kalavinka the astroNOT

my bus pass expires today so i wanted to get as much out of it as possible. even though it was raining, twiddle thumbs, kinu, and i went to stardome observatory. i was really surprised as to how small it is. i guess i'm just used to griffith observatory, even though i haven't been there in years. we got there just in time for the 8pm showing that gives you an overview of what you can see in the new zealand sky. damn, everything's upside down! no wonder i couldn't figure out the stars here. ^_^

i was really glad that they pointed out the southern cross 'cos i've hard a hard time looking for it on my own--not exactly like how it is represented on the flag. i still think trying to navigate by the stars in the southern hemisphere is a big hassle. so much easier in the northern hemisphere with the north star. i need to do some research to figure out which stars are only visible in the northern hemisphere and which are only visible in the southern hemisphere. that way i will be sure to look out for the southern only and when i return to the northern hemisphere, i will appreciate more the northern only ones.

i bought a little southern hemisphere star guide (even though it was more than i wanted to pay) because i was unable to find one in the northern hemisphere. it's one of those plastic rotating things. i have one of the northern hemisphere already. i flipped over the southern one and almost fell to the floor: it's made by a company in california!