The National Aeronautics and Space Agency (LAPAN) since 2017 has built an astronomical observatory in the Mount Timau area of Amfoang Tengah, Kupang-NTT district.
This observatory will become a national observatory that will replace the Boscha observatory in Lembang, West Java.
The reason for the replacement is simple, because the Boscha neighborhood is no longer dark at night, aka light-polluted by dense settlements.
Mount Timau was chosen because of its good position for a national-class observatory in the southern sky region. and also supported by a night environment that has not been polluted by light.
With a qualified position, and also supported by the use of a large 3.8 meter telescope, the Timau national observatory will be able to participate in the search for “exoplanets” or planets outside the solar system, explained the Head of LAPAN Prof.Dr. Thomas Djalaluddin in his interview with “Deutsche Welle”(DW).
Of course, an important part of this program, said Prof. Dr. Thomas Djalaluddin, is to look for a habitable planet for humans such as on earth that contains elements of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen.
INDONESIA’S FIRST DARK SKY PARK
Dark Sky Park, call it TLG, is a follow-up to the existence of an observatory. Well… with the construction of a national observatory in Timau-Amfoang Tengah, Kupang Regency, automatically a TLG will be built which is not only the pride of NTT, but is the first TLG asset in the country.
What is Dark Sky Garden for? With the existence of TLG, the need for human vision is complete. If you see the life of the world during the day and at night, you can see the night sky which is filled with God’s creation.
Anyone who is at TLG will be able to see a night sky full of astronomical phenomena, such as the Milky Way cluster, stars that glow faintly to very bright, planets that don’t flicker like stars, and meteor showers that occur from January to December.
For example, in June 2021, on June 27, there will be a peak of meteor shower with an intensity between 0-100 meteors per hour. In every October there is usually a Draconit meteor shower with quite a lot of intensity. The night sky event that can be seen from TLG is also an attraction for foreign photographers.
Where is the dark sky garden? The largest TLG in the world is in America called Death Valley, located in California’s Mojave desert, covering an area of 3.4 million ha.
Called death valley because the position of the land is at 86 meters below sea level, the temperature is very hot and the night is dark, it is the best place to see the expanse of the Milky Way, track meteor showers, and view the clear night sky.
England has 3 TLGs in Northberland, Exmoor and Brecon Beacon. Other countries that have TLG are Germany, France, Poland, Hungary, and TLG Transcarpathia in Ukraine.
Timau Amfoan Kupang observatory TLG will be a promising TLG because it occupies the “southern sky” position, namely the part of the sky that is on the south side of the celestial equator; brighter than the northern sky position.
Here according to astronomers there are about 2000 fixed stars that make up the constellations that can be seen with the naked eye. There are about 10 of the best constellations that can be observed from the Timau Observatory TLG Amfoang-Kupang without any problems.
As is known, the constellations that are good to see include Aquariu which is the largest and brightest constellation, the constellation Orion, Octans, Crux, Aries, Leo, Canis Major, etc.
Besides that, a really interesting night sky event is the meteor shower which usually occurs in June, October and December every year, namely meteors with the names “draconit, geminid in December, and Perseid” which occur in the northern sky but can be seen from TLG Timau Amfoang Kupang.
Head of LAPAN Prof.Dr.Thomas Djalaluddin also reported that in conjunction with the opening of the Timau Amfoang Kupang observatory, a science education facility in Tilong Tarus would be opened for kindergarten, elementary, and high school students.
Of course, we pray that this plan will be realized which will ultimately increase the capacity of human resources in NTT in particular and Indonesia in general.
Dark Sky Park, Timau Amfoang Kupang national observatory, will fly you into the night sky to explore exciting astronomical phenomena.
Author: Paul J Amalo
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