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Philippine Skywatch Resources
A Non-Stock Non-Profit
Entity for Beginner Skywatchers & Amateur Astronomers
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. . . to this newly-created site that has been designed
and constructed by an amateur for fellow amateurs in the Philippines.
This site has been established to provide an avenue for Beginner
Skywatchers to obtain the basic materials otherwise not readily available in the country, or simply get connected
with a network of other amateurs, for the enhancement and enjoyment of the pursuit in watching the heavens.
Please feel free to explore the site, and I hope you'll
enjoy the pleasures of amateur astronomy, much as I did in the last 45 years of my
life as a skywatcher.
EDWIN V. GATIA
Website Administrator
Fleetwood, PA
U.S.A.
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Amateur Astronomy:
A World of Celestial Wonders.
. .
The word 'amateur'- as has been translated from the orignial French (Wikipedia), means a
'lover', hence the amateur astronomer is therefore a lover of astronomy. Generally, amateurs are considered to be the
kind of persons who are engaged in a pursuit of a hobby, a study, or an avocation for personal satisfaction, without having
undergone the necessary professional training and. in most cases, do not make a living out of said pursuit.
It may be surprising to find out- if not interesting
enough, to know that it is only in the field of Astronomical science that both amateurs and professional astronomers do work
together and there exists a rather strong collaborative relationship between them in their undertakings on
several programs of concern, as many an amateur in astronomy are actually professionals in their own rights in other fields
of endeavor.
The Willamette Meteorite, now displayed at
the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, is the largest of its kind ever
to be recovered in the United States. . .
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Iron and Stony Meteorites
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Sikhote-Alin Meteorite
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Starry, Starry Night . . .
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The Earth's Parnter : The Moon . . .
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Planets, Asteroids, & The Solar System .
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Beautiful Deep-Sky Wonders . . .
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2009 TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE SUN
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As
just barely a year-old toddler, but somehow I could quite vaguely "remember"- as it was all surreal, of seeing the change
in the color of sunlight and my mom was saying something about the sun going dark. . . and I have only come to realize
many years later that it was on the very day that the Total Solar Eclipse of June 1955 has
occurred- one of the longest of the eclipses of the sun in this century.
While
I have seen several partial solar eclipses, it was a vastly different and awesome experience to have witnessed the Total
Solar Eclipse of March 1988- the shadow of the Moon passing right across the heart of General Santos City in the Philippines.
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WONDERS OF ECLIPSES . . .
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Halley's Comet in 1910
At about 4:00 in the early morning that one day in September of
1965, my dad woke me up to view the bright Comet at the time, Comet Ikeya-Seki.
I've never seen a comet ever before, and Comet Ikeya-Seki was the first one in my life. The comet
was also of significance owing to the fact that it was discovered independently of two Japanese amateur astronomers,
Kauro Ikeya, and Tsutomoto
Seki.
It will not be another five years
or so later before I could catch a glimpse of the next bright comet for the decade of the 70s- another one to be discovered
by an amateur from South Africa- Comet Bennett.
Supposedly touted to become the brightest of the century,
Comet Kohoutek did not live to the expectations of skywatchers as it appeared in the skies in the summer
of 1973.
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COMETS OF OUR TIMES . . .
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PORTIONS OF THE WEB PAGES ARE STILL
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
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