A Fairy is Finally Circling Our Planet, Courtesy of the Philippines!

     European Space Agency's (ESA) Astronaut Tim Peake deployed the Philippine's first ever micro satellite - Diwata-1 - into orbit around Earth from the International Space Station, carrying with it the dream of the entire nation to be a space capable nation.

     Diwata-1 first made noise around the social media last month when it was launched aboard the Falcon 9 rocket into the International Space Station. However, it was only yesterday when it is finally deployed from the ISS to orbit around the Earth. The goal of the satellite is to monitor the areas devastated by climate change, thus potentially saving thousands of life. 

     Diwata means "Fairy" in English and is first constructed way back in 2014, under the Department of Science and Technology (DOST). It is a joint collaboration between the University of the Philippines, Tohoku University, and Hokkaido University.

      The launching and deployment of the Diwata-1 satellite paved way for the Philippines to establish a National Space Agency which will be the doorstep to permanent space program that would benefit the entire country. 

Astronaut Kerouac from USA

I first encountered an astronaut in 5th grade when I met Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, and her inspiring story hooked me. Then I met Buzz Aldrin at a space festival. Both stories were incredible enough to make me wonder a bit more about space. Those two fateful encounters somehow made me realize something about space, and it was something I would never forget.

After that, in my 5th grade class, we were told to do a report on something we liked. I chose space. We were given containers with books and magazines on our subjects, and each were told to make a PowerPoint presentation on the information we got from our containers. We also collected some of it off of the internet. My presentation was the longest, and more likely than not, the most boring. But out of all that, I became convinced I wanted to be an Astronaut! Over the summer, I did a lot of research on space and the possibility of going to Mars. This research was a way to see how much I wanted to learn. It also had me a tad bit more interested in space than ever before. I was sure this would be temporary, but my “Space Odyssey” didn’t end in 5th grade.

In 6th grade I decided to not only inform myself about space, but also others. I decide to ask me teacher to see if I could teach, and do a lesson on space, and my idea was accepted. This prompted me to realize how  uninformed people were about space. It also showed me that I had acquired a lot of information over the years. Then, our teacher had us make a documentary on a sub-topic of space. My group and I chose space travel, and narrowed it down to one particular topic of space travel: Propulsion Systems. But we went even farther and narrowed it down to Franklin Chang-Diaz’s VASIMR (Variable SpecifIc Magnetoplasma Rocket), and decided to focus on it, and the information we had. This narrowing down of topics had a few meanings to it, one of which was that I had interested others in space by teaching them. It also meant that I found the best team, and that I would be a good leader. We were also told to get in contact with someone who might know more than we did. I contacted my friend, an engineering professor at SDSU, and got no more from him than we knew. We almost lost all hope.

I was determined to find someone though, and tried contacting NASA’s Phil Sumrall, a rocket scientist who had worked for 40 years at NASA and was working on NASA’s current program, the Orion Constellation Project. By the time NASA contacted me, Mr. Sumrall had taken the initiative to call me before NASA officially gave me his phone number. Him contacting me was something I felt was leading me in the right direction. His contact was also another fateful encounter and showed me that meeting renowned people was going to be necessary for my dream in the making. It also showed to others that I was capable of getting into contact with “big guns,” and ideally a completing my dream. A little while later, I recorded an interview with him over the phone, and constructed my documentary using his information and ours. After all of this, my astronaut dream was just getting bigger and better. But it didn’t end there, and for 2 years, my goal had absolutely no advancement, until Christmas 2012.

The next influence was directly from the heart of space exploration. On Christmas morning, I opened a package that contained a Space Camp shirt, a schedule departing from San Diego heading to Huntsville, Alabama. Space Camp is located in Huntsville, and it was also where Phil Sumrall worked, and where all of the rocket parts, plane parts, and other aeronautical vehicles were designed and tested. This was a dream come true, and it taught me that my dream should not be that, but be reality. At the end of Space Camp, Mr. Sumrall picked me up and granted me access to Redstone Arsenal, where he and Wernher von Braun worked. It was also there that my dream ended and became more than a dream, it became reality. I was also able to see that being an astronaut is a hard, demanding job, that takes a toll on your body.

My dream, which was without development for 2 years, became more than a 

goal, it became reality. The astronauts, the documentary, the lesson, all got the 

goal going. But Space Camp ended that. Space Camp not only helped me 

realize that going to Mars would be possible, it also interested me even more 

about Mars. Those fateful encounters changed my whole point of view on 

space. 

My plan: become an astronaut, no matter what. My newer plan: I will become 

not only an astronaut, but the first person on Mars. See you there!!

My Personal Journey to the Stars Entitled, "Starry Road"

     When did my journey to the stars begin? I don’t know, nor am I cognizant of where or how did it exactly happen. It’s exactly the same way that from one minute to another I shifted from one parallel universe to another, bringing nothing but my thirst for more knowledge regarding astronomy. I don’t know whether I should be grateful of this transition because believe me when I say that my life is harder this time when I am trying to elucidate and give explanation to the various enigmas of the universe than my pretty straightforward life before where I am just singing to the beat of the music until dawn breaks its way through the darkness and I will finally succumb to sleep. Even though my life before I ventured the intriguing world of astronomy was way uncomplicated, I never regretted anything about this. Will I ever been given the chance to return to my previous world where I am passionate about music, I will never do it. Going after music is easier and could let me earn a lot more money than pursuing astronomy, but I chose to go after the road less taken because astronomy is more fulfilling and it is my real passion, which is something that is undeniable.

     Since I have no vestige knowledge of how my passion for astronomy came to existence, I’ll just probably reminisce the day when I first saw the wonders of astronomy came to play right before my eyes.

     I remember that day lucidly. It is that documentation about the universe in Discovery Channel that had captivated my eyes for astronomy when they showed the diverse aspects of astronomy such as the way galaxies interact with one another which produced the most eccentric objects in the universe from the bizarre looking galaxy directly translated by the world renowned Disney character tinker bell and the rose shaped galaxy Arp 273, some peculiar asteroids containing worlds of their own which seem to deny the laws of nature by having their own moon like Ida and its moon Dactyl, and the most phenomenal thing? I finally have a glimpse of the universe even though the land I am stepping at is separated with space by thousands of kilometers.

     Truth be told, I love astronomy not because of these jewels but of a greater course. The mysteries of astronomy are just so baffling to the point that it left me breathless waiting for more. In astronomy, there are more questions than answers that gradually, all of the queries I have accumulated at the back of my mind detonated which paves way for me to seek answers on my own. However, I am mistaken, because the more I learned about the universe the more everything seems to be inexplicable. I perceptibly grasped the concept that astronomy has always and will always be a mystery. I mean if we could fancily explain the nature of dark matter and dark energy why is there still a reason for astronomy to exist? Even though most people will just stay on stargazing and astrophotography, most of the instance, questions are surfacing that we have no conscious knowledge of. So I decided that it’s about time for me to probe in the world of astronomy so that my questions in astronomy will finally have an explanations.

     As you probably know, my heart didn’t belong to astronomy first. I am a musician and so is my family. My father finished his degree in engineering from the top university here in the Philippines and can speak in eloquent Chinese. I followed the footsteps of my parents in music because mainly, I don’t want to be a disgrace to my family not because I am passionately inclined to it. The result is, it didn’t end well. During that time, I am just like the solitary proof of a living ghost, those who drifts around without knowing where to go next and those who doesn’t know their purpose in there. Eventually, I grew tired of my life that I decided it’s time for me to change so I told my parents about it. My parents weren’t thrilled with the fact that I decided to quit music for nothing. I understand them, with the way on how they gauge their reaction because of course they are a musician and for them, music is everything but unfortunately, that is not the case for everyone. We all have our own separate lives, and your purpose in life doesn’t necessarily mean it's someone else’s purpose. My revelation resulted in a long lasting feud between me and my parents although it became less severe as the passing days. Since I know that my family will not be cooperative of my journey towards astronomy, I resolved to walk on the road less taken and here am I right now – striving my best to motivate other aspiring astronauts and astronomers like me to never give up on their dreams, no matter how impossible it might be.

     I first started my journey to the stars on my training ground – my institution. I strive to achieve a really exceptional grades in science, math, and English so that I could join off campus competitions in science which could give a colossal boost to my career in astronomy in the future. Hard works do payed off because after some time, I managed to get a gold medal in a science competition for our batch in a science quiz bee. This is just the start of it.

     I realized that joining in science quiz bees and sweeping gold medals are not enough for me to be an astronaut in the future so I decided now to join local amateur astronomy groups in my community. 

     I first incorporated myself with the "Astronomical League of the Philippines," wherein at the age of 13, I managed to be the first amateur astronomer accepted ever since in their history which immediately grant me an appreciable fame on the astronomical communities in the Philippines. In ALP, we focus more on the practical side of astronomy such as the telescope operations and astrophotographies that is why I was able to know the positioning of the basic planets and I was able to name a few stars on the night sky. 

     Since my science grades are pretty remarkable on my institution, I was given the chance to compete on some of the local astronomy quiz bees such as the UP Astronomical Society's Big Bang and Philippine Astronomical Society's quiz bee. I was able to garner 3 gold medals and 1 silver medal on two consecutive years of competing in these quiz bees,

.

      I then joined the Philippine Astronomical Society which is the largest astronomical community in the Philippines. In PAS, we propel the astronomical education on the Philippines towards the success of the Filipino youths. Also in last year, I became a full-fledged member of the Astronomers Without Borders wherein we have a theme of "One sky, one people." 

     Due to my flourishing astronomical achievements here in the Philippines, the Philippine Journal of Astronomy (Vol 7 No 1) interviewed me with the theme of "Of Stars, Searches and Suitabilities."
Link of my interview is published here http://www.astroleaguephils.org/pja_mar2015.pdf

     At the onset of 2016, I was nominated by the Eduzine Global for the ACE (Achieve, Celebrate, and Educate) Young Achievers Award, which is a competition featuring the top 50 young achievers across the globe with the aim of "one better world." Albeit I didn't earn my way to emerge as the Champion, I am a finalist (top 8) of the said competition which I am wholeheartedly grateful for already. This is probably the toughest competition I've participated to ever since. The second thing I'm grateful of, I've been given the chance to be an Eduzine Global Young Ambassador where I am to promote the good values of Eduzine.
Article of my submitted story in Eduzine http://www.eduzineglobal.com/162/854/sobinas-universal-appeal Article of my nomination http://www.eduzineglobal.com/70/865/eduzine-global-young-achiever-awards-2016 Article of me being a finalist http://www.eduzineglobal.com/70/871/and-the-winner-is

     When I've initially joined the Twitter community, what I immediately realize is that I am not the only aspiring astronauts/astronomers in the world. I am 15 years old now when I decided to create an organization which supports and promotes aspiring astronauts and astronomers nationwide by sharing their stories and the product is no other than the Cosmic Wonderer and you are currently at the official website of the said organization if ever you are reading this.

     I joined the Mars Generation to be a Student Space Ambassador only these past couple of days in which we are building a stronger tomorrow by exciting our youth today about STEM and space.

     Looking back at the days when I've first started out my career in astronomy, I am bewildered that for once, I was able to achieve something significant even though it is just minuscule. Every time I'm thinking of my achievements, it is not the number of medals that is usually giving me an atmosphere of complacence and tranquil but it is the fact that I am able to inspire other kids in my community to go after their dreams no matter how insurmountable it might seem.

     Dawn is about to settle in and the moon is making its final descent across the sky. As I view this choreographic movements of the cosmos, I lay pondering below the dim glow of the moonlight why or how I even came not to only love, but to be able to live the life of studying astronomy. I am now enlightened that everyone is innately ardent in astronomy because it is instilled in us the moment we came into existence because we are made up of star stuffs. The reason why other people ended up having a life outside of astronomy is that star stuffs will manifest its image in a lot of ways and most often or not, human desires will overcome the unconscious side of the universe. However, I am not totally convinced of this revelation.

     I love astronomy because I just love it. If you really love someone you will not ask "why" or demand reasons why is that so in the very first place. The day we realize that we truly love something or someone, we will acknowledge that words are not capable of explaining such feelings so complex that even though thousands of passages are written about it nothing will ever came across to explaining the right context about it.

    If I am to disclose the reasons why I love astronomy, maybe it's the fact that I learned how to be contented because I learned that the even though the day will come that everything about me will dissipate, the stars will be there - still - to witness my life and death so I am not totally unattended. Likewise, Astronomy has taught me a lot of life lessons which include to be humble all of the time because as much as we want too, we will never be capable of reaching the stars physically. In addition, Astronomy has always intrigue my curiosity in a way no other fields of study is capable of and what is the meaning of life but not to wonder and wander which is two simultaneously different things. With this, I labeled my personal journey to the stars as the "Starry Road" because I know that I will be always guided by the stars along the way.

      

Into the Rosette Nebula

The Rosette Nebula (also known as Caldwell 49) is a large, circular H II region located near one end of a giant molecular cloud in the Monoceros region of the Milky Way Galaxy. The open cluster NGC 2244 (Caldwell 50) is closely associated with the nebulosity, the stars of the cluster having been formed from the nebula's matter.
The complex has the following NGC designations:
NGC 2237 – Part of the nebulous region (Also used to denote whole nebula) 
NGC 2238 – Part of the nebulous region 
NGC 2239 – Part of the nebulous region (Discovered by John Herschel) 
NGC 2244 – The open cluster within the nebula (Discovered by John Flamsteed in 1690) 
NGC 2246 – Part of the nebulous region
The cluster and nebula lie at a distance of some 5,000 light-years from Earth and measure roughly 50 light years in diameter. The radiation from the young stars excites the atoms in the nebula, causing them to emit radiation themselves producing the emission nebula we see. The mass of the nebula is estimated to be around 10,000 solar masses.
It is believed that stellar winds from a group of O and B stars are exerting pressure on interstellar clouds to cause compression, followed by star formation in the nebula. This star formation is currently still ongoing.
A survey of the nebula with the Chandra X-ray Observatory in 2001 has revealed the presence of very hot, young stars at the core of the Rosette Nebula. These stars have heated the surrounding gas to a temperature in the order of 6 million kelvins causing them to emit copious amounts of X-rays.

Equipment Details
Camera: Canon EOS T3i/600D (Un-Modified)
Lens: Canon 75-300mm set at 300mm F5.6
Exposure: 3 minutes each
ISO: 1600
Number of Stacked Images: 140
Number of Dark Frames: 20
Number of Bias Frames: 20
Mount: Celestron CG4 with Clock Drive 
Stacking Software: DeepSkyStacker
Processing Software: Photoshop CS6, Camera Raw
Shooting Date/Time 02/19/2015 9:30 PM

Details and picture from Tom Pickett

Astronaut Sagarika Chikhale from India!

Hello, my name is Sagarika Chikhale. I am 20yo Aspiring Astronaut from India. When i introduce this to someone or someone ask about me,they react with big eyeball asking how someone like me have an interest in such a boring stream and i don't know why they think like that.Here i am saying today that Aerospace Industry is only amazing field having number of opportunities,not only this,this is addiction if you following this through internet,media and by mistake if someone ask you about space you will definitely not gonna leave him/her until you get satisfied with your discussion.

It's really amazing when you are part of this.One question arises here why i love night sky,rockets,stars,satellites,etc. Well,since when i was in 6th standard i can remember looking up at night sky, i wonder what the stars where made of but most of all i dreamed to someday going there, only i knew that it would happen i would go to space.

This all come from when i was in 6th standard we had a chapter and name was 'An Indian-American Woman In Space', she was Astronaut Kalpana Chawla,1st Indian Woman Astronaut.That time i was thinking by looking her picture in textbook, What she is she wearing like orange suit and was sitting with helmet and i thought biker instead of Astronaut.That was the first time i ever heard of Astronaut. When my teacher said story of her my whole life was changed.I have spend weeks for the searching of astronomy.Initially i had no sources to more understand space.I used newspaper cuttings to raise my knowledge.Along the way i realized that the journey that i traveled and those experiences was so important to me.

As we all know Abigail Harrison,famous teenage Aspiring Astronaut she said 'Space is looking for people who are passionate about what they do,not for those who think they are fit for this job' and i agree with her statement.

Through my journey i met two honorable person, Astronaut Story Musgrave from NASA and Lluis Gesa from European Space Agency(ESA). Astronaut Musgrave taught me one thing, do what you loved to do and if you really want to do it, just do it and Lluis Gesa showed me to chase your passion. Lluis inspired me to do things to inspire someone else about their dreams,the way he had that.

Firstly,you have your own ambition your dreams-Astronaut,Doctor,Scientist whatever it may be and you need to talk this with other people.The first person other then me to believe in my dreams was my parents.I started saying i wanna be an Astronaut when i was just a kid.They saw me with two diaries.Those were full of news newspaper cuttings from big bang theory to how to become an Astronaut.They said why don't you be scientist or doctor.Its not they discouraged me,they didn't believed.I still remember the day when i was in 10th standard i was still saying i wanna be an Astronaut.That time my father said this is what you wanna do, you need to start working towards it and think about how you gonna get there.From that first time my parents become my biggest supporter.

Next,you have to acting big,this means,taking opportunities when they come upon you.When i organized an event in my college to inspire other that time for me to acting big,that event was biggest opportunity to present myself in front of other.All you need is to keep patience and stay strong.Even you need to surround yourself with those people who have dreams like you.For me other then my parents was my best friend Garima.She believed in me and my dreams,she supported me all the time and she still support me.

I believed that dreamers can change the world and everyone will support you until you support yourself.Must remember you can achieve whatever it is you wish to achieve.There will be setbacks,there will be doubters,there will be minded people who can think you are crazy and try to discourage you. But remember you create your own reality and you are capable of greatness.

Thank You..