UAE | General
Guide to a different world up there
If you would like to observe Venus, Jupiter and Saturn in the dark skies with your naked eyes, this month is the best time, according to Sakher Abdullah A. Saif, head of the Amateur Astronomy League.
- By Binsal Abdul Kader, Staff Reporter
- Published: 23:56 May 9, 2008
- Image Credit: Ahmed Kutty/Gulf News
- Sakher Abdullah Saif shows a celestial map which locates the planets and other astronomical phenomena. It shows which planets and stars will be visible in the UAE sky on given days.
Abu Dhabi: If you would like to observe Venus, Jupiter and Saturn in the dark skies with your naked eyes, this month is the best time, according to Sakher Abdullah A. Saif, head of the Amateur Astronomy League.
Jupiter will be visible during the month on the eastern horizon after midnight. Saturn will be right overhead and Venus will be visible in the eastern horizon after 5.20am just before sunrise.
Mars was also visible until last Monday above the western horizon.
"A number of stars are also visible during this month," said Saif, an Emirati engineer who has studied astronomy as a hobby for the past 17 years.
"You don't need a telescope to observe them," he said. The League operates from the Emirates Heritage Club in Abu Dhabi.
The astronomer says observing planets and stars is a spiritual experience. "That different world in the sky links me to God."
Related Links
He has developed a map which tells you which planets and stars will be visible in the UAE sky on certain days. He is sure the map can help laymen observe a "different world".
"I have just put my expertise on the map with the help of certain software available in the market."
In his lectures and stargazing trips with youngsters, he guides them on ways to tell a planet from a star.
"You have to just know three basic differences," said Saif. The planet always glows, looking whitish, is easily visible and it never twinkles. Stars also glow but they twinkle and look mainly bluish and sometimes red.
Stars look stationary compared to planets.
"They are seen in the same position for hundreds of years. But planets change position which can be detected in one month's observation. That's why ancestors called planets, moving stars," he said.
Saif's major contribution is his attempts to make children aware of astronomy, said Dr Hamid Al Naimiy, Dean of College of Arts and Sciences at University of Sharjah and President of the Arab Union of Astronomy and Space sciences.
"Saif was one of the founding members of the Emirates Astronomy Society," said Khalfan Sultan Al Nuaimi, Chairman of the UAE Astronomy Society.
Saif can be contacted at: sakher111@yahoo.com.
Do you find interest in astronomy going down? Do you think they have an impact on our personal lives? What is your view on the subject? Should it be promoted better among students?
Latest news
- Dubai number plates auction raises Dh27m
- Youngsters dance and raise cash for charity
- Dubai departments upgrade services
- Get yourself a free test for diabetes
- Ensuring a safety net for intellectual property
- Reader's issue addressed
- 5,552 illegals held in Dubai this year
- Man cleared because he took drugs in France
- Man charged with trafficking women
- Auditors to probe Mizin graft case
- Breaking down cultural barriers with photographs
- Abu Dhabi Crown Prince visits Islamic centre
- Transfusion centre launches new toll free number
- Smart e-Gate system launched
- Cyber infidelity creeping out of virtual domain
Community Reports
-
Mirror, mirror show me the way
Driver on Salam Street had so many boxes and fruits piled into car, he would not be able to view rear or right side mirrors
-
Parents should be more vigilant
Reader's picture highlights risk of negligence by caretakers
-
Warming up to ‘Mobilise the Earth' theme
Dubai school dedicates a whole week to celebrating Earth Day with can-collection drives, sapling plantation and painting competition among others
-
Drivers using mobiles put others' lives at risk
Speeding is dangerous for the driver and other motorists
