Visit to National Planetarium Centre

Last month October Saturday activity was indifferent, instead of the typical " kawad " session or the Volleyball vs Football game, we made a trip down to National Planetarium Centre in Kuala Lumpur. Pak Abu, our college bus driver took us there as early at 900 am in the morning. Situated on top of the hill in the Lake Gardens at Jalan Perdana, KL, it was quite a far distance from college. The trip to National Planetarium took us 45 minutes, including some minor traffic congestion here and there. At the first sight, you will observe a blue-domed structure upon arrival at the hillside, thinking that it is a mosque, but at a closer look, it is actually the Planetarium building.

Planetarium Centre was built and
completed by 1993.
The former Prime Minister,
Tun Dato Seri Mahathir Mohamad
officially launched the centre to
public on 7th February 1994.
The Planetarium is opened from
10am to 4pm in the afternoon,
except on Monday.
Entrance fee is RM1 for student with ID,
RM2 for children and RM3 for adults.

Center of the Solar System - the Sun
Consists mainly of hydrogen and helium
gas on the surface,
the Sun is generating sunlight
to support all lifes on Earth
via photosynthesis and
drives the Earth's climate and weather.
Do you that,
sunlight actually takes
8 minutes and 17 seconds to reach Earth?
Traveling at the speed of 3 times ten to the power eight
meter per second,
by using the distance formula, s = ut,
the mean distance from Sun to Earth
will be 1.5 times to power of eleven meters ...

This is a miniature of Ariane IV Space Rocket
Manufactured by European,
this rocket is launched to space at
Guaina Space Centre, France
where its proximity to the equator
gives a significant advantage for the launch
Ariane Rocket is a three stage launcher derived
from the missile technology.
In the year of January 1996,
this rocket was used to launch
our country's very first satellite,
the MEASAT 1 to outer space.

View of International Space Station (ISS) from the window
A Space Station is an artificial structure
designed for humans to live in outer space.
Orbiting at an altitude of approximately 350 km,
above the surface of the Earth,
ISS serves as a research lab for scientists.
The main fields of research includes biology,
physics, astronomy and meteorology.
Currently, ISS is carrying out experiment
on long-term effects of microgravity on humans

Viking Rocket Engine
Developed in 1973, this engine is able
to produce thrust of about 40 metric tons.
The version used on Ariane 4 first stage,
which clustered four together,
had 667 kN thrust each.
The second stage of Ariane uses a single Viking.
Over 1000 units were built,
and because of this machine,
rockets manage to penetrate through the
thick atmospheric layers into outer space

This looks similar to our aircraft's cockpit ...
Display units, warning lights,
various switches and indicators
can be seen here

Who's he?
Could he be The Father of Science - Galileo Galilei?
There weren't any descriptions for this stone sculpture,
so I couldn't confirm his identity.
He looked to be one of the
famous Arabic astronomers
during the medieval Islam period.

Wen Jie in the SpaceBed ...
In large aircraft such as B747 and B777,
we have crew bunks for cabin crew
to rest and sleep during long haul flight.
So does in a rocket.
However, we can lay down horizontally in aircraft,
but that is totally opposite in space station.
We have to sleep vertically!!
I don't think I can sleep in such a way.
Lolz :)

Space Ball ...
You are entitled to try this Space Ball
with the purchase of the entry ticket.
It is only allowed to children above 12 years old,
below that, no no,
you are prohibited.
This Space Ball will be spun up to
few revolutions per minute
by a trainer from the centre,
manually by hands!!
Haha :)

Experience the gyroscopic effects in this Space Ball
Managed to freeze the rotating motion with my camera.
One of my friends in action,
hope he doesn't feel any dizziness
Turn turn, turn faster!!

I capture the Earth's picture from Moon ...

... and I jump on Moon too
I am floating
Haha ;)


Overall, the trip was a fruitful one
Most the pictures I had there
were not up to the bar,
most probably due to
low light condition.
Furthermore, I was not armed
with a flash gun too.
My apology.

Thanks to Ewin and Daniel for
giving me a ride.


cHeErS,
KeithK :)