, and planets. Armed with this new knowledge I wanted to look at the sky for myself.
In my memory, the route I’ll be taking will be going through the least populated and least lit, places which perhaps I could get the most out of the sky. Up the slope, round the road to the Yishun channel cycling track, connect to a lonely road at a Malay Kampong g (village) near the Sembawang beach.
Well… I didn’t manage to see the stars today.
For one reason, perhaps its too early?
Two, as what a writer describe in an article I read years ago: “Light population”. Lights from the city, from the HDB flats, from the roads, and even the deserted road I remembered with proper lights has been covered with street lamps.
Three, the sky. Too bright, I thought, such that I see a lighted background behind the trees and lampposts. Seemed because of the bright full moon in the near horizon. Yet I remember seeing both bright stars and moon in my duty days. Cloudy sky, was my conclusion, as the clouds trap the moonlight to reflect or refract creating a bright sky with no stars.
Summary:
About 30 mins of cycling time,
~8km of flat distance
Average speed of ~20km/h
Maximum speed of 36.4km/h
Average elevation: 12.2 m.s.l.
(tracklogged by Trekbuddy and reports by uTrack)
No star grazing. Let’s wait for another time.
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