How it all started

For me the was the defining moment happened more than 20 years ago. My father had just purchased his whole new set of the hard covered, golden colored, 24 volume, Encyclopedia Britannica, the best part of the deal was a bonus set of 12 volumes of maroon colored Children's Encyclopedia - that went to me and my younger brother.

My dad taught me how to use it as a reference for any topic you can think of (well, just about). Although he was not an engineer or scientist, my father has always been fascinated by science and technology. Every now and then he will tell us all about what he's read and about the wonders of science in our everyday lives.

Inspired by his vast knowledge in that area, I then decided to go thru the encyclopedia from cover to cover, going thru all the possible topics in a effort to "learn all things possible" - unfortunately that effort ended at the Astronomy chapter when I decided further explore by finding other references on this topic to quench my intense curiosity and fascination for the night sky. And I have been an amateur astronomer since.

So what's your story?

Email me at alpha.orinis@gmail.com and I will publish it here.

Welcome to Astronomy Malaysia!

Welcome to Astronomy Malaysia.

This is a blog site dedicated to all amateur astronomers in Malaysia. I plan to write and share about my experiences in this interesting subject. I invite readers and contributors alike, in the long run I hope to build a team of writers on this topic. I hope that this site will also a foundation for networking and knowledge sharing for all things astronomy.

And of course, it is not restricted to Malaysians only, I welcome astronomers from all over - terrestrial or otherwise!

I plan to have the following sections and categories :
1. Knowing the sky - guide to observational astronomy with periodic updates on new events
2. Viewing equipment - telescopes, mounts, binoculars, tips and tricks, product reviews
3. Astrophotography - camera, tracking, mounts and techniques
4. Observation sites - list and maps to dark sky sites around the country. I hope to collect and rate each of the site in terms of light pollution levels, accessbility, personal safety and proximity to good food and coffee!
5. Books and software - reference books, atlas, maps, reviews
6. Astro Buddy - social networking and informal gatherings @ observation sites or even StarBucks! May be publish a directory of Malaysian astronomers?
7. Buy and Sell -looking for pre-owned astronomy stuff? This is the place.

I hope that you will find this site useful, for beginners as we all advanced astronomers.

Feel free to send your comments and feedback to alpha.orinis@gmail.com

Do email me if you are keen to contribute articles.

Thank you.

P.S. - So why the nickname Orion? Because Orion is one of the largest and easily recognizable constellation in the night sky and its belt has always been used as a guide to locate other stars and constellations like Siruis and Aldeberan. So I hope that this blog will do the same for all of you.