The Hidden Face of Beautiful Pakistan

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daniyalahmad (daniyalahmad) 2010-05-09 18:08:05 +0500 #141

Again really nice stuff Zain! (Y)

fedd (fedd) 2010-05-23 00:38:17 +0500 #142

SubhanAllah!

I've just seen this thread. There is only one thought that kept coming to my mind while I was reading this post, and that is;

"He is the Lord of the galaxies." Al-Quran [53:49].

SubhanAllah!

Zain you've done an amazing job sharing this precious knowledge with us. May Allah grant you more wisdom and knowledge in your field. Very informative. Please keep posting.

Cheers (Cheers) 2010-05-23 01:08:02 +0500 #143

@ Fedd: No doubt about that.

Jazak Allah for the wishes. Please keep praying the we get clear nights whenever we plan a celestial hunt, and I'll Insha Allah keep posting!

While we were savoring starlight and following the intricate dust lanes in the Milky Way at the Hingol Rutjuga (that was the first time in my 15 years of stargazing that I went to such dark - or to use jargon, Bortle scale 2 - skies), our Hanif bhai was busy shooting the stars. A few posts later are some of his unprocessed, untracked 30 seconds shots at ISO 6400.

Cheers (Cheers) 2010-05-23 01:08:29 +0500 #144

@ Ahsan bhai and Daniyal: Shukriya.

Cheers (Cheers) 2010-05-23 02:25:19 +0500 #145

Hey Ali bhai, nice to see you back in action. Thanks for liking. The camera used for the earlier shots was nothing much to talk home about - a Cyber-shot DSC-W1. But the point in using it was to show that almost anyone can try his hand at nightscapes.

Gooda shots you got there! Remember I told you in March I'll Insha Allah be heading out to dark skies with my PakWheels friends? You can see the trip's pictures on HB's Hingol thread. And you'd also recall I invited you to join the fun. The invitation is still on! Depending on the forecasts and the participants' schedules, we might Insha Allah head out just before Ramazan. This is a very tentative program since August is usually cloudy, but if it materializes, we'll Insha Allah not only be able to shoot the triple conjunction (posted here) but probably some early Perseids too.

@ All Others: In case you do not know what the Perseids are:

They are meteors from a strong annual shower that peaks between 12-14 August. Rates of 60 meteors per hour from dark skies are common. But even if you observe from the city, you may catch up 15 to 20 meteors per hour if you watch consistently. The Perseids are quite famous; in 2009, Google put up a doodle in their honor.

It's somewhat like celestial fireworks celebrating our Independence Day!

While we are on the topic, let me mention that another strong annual shower, the Geminids, will peak on December 13-14 with hourly rates of around 100 meteors Insha Allah.

Cheers (Cheers) 2010-05-24 13:27:30 +0500 #146

Very bright meteors, called fireballs, occur every day but are not sighted very often because most streak over the oceans or uninhabited land. Still, the chances of capturing one during a meteor shower are higher. Lots of incredible fireballs and bolides must have appeared in South Asian skies, but I don't know if any have been photographed. In fact, I have unfortunately never seen a single report of a sighting from Pakistan, although I believe many fireball meteors have appeared here and quite a few may have been observed by our rural and tribal folks.

To give you an idea about what goes unnoticed in Pakistani skies every year, here are some APODs. You can click on the pictures to open the original pages.

A Perseid fireball from Japan:

A fireball observed from Germany and Netherlands in October 2009:

A sporadic fireball over the Okietex star party in 2008:

Some bolides are so bright they can be seen in broad daylight: the Great Daylight Fireball of 1972.

Bolides do not always appear over sparsely populated areas. The Peekskill meteor in 1992 is one example.

The Park Forest bolide from 2004 and Edmonton Fireball from last year are more recent examples.

choctalpur (choctalpur) 2010-05-25 08:20:19 +0500 #147

This post is unbelieveable and one of its kind. Congratulations to the group who witnessed the skies, and Cheers to Cheers for uploading them.

@ Cheers. Do you know Abu-Bakr Shekhani ???

Cheers (Cheers) 2010-05-25 08:57:33 +0500 #148

Thank you.

Abu Bakr Shekhani was probably interested in the sky since childhood, but when he got in touch with Pakistani astronomers for the first time in April/May 2008, yours truly had the honor to take his questions. I was invited to the launch ceremony of his institute's astronomy club in November the same year.

Abu Bakr was with us at the Hingol Rutjuga. He's our society's webmaster now and a big fan of meteor observing.

Cheers (Cheers) 2010-06-18 11:30:32 +0500 #149

Some unprocessed photos from our May '10 Rutjuga. Taken by HB.

Cheers (Cheers) 2010-09-14 22:19:10 +0500 #150

Our latest skywatching road trip was planned for Sonmiani on 9th September. We did this because, as you can see and read here and here, the only possibility of sighting the crescent without optical aid on that evening (09th September/29th Ramazan) was from the extreme south of Pakistan. As luck had it, the weather turned stormy that afternoon, so the trip was canceled.

Nevertheless, since many of our countryfolks think of the crescents of Ramazan, Shawwal and Zilhaj (only) as the "hidden faces of beautiful Pakistan", I have written an article which attempts to explain the fact that there is no fixed relationship between crescent thickness and the start of an Islamic month, which I'd want you to spare some moments for. You can find the thread in the non-wheels discussions forum: https://www.pakwheels.com/forums/non-wheels-discussions/147095-crescent-sighting-not-rocket-science.

My apologies if it turns out to be dry reading for some, but I've tried hard to make the concept easier to understand. Thank you for your time.

sayyedain (sayyedain) 2010-09-15 12:49:07 +0500 #151

excelent thread. very informative. thanks for share brother

lovebikes (lovebikes) 2010-10-01 08:54:34 +0500 #152

@cheers
Couldnt go to Mai Godrani but did try some photography in one moonlit sleepless night. Nothing spectacular but I am new to this.

Sky over moonlit Bela town

stars and moon

view from my Otaq in Bela

Suzuki and stars

Cheers (Cheers) 2010-10-02 12:16:12 +0500 #153

Yaqub bhai, that is really nice for a first try. I especially like the view from the outaq. You have captured the Orion Nebula as well.

It's going to be a fun-filled weekend Insha Allah.

lovebikes (lovebikes) 2010-10-03 11:35:41 +0500 #154

This is one of the earlier tries, it is my otaq in Bela, same place as in above pic but the night is moonless and the trees are illuminated by incandescent lighting.

lovebikes (lovebikes) 2010-10-03 11:40:33 +0500 #155

Cheers (Cheers) 2010-10-04 23:40:56 +0500 #156

Bango sista, this one is an older post of yours. I had replied and thanked you then for the encouragement.

We have already seen the response here on PW. But now it seems this thread is rising anew in the other places on the internet. Last night I discovered this: The Hidden Face of Beautiful Pakistan (Very Interesting) Must Read

Even though the poster did not ask for my consent or permission, at least he acknowledged me as the author. Thank you Stealth.

saadtn1 (saadtn1) 2010-10-09 14:33:45 +0500 #157

@Zain A.k.a Cheers

Buddy the other day I was just looking at the sky, I saw a very small star like object slowly moving from south to north. While moving, it suddenly started to grow bigger and brighter, it suddenly became as bright as Jupiter, then it became normal in few second.
Was it a satellite? Why it became so bright for a second

lovebikes (lovebikes) 2010-10-10 15:00:02 +0500 #158

@cheers
Very disappointed that missed another good opportunity for serious stargazing with you, hope u people had a successful and fun session. Waiting for pics
Meanwhile here r some of my latest attempts.

lovebikes (lovebikes) 2010-10-10 15:06:11 +0500 #159

aesiege (aesiege) 2010-10-10 16:20:40 +0500 #160

Mashallah !!

This is an amazing amazing thread

I also tried to get a close-up of Jupiter with its moons in third week of September 2010.