Cosmic Connections: Langkawi

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MINISTRY OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION MALAYSIAN SPACE AGENCY

COSMIC CONNECTIONS

LANGKAWI

Mazlan Othman

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Jalaini Abu Hassan

Muhammad Haji Salleh

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bacalah bacalah cakerawala yang berlakon di udara atau gugur bersama guruh atau berdayung di sungai dan pasir kuala. dengarlah syair yang didendangkan nyiur sanjak yang berpelamin di barisi jeta dari jauh. bacalah bayu yang berkata-kata dengan bahasa sayu, di bawahnya laut mendengar arahnya, berkerut di kulit airnya.

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COSMIC CONNECTIONS: LANGKAWI © Academy of Sciences Malaysia 2023 All Right Reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without prior permission of the Copyright owner.

Published by: Academy of Sciences Malaysia Level 20, West Wing, MATRADE Tower Jalan Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah off Jalan Tuanku Abdul Halim 50480 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Cataloguing-in-Publication Data Perpustakaan Negara Malaysia A catalogue record for this book is available from the National Library of Malaysia ISBN 978-983-2915-97-3 (hardback)

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Table of Contents 6

Foreword from LADA’s D/CEO

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Foreword from ASM’s CEO

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Prologue

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Introduction

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The Cloths of Heaven

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Guided by the Stars

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The Sun: A Gift of Life

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The Moon: It is more than Romance

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An Interloper from Space

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Langkawi from Space

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The Eyes to Space 97

The Authors

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Acknowledgements

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Foreword from LADA’s D/CEO

The Langkawi Development Authority (LADA) has set its sight on becoming the leading agency to develop Langkawi as a world-class tourism destination. LADA has carried out several significant projects with various organisations to achieve this vision. Projects have been carried out to revitalise Langkawi’s picturesque natural landscape, energise the community’s socio-economic status, and showcase the island’s attractions globally. For the record, we are also pleased to inform readers that Langkawi Island is Southeast Asia’s first ever UNESCO Global Geopark, thanks to its geological and natural beauty, ecological harmony, as well as the significance it holds towards archaeology and culture.

When we think of Langkawi, the first things that come to mind are pristine beaches, verdant forests, and duty-free shopping.

A little-known fact is that Langkawi is also a prime location to observe the night sky. Langkawi is home to the Langkawi National Observatory (LNO), which was completed in 2006 as the country’s premier observatory that provides international standard observation facilities for optical astronomy research in Malaysia. LNO are the eyes that glimpse into the fascinating yet often overlooked part of Langkawi’s beauty: its night sky.

While LADA has produced many publications to promote the island’s tourism, this book is different. This book interweaves photographic images of the sky with poetic prose that sings praises of the universe and also with artistic impressions that personalise the Langkawi night sky. The images of heavenly bodies are made possible through LNO’s state-of-the-art equipment and its strategic location at the equator that allows it access to the vast expanse of both the northern and southern hemispheres. These fantastic images could be the catalyst that inspires the development of cosmic tourism in Malaysia.

Cosmic tourism represents a new and exciting frontier in the travel industry, potentially opening a whole new world of experiences for those who aspire to venture into space.

In its broadest terms, cosmic tourism embodies the idea of travelling into space for recreational purposes. It offers the tourists to experience space travel, such as suborbital flights, orbital flights, and even trips to the Moon. This is currently a far-fetched concept available to only a handful of people in the world. Even though there’s still limitations to the full experience of space travelling and tourism, nonetheless, with

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time, new technologies and infrastructure, maybe even at Langkawi, InsyaAllah, will it be developed that will allow more people to travel safely and affordably into space.

I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to the Academy of Sciences Malaysia (ASM) and the Malaysian Space Agency (MySA) for their invaluable collaboration with LADA to produce the Cosmic Connections coffee table book. This project has been a significant undertaking, and we could not have achieved such an outstanding outcome without the support and expertise provided by these esteemed institutions. Their commitment to advancing scientific knowledge and promoting public awareness of Langkawi, space, and exploration has made this book a reality.

We are honoured to have had the opportunity to work with astrophysicist Academician Professor Emerita Tan Sri Dato’ Sri Dr Mazlan Othman FASc, Literature Laureate Professor Emeritus Dr Muhammad Haji Salleh, and renowned awardwinning artist Assoc Professor Jalaini Abu Hassan. With their inputs we are proud to present the beauty of the Malaysian night sky and prose in this unique publication. Once again, thank you to the ASM and MySA for their partnership and unwavering dedication to advancing science, the arts, and cosmic tourism.

WAN KAMARUL FAISAL WAN KAMARDIN Deputy Chief Executive Officer Langkawi Development Authority

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Foreword from ASM’s CEO

It gives me great pleasure to write a foreword to this special publication, a coffee table book entitled ‘Cosmic Connections: Langkawi’ for readers to indulge in. This project highlights the Academy of Sciences Malaysia’s (ASM) commitment to provide timely and informative content to our readers, through firm collaboration with national and international bodies. I firmly believe that by working together, we can achieve great things such as this. Many thanks to Langkawi Development Authority (LADA) for the trust to ASM to produce this book.

The project was initiated in November 2021, in complement to LADA’s initiative on Cosmic Tourism as well as ASM’s ArtScienceTM initiative, which is the convergence of art and science, which was clearly showcased in this book. This project without a doubt was incredibly well put together.

ASM has always placed high value on our core business in being the national think tank, a thought leader, in all areas related to Science, Technology, Innovation, and Economy (STIE). We work with multiple stakeholders to prioritise that and put STIE on the nation’s centre stage. We also work with top researchers and initiate studies and projects that provide the groundwork for government policymaking to bring positive impact to the country as well as to promote better public perception and awareness in issues like the environment, sustainability, and energy.

As we all know, LADA plays a huge part in the promotion of the socio-economic development in Langkawi by growing the island as a tourist destination, popularising the island’s tourism and infrastructure, as well as agriculture, industrial and commercial development, while at the same time, committedly preserve its beauty and natural heritage. These complements with ASM’s initiatives on planetary health, aims at balancing the socio-economic development with the preservation and rehabilitation of the beloved environment and its biodiversity.

It is extremely vital that we protect Malaysia’s biodiversity, especially in these times where the world is experiencing drastic decline in the living things inhabiting this planet, through the approach of conserving, monitoring and managing biological resources using advanced technology platforms to protect the planet as well as for its socio-economic returns.

Also, science and technology will enable us to discover, understand and explore our cosmos.

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In this publication, readers will find a wide range of art, poems, and photos that cover a broad spectrum of the cosmos, including some of the constellations, the sun, and Langkawi from space. The team of experts have worked hard to provide readers with accurate and insightful scientific information for our knowledge and entertainment. Definitely, this will spark the interests and inspire the young minds to pursue their dream to be space explorers. I encourage you to take the time to read through this publication and share it with your colleagues and partners.

Again, I extend my gratitude to LADA for this collaboration as well as to Academician Professor Emerita Tan Sri Dato’ Sri Dr Mazlan Othman FASc as the lead writer and her team for bringing this book to life, I look forward to more projects together. Let us all strive together for the betterment of our future.

HAZAMI HABIB Chief Executive Officer Academy of Sciences Malaysia

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Prologue

I fell in love with the night sky at Langkawi when I beheld the Milky Way in Malaysia for the first time. The beach was marble white and the sky was inky black. The stars were so bright I felt I could pluck them from the sky. It was a love story I had to share with everyone, thus the founding of the Langkawi National Observatory.

When I was asked to produce a book highlighting photos of celestial objects taken from the Langkawi National Observatory, I did not want to create a coffee table book merely full of pretty pictures. A few already existed. I wanted to incorporate facts that would engender a scientific understanding of the beauty of the shots. I also felt it incumbent upon me to craft an educational scientific narrative that could weave the pictures together.

Throughout this book, you get pictures laced with commentary on stellar evolution, the birth of the Sun, the romance of the Moon and the night sky, and the history of asteroid impacts.

I trace the fact that we are all made of star stuff, that we are more closely related to the Heavens than we realise — thus the title Cosmic Connections.

This was not enough. I also wanted the unfolding story of the cosmos to be interlaced by poetry and art to complete the convergence of the Arts and the Sciences. For this purpose, I invited my friends, Muhammad Haji Salleh and Jai (Jalaini Abu Hassan) to co-author the book with me. The result is a heart-warming book filled with stunning art pieces and emotive poems that palliate the digestion of hard scientific facts.

This book was a labour of love for the three of us. Muhammad and Jai used their immense talents to gift the world their works. As for me, it was an amazing experience to collaborate with such accomplished individuals. We are deeply indebted to Kenta-Chai for the artistic lay-out of the book that has brought out the best in the Art and Science, as well as to the dedicated teams that supported us throughout the project.

Mazlan Othman

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pagi pagi hanyalah sebentang kanvas susunan lapisan dan seratus jalur merah, di langit, laut dan lembah, yang menitirkan daun, bunga dan akar, yang mengalirkan sungai dan mengocak lautan serta menggetarkan belantara. inilah titik wujud yang kembali menitik dan menyerahkan zat kehidupannya sehari lagi.

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Introduction

A UNIQUE STORY BEGS TO BE TOLD ABOUT THE CONNECTION BETWEEN ALMOST FORGOTTEN FOLKLORE, A STATE-OF-THEART OBSERVATORY AND ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE LAND OF LANGKAWI. COSMIC CONNECTIONS: LANGKAWI WILL BRING THIS STORY TO LIFE THROUGH ENGAGING THE WONDROUS WORK OF SCIENTISTS, ARTISTS AND POETS.

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THE LANGKAWI NATIONAL OBSERVATORY Nestled in a rainforest, depicting a blend of modern architecture and nature, the Langkawi National Observatory (LNO) is a facility that serves a critical role in the gathering of images of the cosmos using state-of-the-art telescopes and electronic imaging equipment. The observatory has the capability to manage both solar and night time observations. Worthy of note, is the Near Earth Object (NEO) telescope which is specifically designed to detect asteroids that may at some point be a threat to Earth. In a sense it completes a circle in Langkawi’s history which has seen ancient meteorite impacts.

The uniquely positioned and gorgeous architecture, amidst studiously preserved flora that surrounds the facility, embellishes the idea of our unique capabilities in observing the cosmos, as it were an eye of the universe, staring out from the ancient rainforest jungle.

Langkawi National Observatory by day. Three kinds of domes: the main observatory dome, the street light box dome and the dome of new leaves of the Eugenia Oleina trees.

Introduction

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LNO by night.

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Sunset above the lake seen from LNO.

the near ocean the near ocean carries a single boat against the lights of a setting sun. it journeys into the night shades studded with punctures of stars, till the horizon brings back its brightening colours of life and world.

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clearest night on the clearest night i am most alone. alone with my light and darkness, that mark out their incidences and where they meet. i see rivers of sparkles that fly across the valleys of my sightand i follow them to the oceans which ripple into existence and sport. i am part of the universe, now.

Sunset above the sea seen from LNO. The Gibbous Moon is setting.

Introduction

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traffic of the universe in the relentless traffic of the universe. no ego rises from its centre. it is blown by the waves of the skies and their waves of creation and recreation forever. if i kneel down to embrace the silence and surrender myself to the traffic of the skies i am presented with a flower of a metaphor. from the chaos that is turbulent i pick its petals of semblances and significance. come look at the face of the lake you can see the map of creation, and you are there carried on a little wave through time.

LNO in the tropical forest.

It is situated next to the Bukit Malut reservoir lake. The whole area is a gazetted security area and is closed to the public.

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milky way the milky way is no baby walk in the celestial park but jumbled with multitudes of galaxies that face their centre which attract them as a great god.

Introduction

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The Cloths of Heaven

LNO IS LOCATED VERY CLOSE TO THE EQUATOR, GIVING IT ACCESS TO CELESTIAL OBJECTS IN BOTH THE NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE SKIES. HAVING BOTH THE CONSTELLATION OF THE BIG DIPPER IN THE NORTH AND THE CONSTELLATION OF THE SOUTHERN CROSS IN THE SOUTH AT THE SAME TIME IS A SIGHT TO BEHOLD. MEANWHILE, BEING THE NORTHERNMOST OBSERVATORY IN MALAYSIA, POLARIS (THE NORTHERN STAR) CAN BE CLEARLY DISCERNED AND OBJECTS OF THE NORTHERN SKY ARE BEST OBSERVED FROM HERE.

The dark skies, the above-average seeing conditions and predictable weather patterns in Langkawi also make LNO a great place to acquire outstanding cosmic images. The story of the heavens is now told through these images.

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Langkawi sky seen through an All-Sky Camera. One can see both the constellations of the Big Dipper and the Southern Cross at the same time which is the advantage of being sited at the Equator. A meteor is seen streaking across the sky.

The Cloths of Heaven

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Star trails at Langkawi National Observatory.

Polaris is at the centre of the circles seen.

It is situated close to the horizon, slightly to the right of the top of the right-hand dome.

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Although stars appear unchanging they evolve dramatically over time. They are born, they reach adulthood and they die.

All stars begin life in the same way. A cloud of dust and gas in interstellar space compresses under a gravitational pull to create a dense cloud called a NEBULA. Most nebulae are vast in size, measuring hundreds of light years in diameter.

However, it bears noting that although denser than the surrounding space, most nebulae are far less dense than any vacuum created in a lab on Earth. In fact, a nebula the same size as the Earth would only contain a few kilograms of matter.

A nebula is composed mainly of hydrogen. Parts of this nebula collapse into smaller, even denser clumps where stars are born. Such a nebula is often referred to as stellar nurseries. The collapsing matter emits ultraviolet radiation which causes the surrounding gas to glow. If this glow is at optical wavelengths, the gas will be visible to the naked eye and this is why we are able to observe a nebula even though the cloud is very sparse. This type of nebula is called an Emission nebula, an example of which is the Lagoon Nebula.

CAT’S PAWS NEBULA The Cat’s Paw nebula is named after the large, round features that look like a cat’s footprint. The nebula is a stellar nursery region in the Milky Way galaxy, located in the constellation Scorpius. Estimates of its distance from Earth range from about 4,200 to about 5,500 light-years.

The bright red bubbles are the dominant features.

After gas and dust inside the nebula collapse to form stars, the stars may in turn heat up the pressurized gas surrounding them, causing it to expand into space and create bubbles.

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bintang aku berdiri di bawah bintik makna pada belantara bintang ini ada percikan pada rimbunnya. sekiranya aku bertelut memeluk diam dan menyerah kepada cahayanya aku dianugerah sejambangan ibarat untuk membanding hidup. daripada chaos yang melayang kita mengutip kuntum langit dan makna. apakah nafas pohon dan makhluk di belakang nan indah cakerawala berhujan di muka bintang merah, kuning pinang, mawar kemungkinan menyadap hidup di celah batu dan gunung.

LAGOON NEBULA Lagoon Nebula, M8, NGC 6532: An emission nebula in the constellation of Sagittarius where stars are being born.

It is located 5000 lightyears away and is barely visible to the naked eye. It appears highest in the sky early July around midnight. It is a prime early evening object in May and September.

When observed through a pair of binoculars it looks like a cloud patch with a distinct core. Unlike timeexposure photos like the above, it appears grey as the human eye has low sensitivity to colour at low light levels.

Seen here are dark globules, called Bok globules.

The Cloths of Heaven

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the flower of the universe the flower of the universe sparkles and gives birth to a garden of petals and temporary light. i stand there a witness to beauty and life.

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Examples of an emission nebula are the Orion Nebula and Crescent Nebula.

ORION NEBULA

CRESENT NEBULA

The Orion Nebula is an emission nebula which can be found in the constellation of Orion which is readily seen from the Equator. It is an enormous cloud of dust and gas where vast numbers of new stars are being born. Its bright, central region is the home of four massive young stars. It is well known to many different cultures throughout human history because it is readily seen with the naked eye. The nebula is 1,500 light-years away, making it the closest large star-forming region to Earth. It occupies a prominent location below the Orion’s Belt and makes awesome viewing through telescopes. It is best observed during January.

The Crescent Nebula is about 25 light-years across. The gasses are being blown by winds from its central, bright, massive star. This star is shedding its outer envelope in a strong stellar wind, ejecting the equivalent of the Sun’s mass every 10,000 years. The nebula’s complex structures are likely the result of this strong wind interacting with material ejected in an earlier phase. Burning fuel at a prodigious rate and near the end of its stellar life, this star should ultimately go out with a bang in a spectacular supernova explosion. This nebula is found in nebula-rich constellation Cygnus and is about 5,000 light-years away.

The Cloths of Heaven

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On the other hand, some nebulae are visible because the gas reflects light from stars that are present. They are called Reflection nebulae. The star cluster Pleiades, also known as Seven Sisters or Subaru in Japanese, shows the majesty of clouds reflecting light from a cluster of blue stars.

PLEIADES A reflection nebula as that found in the Pleiades shines only because the light from an embedded source illuminates its dust; the nebula does not emit any visible light of its own. The stars in the Pleiades are so young that they are still surrounded by clouds of material left over from their formation. The Pleiades is an open star cluster in the constellation Taurus. It lies about 400 light-years from Earth and is about 100 million years old.

October to April are the best time to observe and photograph the Pleiades. Although the cluster consists of over 1,000 stars, the “Seven Sisters” dominate, although some people see more than 7 stars, others see less. To find the Pleiades, use the bright orange star Aldebaran in constellation Taurus as a guide. If you draw a line from Orion’s Belt to Aldebaran, you’ll eventually reach the Pleiades.

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night pond come, look into his night pond, you can see where the stars come down to earth to cool their lights in these earthly waters bathe and play sport in joy, till dawn returns to the skies in the pale morning. its face lies quietly besides each other as two siblings who have at last found one another. goodbye, for tonight, morning has returned again. we will wait for our light to brighten the dark waters when the evening returns.

The Cloths of Heaven

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Under gravitational contraction the centre of a clump of gas reaches a few million degrees centigrade. At this temperature hydrogen nuclei fuse together to form helium nuclei. This happens in several steps but a simplified way of expressing the overall change is: H + H -> He + n + energy

Sirus

By definition in physics, a star is now born. It is a humungous ball of roiling gas and it shines. Why doesn’t a star keep contracting and why does it shine?

Mars

When hydrogen fuses to form helium the reaction releases an enormous amount of energy in the form of gamma rays.

These rays push out against the gravitational contraction of the star until the star reaches a state of equilibrium where gravitational contraction balances the outward pressure from gamma rays. This is the reason stars maintain a certain size and do not continue contracting.

By the time they reach the surface of the star, gamma rays lose much of their energy to become visible light photons.

The star shines as the photons leave the star’s surface and head straight out to space. Into our eyes, or telescopes, and we perceive its presence.

The brightest star in our night sky is Sirius in the constellation of Canis Major (Big Dog) and is located 8 light years away.

The gamma rays generated from nuclear fusion at the core take a few hundred thousand years to reach the surface, at which point they have lost a lot of energy and they become visible light photons. These photons reach your eyes 8 years later.

Rigel Betelgeuse

Sirius A & Sirius B

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SIRIUS AND MARS Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky. Its name is derived from the Greek word meaning ‘glowing’ or ‘scorching’. Sirius is almost twice as bright as Canopus, the next brightest star. Although not visible, Sirius has a companion, a very faint white dwarf called Sirius B. They orbit each other every 50 years. Sirius appears bright because it is one of the Sun’s nearest neighbours. The Sirius system is gradually moving closer to the Solar System, so it is expected to increase in brightness slightly over the next 60,000 years. After that time, its distance will begin to increase, and it will become fainter. But it will continue to be the brightest star in the Earth’s night sky for approximately the next 210,000 years, before Vega, another more luminous than Sirius, becomes the brightest star.

Sirius A is about twice as massive and 25 times as luminous as the Sun. The system is between 200 and 300 million years old. It was originally composed of two bright bluish stars. The initially more massive of these, Sirius B, consumed its hydrogen fuel and became a red giant before shedding its outer layers and collapsing into its current state as a white dwarf around 120 million years ago.

BETELGEUSE Betelgeuse is the second brightest star in the constellation Orion, marking the eastern shoulder of the hunter. The name comes from an Arabic term bat al-jawzāʾ, which means “the giant’s shoulder.” Betelgeuse is one of the most luminous stars in the night sky. It began dimming in early 2020 but returned to its original brightness later that year. This “Great Dimming” was caused by a giant ejection of gas that condensed into dust when it cooled.

Betelgeuse is easily seen because of its brightness and position in the Orion constellation but also because of its deep reddish colour. The star is approximately 548 light-years from Earth.

Betelgeuse is a red supergiant star roughly 764 times as large as the Sun. For comparison, the diameter of Mars’s orbit around the Sun is 328 times the Sun’s diameter. Infrared studies from spacecraft have revealed that Betelgeuse is surrounded by immense shells of material evidently shed by the star during several episodes of mass loss over the past 100,000 years. The largest of these shells has a radius of nearly 7.5 light-years.

Stars like the Sun and Sirius are stars in their adult stage. How long is this stage of adulthood? The answer depends entirely on the initial mass.

A star roughly the same mass as the sun could live for tens of billions of years.

But a star a tenth of that mass could last tens of trillion of years. Meanwhile huge stars 100 times heavier will only last a few million years. This is counter intuitive: our experience tells us that when we have more material to burn, the fire will last longer. So, what gives? Remember the equilibrium state the star needs to achieve to become stable? Massive stars experience greater gravitational collapse so they need a higher outward pressure to counteract the greater inward force.

To generate the required outward pressure, fusion reactions need to proceed faster than in lower mass stars. The result is that massive stars use up their core hydrogen fuel much more rapidly. Hence, they reach their dying stages faster.

What happens to a star after adulthood?

Eventually the star begins to run out of hydrogen at its core. Nuclear reactions decrease and the core will start to collapse as it no longer generates sufficient outward pressure to balance the forever occurring gravitational collapse.

The next reactions happen at different parts of the star. At the core, the inward contraction under gravitational force heats it up once more. This will generate very high temperatures that cause helium to now fuse with helium to form carbon and oxygen atoms. With nuclear reactions restarted, the star will reach an equilibrium once more.

However, a lot more hydrogen exists in the layers just outside the core. The temperatures at these layers at this stage are high enough to allow hydrogen fusion to occur in these outer shells. We now have a helium burning core with hydrogen fusion occurring in a shell around the core, producing copious amounts of gamma rays. This causes the envelope of the star to expand. For a star like our Sun, the outer envelope could swell so that its surface could reach past the orbit of the Earth. It becomes a Red Giant. The red star Betelgeuse on the shoulder of the Hunter in the Orion constellation is one such giant.

The Cloths of Heaven

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After this red giant phase, what happens next to a star is dramatically different and is full of drama.

We begin with an average size star, which is represented by our own star, our Sun. The Sun will continue to shine as it does right now for another four to five billion years before it runs out of hydrogen at the core. With no outward pressure from nuclear reactions, the core collapses under the force of gravity. This collapse increases the temperature at the core again, and when the temperature reaches about 100 million degrees, fusion is once again triggered. This time helium fuses with other helium nuclei to create carbon and oxygen.

When helium runs out, the core collapses again but because of limited amount of matter the Sun’s core temperature never gets high enough to burn carbon. Fusion at the core completely stops, but the layer surrounding the core continues to burn helium and the outer layers expand once again. These outer shells separate from the inner parts and get ejected as a Planetary Nebula of surrounding gas.

Example of this is Helix Nebula.

Meanwhile, the core continues to collapse to become a White Dwarf. An example of a white dwarf is Sirius B, the companion of Sirius. It cannot be seen except through a telescope. At this stage of the collapse the core of the star is made up of carbon and oxygen atoms and is as big as a small planet. It does not shrink any further under gravitational force because the subatomic particles in the core are packed as closely as quantum mechanics allows. It can shine dimly for a few billion years from the heat left over from its birth. It becomes steadily cooler and dimmer and eventually will become a black dwarf. From principles of physics, the core of carbon and oxygen atoms will begin to crystalise: the entire core is a crystalline diamond in the sky equivalent to a billion trillion trillion carats.

PLANETARY NEBULA (HELIX NEBULA) The Helix Nebula is a Planetary Nebula. It lies seven hundred light years from the Earth, toward the constellation Aquarius. It is the result of a sun-like low-mass star shedding its outer layers near the end of its evolution.

Its last few thousand years produced the Helix Nebula.

The white dot at the centre is this Planetary Nebula’s parent star which is destined to become a white dwarf.

The glow of the central star is so energetic that it causes the previously expelled gases to brightly fluoresce. The nebula spans about 2.5 light-years and its age is estimated to be about 11,000 years.

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In higher-mass stars, the temperature at the core arising from gravitational collapse can rise astronomically. The star can successively burn elements heavier than carbon in the core and shells surrounding the core. Successively heavier elements are created.

This can only continue up to the creation of iron atoms. Fusing silicon to iron takes more energy than it gives off. This means that the star is causing its own death by consuming more of its own energy than it is generating from nuclear fusion. Suddenly, the star can no longer sustain equilibrium, so its core collapses in on itself. In a split second, it blasts out its outer parts in a humongous gaseous cloud, sparking what is called a supernova. Supernovae can briefly outshine entire galaxies and radiate more energy than our Sun will in its entire lifetime.

What is left behind at the core is a ball of neutrons, thus the name neutron star.

These cores are the size of cities and rotate rapidly, which is why they are called pulsating stars or pulsars.

CARINA NEBULA A jewel of the southern sky, the Great Carina Nebula spans over 300 light-years, one of our galaxy’s largest star forming regions. Like the smaller Orion Nebula, the Carina Nebula is easily visible to the unaided eye, though at a distance of 7,500 light-years it is some 5 times farther away. The photo shows the region’s central glowing filaments of interstellar gas and dark dust clouds.

The view is over 50 light-years across. The Great Carina Nebula is home to young, extremely massive stars and the still enigmatic variable Eta Carinae, a star with well over 100 times the mass of the Sun. Eta Carinae is the brightest star, centred here just below the dusty Keyhole Nebula. While Eta Carinae itself may be on the verge of a supernova explosion, X-ray images indicate that the Great Carina Nebula has been a constant supernova factory.

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Additionally, the collapse produces a shockwave that can further induce fusion in the star’s outer shells. These newly minted elements are blasted out in the explosion into interstellar space. Supernovae are considered one of the original sources of the elements heavier than iron in the universe. They seed the universe with matter that become the building blocks for Earth-like planets and for living beings such as our selves. The carbon in our cells, the iron in our blood, the gold in our jewelry, can be traced back to supernovae (or similar cosmic explosions, such as the merger of neutron stars), from billions of years before our Sun had formed. Supernovae are thus essential to life. WITHOUT STARS WE CANNOT EXIST. The result of the explosion is a cloud surrounding the neutron star and is called a supernova remnant. One example of such a remnant is the Crab Nebula. Many star- forming nebulae contain a mixture of stars, from protostars to middle aged stars to supernovae, such as the Tarantula Nebula and the Carina Nebula.

Now, when the original star is supermassive, gravity continues to compress the core beyond the neutron degeneracy stage and what results is a stellar Black Hole. A Black Hole can only be detected through its gravitational force and the presence of highly energetic matter that is attracted to the force.

The interstellar medium in the eyes of artist Jalaini Primordial, 2022, bitumen on paper, 23 × 33 inch The Cloths of Heaven

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Eta Carinae

fortune are our fortunes woven into the fabric of the universe those parades before us every evening? they string episodes and narrate tales of hope and blessing – all that we desire, in their blots and with their distant voices, for we believe the stars understand us and can read the pages of our dreams.

NEBULA ETA CARINAE Picture shows the nebula Eta Carinae which lies just above the right stalk. It is a large, complex area of bright and dark nebulosity in the constellation Carina, located in the Carina–Sagittarius Arm of the Milky Way galaxy.

The nebula is approximately 8,500 light-years from Earth.

The Carina Nebula has within its boundaries numerous interesting objects, including one of the youngest known star clusters at half a million years old.

It is also home to currently the most luminous star known in our Milky Way galaxy. The nebula is one of the largest diffuse nebulae in our skies. It is four times as large as and even brighter than the famous Orion Nebula but is much less well known due to its location in the southern sky. It was discovered in 1752 from the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa.

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CRAB NEBULAE, M1

TARANTULA NEBULAE

The Crab Nebula is the shattered remnant of a massive star that ended its life in a violent supernova explosion.

Nearly a thousand years old, the supernova was noted in the constellation of Taurus by Chinese astronomers in the year 1054 AD when it was visible in the daytime sky.

Located 6,500 light- years from Earth in the constellation Taurus, the Crab Nebula is 5 light years across and can be spotted with a small telescope. It is best observed in January.

The colours in this image do not match exactly what we would see with our eyes but yield insight into the composition of this spectacular stellar corpse. The orange filaments are the tattered remains of the star and consist mainly of hydrogen. The blue in the filaments in the outer part of the nebula represents neutral oxygen.

Green is singly ionized sulfur, and red indicates doubly ionized oxygen. These elements were expelled during the supernova explosion.

A rapidly spinning neutron star, which is the ultradense core of the exploded star, is embedded in the centre of the Crab Nebula. Electrons whirling at nearly the speed of light around the star’s magnetic field lines produce the eerie blue light in the interior of the nebula. Through our radio telescopes we know that the neutron star rotates like a lighthouse while ejecting twin beams of radiation that make it appear to pulse 30 times per second as it spins.

The Tarantula Nebula is more than a thousand light-years in diameter, a giant star forming region within nearby satellite galaxy the Large Magellanic Cloud, about 180 thousand light-years away. The largest, most violent star forming region known in the whole Local Group of galaxies. Were the Tarantula Nebula at 1,500 light-years distant, like the star forming Orion Nebula, it would take up half the sky.

Within the Tarantula, intense radiation, stellar winds and supernova shocks from the central young cluster of fastevolving massive stars, energize the nebular glow and shape the spidery filaments. Around the Tarantula are other star forming regions with young star clusters, filaments, and bubble-shaped clouds. In fact, the frame includes the site of the closest supernova in modern times, SN 1987A, right of centre. The view spans about 1 degree or 2 full moons, in the southern constellation Dorado.

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alphabet of light are you an alphabet of light that writes the history of time and the long evolution? i shall stand tall on this ledge of darkness and read your message, your tailed punctuation, and explosions of significances.

di tengah-tengah di tengah-tengah bentangan cakerawala, ah, betapa kecil bumiku, dan tengah-tengah bumi aku hanya abuk ditiup deru timur laut. maka aku harus belajar mengerti yang maha besar, dan diriku yang maha seni.

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Stars are rarely born singly. They exist in clusters, some more tightly bound than others. Ptolemy’s Cluster, the Jewel Box and the Omega Centauri Globular Cluster are examples of such stellar groupings. In particular, globular clusters can contain anywhere from tens of thousands up to many million stars.

JEWEL BOX

PTOLEMY’S CLUSTER

OMEGA CENTAURI

The Jewel Box is an open cluster in the constellation Southern Cross (Crux). It was named the Jewel Box by John Herschel when he described its appearance through the telescope as “...a superb piece of fancy jewellery”. It is easily visible to the naked eye as a hazy star some 1.0° southeast of the bright naked-eye star Mimosa (Beta Crucis).

The cluster is nestled in a prominent star-forming region about 20,000 light-years away. The different stars reveal the different stages in the life cycle of stars.

Powerful ultraviolet radiation and fast winds from the bluest and hottest stars have blown a big bubble around the cluster. Moving into the surrounding nebula, this torrent of radiation sculpted the tall, dark stalks of dense gas, which are embedded in the walls of the nebula.

These gaseous monoliths are a few light-years tall and point to the central cluster. The stalks may be incubators for new stars.

This cluster is one of the youngest known, with an estimated age of 14 million years. It is located 6,440 light years from Earth, and contains just over 100 stars.

M7, also known as Ptolemy’s Cluster, is a bright open cluster in Scorpius constellation. The cluster lies at an approximate distance of 980 light years from Earth. It is visible to the naked eye and is twice the apparent size of the full Moon.

Messier 7 contains about 80 stars in a cloud of linear diameter of 25 light years. They were all formed at roughly the same time in the same large cosmic cloud about 220 million years old. It has a total mass about 735 times that of the Sun. It is approaching the Sun at a speed of 14 km/s.

The brightest members of the cluster – up to 10 percent of M7’s population – will eventually end their lives in violent supernova explosions, while the remaining fainter stars will gradually drift apart until they no longer form a cluster.

Ptolemy’s Cluster can be seen above the Scorpion’s tail in constellation Scorpius.

Omega Centauri is a Globular Cluster in the constellation of Centaurus. Located at a distance of 17,090 light-years, it is the largest-known globular cluster in the Milky Way at a diameter of roughly 150 light-years. It is estimated to contain approximately 10 million stars much older than the Sun. It is the largest and brightest of 200 or so known globular clusters that roam the halo of our Milky Way galaxy. It has a total mass equivalent to 4 million solar masses, making it the most massive-known globular cluster in the Milky Way. Though most star clusters consist of stars with the same age and composition, the Omega Cen contains different stellar populations with a spread of ages and chemical abundances. In fact, Omega Cen is so different from most other galactic globular clusters that it is thought to be the core remnant of a disrupted dwarf galaxy.

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The largest clustering of stars is a galaxy. Stars and star-forming regions are found in galaxies, and they make up the structure of galaxies.

We live in a galaxy called the Milky Way Galaxy. When you look up at the night sky, most of the stars you see are in one of the Milky Way arms. Ancient civilizations saw a blurred white streak across the sky. A myth by the ancient Greeks said this white streak was a “river of milk” and the ancient Romans called it the Via Galactica, or “road made of milk”. This is how our Galaxy became known as the Milky Way. The Malay reference to the Milky Way is Bima Sakti. The words Bima Sakti was borrowed from Javanese, ultimately put together from Sanskrit which refers to a character from the Mahabharata, a popular epic in Javanese culture. In this context, the Javanese myth imagines the Milky Way in the sky as Bhima (the white stars) fighting a great snake (the black stripes).

If you were looking down on the Milky Way, it would look like a large pinwheel rotating in space. It was formed approximately 14 billion years ago and contains stars, clouds of dust and gas called nebulae, planets, and asteroids. These fan out from the center of the Galaxy in long spiraling arms. The Milky Way is approximately 100,000 light-years in diameter and our Solar System is located 26,000 light-years from the centre of the Galaxy in an area called the Orion arm.

All objects in the Galaxy revolve around the Galaxy’s centre and it takes 250 million years for our Sun (and the Earth with it) to make one revolution around the center of the Milky Way. Meanwhile, the Galactic centre is marked by an intense radio source named Sagittarius A in the direction of the constellation Sagittarius.

It harbours a supermassive black hole with an estimated mass of 4 million times the mass of the Sun. Human’s ability to map the Milky Way is equivalent to a plankton mapping the Pacific Ocean. The feat is a testament to the human mind’s capability and ingenuity.

Detailed observations through highly sophisticated multi-wavelength devices from Earth and space continually reveal more and more information.

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LNO seen at night against the Milky Way Galaxy.

Constellations Scorpius and Sagittarius can be clearly seen, which indicates that we are looking at the centre of the Milky Way. The dark “clouds” seen alongside the bright parts of the Milky Way are interstellar dust clouds which prevent light from the stars behind them from reaching Earth. Infrared and radio observations have given us a much better picture of our galaxy.

A peek at the Milky Way galaxy from the main dome of LNO.

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many galaxies in the universe there are many galaxies, in the galaxies rivers of stars sprinkle the darkness flow in streams of brilliance.

WHIRLPOOL GALAXY, M51

galaxies rivers of galaxies flowing towards us but confluencing and crashing against each other. we are given only a tiny flake. of the universe many mysteries never lift the dark curtains but as we watch we obtain our place in the darkness.

Regarded as the original spiral nebula, the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) is a large galaxy that has spiral arms and dust lanes which sweep towards its companion galaxy, NGC 5195. The pair are about 31 million light-years away and has an estimated diameter of 76,000 light-years. In telescopic views, M51 looks faint and fuzzy to the eye.

With its grand spiral design, the Whirlpool Galaxy was the first galaxy to be classified as a spiral galaxy. The advent of radio astronomy and subsequent radio images of M51 unequivocally demonstrated that the Whirlpool and its companion galaxy are indeed interacting.

The pronounced spiral structure of the Whirlpool Galaxy is believed to be the result of this interaction. NGC 5195 may have passed through the main disk of M51 about 500 to 600 million years ago. In this proposed scenario, NGC 5195 came from behind M51 through the disk towards the observer and made another disk crossing backward as recently as 50 to 100 million years ago until it is where we observe it to be now, slightly behind M51.

Overall the galaxy is about 43% the size of the Milky Way. Its mass is estimated to be 160 billion solar masses or around 10.3% of the mass of the Milky Way Galaxy. A black hole, once thought to be surrounded by a ring of dust, but now believed to be partially occluded by dust instead, exists at the heart of the spiral.

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Some of the most spectacular galaxies in the universe are spiral in shape. The Southern Pinwheel Galaxy, the Whirlpool Galaxy and the Triangulum Galaxy are some of the best examples.

The Whirlpool Galaxy is, in fact, the result of the collision of two galaxies. Such collisions or interactions are commonplace. Many galaxies show cannibalistic tendencies, swallowing up smaller galaxies that get too close.

A view of the Milky Way in the direction of the Orion Constellation.

This means that we are looking away from the centre of the galaxy, towards the outer spiral of the Milky Way. The Cloths of Heaven

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Although matter in the universe is transformed into nebulae and stars which make up the form and shape of galaxies, it is galaxies that actually make up the building blocks of the universe. They constitute the structure of the universe, just like bricks make up the structure of a house.

The observations of interactions between galaxies and how they cluster is very important in providing vital information regarding the shape and form of the universe. It is through the study of galaxies that we were able to conclude that the universe is expanding and has also led to the astounding discovery of the presence of Dark Matter and Dark Energy. Both of these constitute 95-97 percent of the universe and yet we have no idea about what they are, despite the tremendous advancements we have made in science and technology. They are the biggest mysteries of science.

SOUTHERN PINWHEEL GALAXY, M83

TRIANGULUM GALAXY, NGC 598 The Triangulum galaxy (NGC 598) is located in the triangle-shaped constellation Triangulum. About half the size of our Milky Way galaxy, it is the third-largest member of our Local Group of galaxies, following the Andromeda galaxy (M31) and the Milky Way. Blue-coloured regions scattered throughout the image reveal numerous sites of rapid star birth. In fact, Hubble’s observations reveal that the Triangulum galaxy’s star formation rate is ten times higher than the average found in the Andromeda galaxy.

At a distance of about 3 million light years, it is only slightly farther away from us than the Andromeda galaxy and is suspected to be a gravitational companion to Andromeda. Both galaxies are moving toward the Milky Way, and the three galaxies will collide in a few billion years.

It is a relatively bright naked-eye object, making it one of the most distant objects that can be viewed with the unaided eye (under exceptionally clear and dark skies). Although a telescope will reveal some of its spiral features, it is better to observe the diffuse galaxy under low magnification and a wide field of view, i.e. through binoculars. It is best observed in October.

The Southern Pinwheel galaxy is located about 15 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation Hydra and is about 40,000 light-years across. It is one of the brightest spiral galaxies in the night sky. It can be observed using a pair of binoculars, most easily in May. Its popular name, The Southern Pinwheel, comes from the prominent spiral arms, visible through dark dust lanes and blue star clusters. But sparkling reddish starforming regions that can be found in the arms also suggest another nickname, The Thousand-Ruby Galaxy.

Hubble’s image of this galaxy reveals interstellar “bubbles” produced by nearly 300 supernovas. This is very important as by studying these supernova remnants, astronomers can better understand the nature of the stars that have exploded and dispersed their nuclear processed chemical elements back into the galaxy, contributing to the next generation of new stars.

These new stars form largely in clusters on the edges of the dark, spiralling dust lanes. The brilliant, young stellar groupings seen in this photo are only a few million years old and produce huge amounts of ultraviolet light.

That light is absorbed by the surrounding diffuse gas clouds, causing them to glow in pinkish hydrogen light.

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Galaxies are building block of the universe (Jalaini) Primeval Floor, 2021, bitumen and acrylic on paper, 33 × 23 inch The Cloths of Heaven

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Guided by The Stars

The constellation Orion, is a prominent celestial feature at the Equator. The three stars represent Orion’s Belt.

The brightest star in the night sky, Sirius, can be seen at the top of the photo (draw approximately a straight line through Orion’s Belt). Below Orion’s Belt is the famous Orion Nebula. Two meteor streaks can also be seen.

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Star folklore attributed to the north western region of Malaysia has particular significance in the context of Cosmic Connections. Both land-based farmers and seafaring fishing communities depended on the appearance and disappearance of certain constellations during specific times of year in order to maintain yearly calendar cycles that helped indicate fishing, planting and harvesting periods.

In particular, the appearance of Bintang Tujuh (the Pleiades, also known as the Seven Sisters) provided chronological guide to the inhabitants of this region.

Other significant star systems are found in the constellation of Orion. This constellation was named Belantik by locals. The name can be loosely interpreted as an animal trap. The potential dialogue, is not well-known in Malaysia’s historical mythology. The preservation and mediation of these important traditions serves as an ongoing dialogue and essential preservation of Malay history and culture.

Aldebaran

Pleiades

Star cluster Pleiades here seen in the constellation of Taurus.

Also shown is Aldebaran which is orange in colour. Aldebaran is a giant star that is cooler than the Sun with a surface temperature of 3,700ºC, but its radius is about 44 times the Sun’s and is over 400 times as luminous. It spins slowly and takes 520 days to complete a rotation. Aldebaran is believed to host a planet several times the mass of Jupiter, named Aldebaran b. The planetary exploration probe Pioneer 10 is heading in the general direction of the star and is expected to make its closest approach in about two million years. To look for Aldebaran, follow the three stars of the Orion’s belt in the opposite direction to Sirius, It is best seen late November or early December.

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silence is it all silence? that i reap from the night. but you too speak, chant and grow ochre with voice and emotions. your voice may come in the thunder of slumber, and your emotions sail over the rippling oceans of existence. so i stand alone to hear your words, feelings and the noise of life.

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It is raining stars. The trails are long exposures of the stars taken facing East and they show the motion of stars during the duration of the photo exposure. The trails depicted are significant because they show clearly that the picture is taken near the Equator where star trails are vertical in the East-West direction. At the North and South poles, star trails are circles parallel to the horizon as the pole stars are exactly overhead.

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The constellation Crux (Southern Cross) high in the southern sky. The two bright stars to its left are called The Pointers, consisting of Alpha Centauri, the left star, and Beta Centauri, the right star. These two stars are called Pointers as they allow us to pinpoint the Cross.

Alpha Centauri is actually a triple star system when seen through a powerful telescope. One of them is called Proxima Centauri and it is the closest star to our Sun at 4.2 lightyears. Interestingly it has two planets, one of which is Earth-size and is at a distance from Proxima Centauri which is a ‘habitable zone’, i.e. life like that on Earth can exist. This is a good candidate exoplanet for looking for extraterrestrial life. The best time of year to observe the stars of the Southern Cross is in late April and May.

Scorpius (Scorpion) and Sagittarius (Tea Pot) constellations rise high in the Equatorial sky. They indicate the position of the centre of the Milky Way. The brightest star in the neck of the scorpion is Antares. It is a red supergiant star whose brightness is irregular, and is very young (11 million years old) relative to the Sun (4.6 billion years old). With a mass 12 times that of the Sun, if placed in the Solar System, it would extend to somewhere between Mars and Jupiter. The best time to see both constellations is in June to September.

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The constellation Big Dipper, in the northern celestial sphere, looking towards the North. The North Star Polaris, depicting the North Pole, can be discerned by drawing a line downwards through the two stars that represent the outer bowl of the Dipper. In this picture it is seen just peeking above the hill.

centre is there a centre where the stars gather, arranging themselves so that they may release sparks to the skies and earth? is there a periphery that disperses and falls into an intelligibility? let me yet read the offerings of the night, for to be an inhabitant of this universe i must also be an inhabitant of my consciousness.

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The Sun: A Gift of Life

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WHILE EXPLODING STARS HAVE ALLOWED COMPLEX LIFE TO EVOLVE IN THE UNIVERSE, THAT IS ONLY THE BEGINNING OF THE STORY OF LIFE. SUBSEQUENTLY, PRECISE AND AT THE SAME TIME, COMPLEX AND COMPLICATED PROCESSES WERE REQUIRED BEFORE LIFE COULD BEGIN ON OUR EARTH. AND THEN, AGAIN, THAT IS ONLY PART OF THE STORY. WE NEED OUR STAR, THE SUN, TO SUSTAIN LIFE ON EARTH. THE SUN IS A STAR IN EQUILIBRIUM. GRAVITY EXERTS A DOWNWARD FORCE WHILE RADIATION PRESSURE FROM THE CORE PUSHES SOLAR MATERIAL OUTWARDS. THE SUN IS COMPLETELY GASEOUS. THERE IS NO SOLID SURFACE: IT IS A BALL OF BOILING HOT GAS, 74% HYDROGEN, 25% HELIUM, AND 1% OTHER ELEMENTS.

The Sun is a roiling, boiling ball of gas.

The Sun: A Gift of Life

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The Sun is made up of many layers. What we see as the surface where we see many features is the photosphere. Its temperature is about 5,800ºC. It is not smooth but grainy in appearance. From the photosphere emanates the sunlight that we see. It is made up of infrared, visible and UV light.

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The most common feature which can be seen with the naked eye is a Sunspot.

These dark spots are caused by the cooling of the gas as it travels upwards from the inner layer of the Sun. Despite the cooling, the temperature is 3,700ºC. From our study of Sunspots, we have been able to estimate the speed of rotation of the Sun, we saw that the rotation varies from the equatorial region to the poles and that the activity of the Sun rises and falls.

Granular structure on the surface of the Sun.

The solar winds ejected by the Sun are highly energetic, charged particles that travel through space at 400 km per second. The Earth is protected by our magnetic field that deflects these charged solar winds. Nevertheless, communication satellites may experience electronic breakdown and space crew could suffer serious radiation-related health problems if they are caught in the path of solar winds. For humans, these effects include chromosome damage and cancer, which may be fatal. On Earth, the solar winds create geomagnetic storms, which can disrupt radio and television services, while high electrical surges may also damage power grids.

From the observation of sunspots, it is evident that Sun rotates every 27 days and the activities exist in a cycle of a minimum and maximum every 11 years.

Maybe Vincent van Gogh saw these and depicted them in his Sunflower paintings?

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happy painter the sun is a happy painter of the canvas of the days drawing the phases from its palate of reds yellows and ochres so that we meet the morning with colours that stream from the sky and meaning breath that flows from its light. the sun is a painter for whom we sit still.

tuhan mencipta tuhan mencipta matahari matahari mencipta kabus maka sinar pun mencipta warna. dan angin pun berhembus renggangkan tidur dan malam dari dahan, debu dari kesedaran. kuntum musim tengadah mengadap matahari. suatu hari yang lapang untuk hidup atau mati.

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Above the photosphere is the chromosphere. The temperature of this layer rises to 20,000ºC and it is 3,000 to 5,000 km thick.

Many of its features can be seen. Jets of plasma rise through the chromosphere extending thousands of kilometres which can be seen during solar eclipses. They are called spicules when viewed from the side and fibrils when viewed head-on.

Millions of these explosions occur throughout the Sun’s surface, giving it a hairy look.

One of the special features of the chromosphere is the fibrils can explode to become flares. When seen from the side, they appear as loops that go many millions of miles in space.

The Sun’s different features are observed using different filters at various wavelengths: White Light, H-Alpha, Ca K. The white light filter assists in producing an overall image of the Sun as seen by the naked eye.

The H Alpha filter makes it easier to see sunspots.

The Calcium K (Ca-K) filter allows us to see some of the magnetic structure on the Sun. The bright sections show where the magnetic field is the strongest.

These loops can break and release enormous amounts of particles. These particles reach the Earth and other planets and is called the Solar Wind.

A filament appears as prominence when it is viewed from the edge of the Sun.

The solar winds ejected by the Sun are highly energetic, charged particles that travel through space at 400 km per second. The Earth is protected by our magnetic field that deflects them. Nevertheless, satellites in orbit may experience electronic failure and space crew could suffer serious radiation-related health problems if they are caught in the path of solar winds. These effects include chromosome damage and cancer which may be fatal. On Earth, the solar winds create geomagnetic storms which can disrupt radio and television services, while high electrical surges may also damage power grids. The worst solar storm ever recorded, called the Carrington event, occurred in 1859.

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A gallery of sunspots.

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Prominences at the limb of the Sun.

Flares (on the left) and dark filaments (on the right) exist in the hot bubbling surface of the Sun. The Sun: A Gift of Life

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The Sun was created from a nebula of dust and molecules. Under the force of gravity this nebula contracted, heating the centre. When the temperature reached a few million degrees, nucleosynthesis was triggered and a star, the Sun, was born.

However, the accretion disc that surrounded the Sun at birth continued to orbit the Sun and the matter in the disc collided and coalesced, forming the planets, asteroids and comets.

At school we are taught that there are eight planets in the Solar System, the largest of which is Jupiter. This gas giant has been studied at close range by flyby and orbiting spacecraft, revealing the most incredible structures, representing storms in the clouds. LNO had limited capability to resolve much of the details.

Nevertheless, some of the clouds’ features have been captured.

Planet Jupiter shows features in its clouds, not unlike the storm clouds on Earth. Jupiter has many moons and three of them can be seen in this image.

Planet Saturn and its ring. This ring is actually made out of many rings which collectively become the most extensive ring system of any planet in the Solar System. They consist of countless particles, ranging in size from micrometers to meters that orbit around Saturn. The ring particles are made almost entirely of water ice, with a trace component of rocky material. There is still no consensus as to the mechanism of its formation. Theoretical models suggest that the rings were likely to have formed early in the Solar System’s history.

Another planet that students and the public enjoy watching through the telescope is Saturn. Saturn has stunning rings. The orientation of the rings changes and sometimes one can only see a thin line running across the planet.

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Artistic renditions of the Martian ice cap (Jalaini) Lantai Dimensi Sepi, 2021, bitumen and acrylic on paper, 33 × 23 inch The Sun: A Gift of Life

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Apart from planets, the Solar system disc also contains comets.

Comets are icy bodies of frozen gases, rocks and dust left over from the formation of the Solar System about 4.6 billion years ago. They orbit the Sun in highly elliptical orbits that can take up to hundreds of thousands of years to complete.

As a comet approaches the Sun, it heats up very quickly, causing solid ice to turn directly into gas. The gas contains water vapour, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and other trace substances which form a cloud, often 1,000 times larger than the nucleus. This cloud gets swept out into a tail which could be millions of kilometres long. The fiery tail seen attached to the comet is the effect of solar winds and is visible to the naked eye.

COMET ISON (2013) Comet ISON was discovered in 2012 by Vitaly Nevsky and Artyom Novichonok. It reached the proximity of the Sun in 2013. Although expected to become brighter than a full Moon, it never became bright enough to be visible to the naked eye because it had disintegrated before reaching perihelion. The comet began its first-time journey from the Oort Cloud at least a million years ago and because it disintegrated upon nearing the Sun, there are no confirmed estimates as to when it will return.

COMET HALE-BOPP (1997)

COMET NEOWISE (2020)

COMET C/2022 E3 (ZTF) (2023)

Comet Hale-Bopp was discovered in 1995 by Alan Hale and Thomas Bopp. It was visible to the naked eye for a record 18 months, due to its massive nucleus size. It shone brighter than any star in the sky except Sirius, and its dust tail stretched 40–45 degrees across the sky. This comet will next return to the inner Solar System around the year 4385.

Comet NEOWISE was discovered in 2020 by astronomers during a mission of the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) space telescope. It was visible to the naked eye even in cities and was so bright in the night sky that scientists were able to acquire more and better data than they typically do for most comets. NEOWISE showed a strong sodium atom emission around the central nucleus, which is rare and only a few comets, like HaleBopp showed this emission. The sodium atoms might be the neutral atoms emitted directly from the cometary nucleus or more likely due to neutral atoms released by dust particles in the coma and dust tail. It is estimated to be 5 kilometres in diameter. The comet orbits the Sun every 6,800 to 7,000 years.

Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) was discovered by astronomers Bryce Bolin and Frank Masci using the wide-field survey camera at the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) in early March, 2022. On its voyage through the inner Solar System comet ZTF was at perihelion on 12 January 2023. It was closest to the Earth on 1 February 2023. Its brightness was unfortunately unpredictable and became only just visible to the eye in dark night skies. It was best seen through a telescope. The close approach of C/2022 E3 (ZTF) to the inner solar system might have altered its orbit enough to ensure it is now on a one-way trip out of the solar system.

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Comets leave a trail of debris behind them that can lead to meteor showers on Earth.

A meteor shower occurs when the Earth’s orbit takes it through the debris left behind by a comet or asteroid that orbits the Sun. For example, Comet TempelTuttle is the parent of the November Leonid shower, while Minor planet 3200 Phaethon (asteroid) is the originator Geminids shower in December.

COMET LOVEJOY (2014) Comet Lovejoy was discovered in November 2011 by Australian amateur astronomer Terry Lovejoy. At its brightest, Comet Lovejoy was as bright as the planet Venus, making it brighter than any stars in the sky. It is estimated to have about a 622-year orbit. It last reached perihelion in 1329 and will return around the year 2633.

Comet Lovejoy lived up to its name by releasing large amounts of alcohol as well as a type of sugar into space.

The discovery marks the first-time ethyl alcohol, the same type in alcoholic beverages, has been observed in a comet.

The gas surrounding the nucleus of the comet is called a coma and for Lovejoy, it was as big as the full Moon as seen from Earth. Whenever a comet approaches the inner Solar System, a tail is formed due to solar radiation which causes the volatile materials within the comet to vapourize and stream out of the nucleus, carrying dust away with them. The green colour is due to the presence of diatomic carbon.

Meteor showers are made up of meteoroids, tiny bits of material that vapourize in our atmosphere and leave behind glowing trails, thereby the name given to them: shooting stars. Most meteoroids do not fall to Earth, although a few do. When they hit the ground, meteoroids become meteorites. Millions of these early solar system remnants slam into our atmosphere and one or more of them impacted the island of Langkawi a few million years ago. The study of comets and asteroids is useful as they give insight into our solar system’s early history.

A Meteor shower (Geminids): remnants of Asteroid 3200 Phaethon.

Nebula Eta Carinae (reddish blob) can be clearly seen.

The Sun: A Gift of Life

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The Moon: It is more than Romance

THE LATEST MOST WIDELY ACCEPTED THEORY OF THE ORIGIN OF THE MOON IS THAT IT WAS CREATED WHEN A MARS-SIZED BODY SLAMMED INTO THE YOUNG EARTH. THE ROCK AND DUST DEBRIS FROM THIS IMPACT WAS THROWN HIGH INTO THE SKY. GRAVITY TIED THE EXPELLED DEBRIS IN AN ORBIT AROUND THE EARTH. BUT OVER TIME, THE DEBRIS COALESCED AND EVENTUALLY CONGEALED INTO A SINGLE SATELLITE OBJECT, I.E. THE MOON. SIMULATIONS SHOW THAT SUCH A COLLISION IS RARE, AND BECAUSE OF THAT, LESS THAN 10 PERCENT OF PLANETARY SYSTEMS RESEMBLE OUR UNIQUE EARTH-MOON SYSTEM.

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The Moon’s surface shows craters, the result of the impact of asteroids at different times in the Moon’s history.

The fact is, the Moon is not only unique in the Solar System, but may also be rare throughout the universe. The ratio of planet-to-moon mass is around a hundred times larger for Earth than similar comparisons to the moons of other planets.

The vast difference originates from the fact that other planets in the solar system acquired their moons through the gravitational capture of free-floating bodies originating from the formation of the Sun. The Moon has long been recognised as a significant stabilizer of the Earth’s orbital axis. The Earth spins around its orbital axis which is tilted 23.5 degrees toward the Sun. Due to the presence of the Moon, it changes its angle toward the Sun only by a little more than a degree over the course of thousands of years.

Still, these small differences are significant enough to cause the occurrences of ice ages during the earlier existence of the Earth.

The new Moon as captured by the telescope at LNO.

But without the Moon, astronomers have predicted that the Earth’s tilt could vary as much as 85 degrees. In such a scenario, the Sun would vary from being directly over the equator to directly over the poles in the course of a mere few million years. The changes could result in dramatic climatic shifts that scientists speculate have the potential to impede the development of life.

The Moon: It Is More Than Romance

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The gravity pull of the Moon and Sun on Earth creates a tug-of-war between the two forces that routinely deforms the entire planet. The tidal effect could have at least partially activated Earth’s plate tectonics. Due to this seismic activity, Earth’s surface could cool off, unlike Venus which has a hot, inhabitable surface.

The gravitational forces of the Sun and Moon also create the tides of the oceans.

Scientists speculate that the tides could have dragged the necessary minerals and chemicals into the oceans that helped form the chemical soup that led to the formation of the first abiotic cells. And as life developed in the oceans, tides were probably one of the factors that helped early forms of life to make the move from water to land.

These are still just theories, and we know very little about the origin of life on our planet, but there is a general recognition that the Moon played an important role in allowing our planet to have the necessary conditions for life to appear.

The Moon was, in the past, a lot closer to Earth. This meant that its gravitational pull on our planet was much stronger, making the movements of the tides more aggressive. Scientists believe at that point in time, the Earth’s rotation only took 6 to 8 hours. Imagine what it is like in 8-hour days: animal species on Earth would have to adapt to faster and wilder temperature and light changes and would have probably been forced to develop quite differently. But the Moon’s gravity gradually slowed down the Earth’s spin, turning it into the 24-hour days that we know today. The Earth’s spin is still slowing and the Moon continues to retreat from us. As the apparent lunar disc gets smaller, in a few million years, we will not be able to witness the total solar eclipses that we see today.

The Moon has many minerals which can be mapped using different filters. Craters, plateaus and seas on the Moon have been named and are clearly marked.

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Aristoteles

Eudoxus

Archimedes Mare Serenitatis

Mare Crisium

Mare Tranquilitatis

Mare Fecunditatis

Mare Nectaris

Langrenus Crater

Stevinus Crater

The Moon: It Is More Than Romance

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Jalaini Abu Hassan, (Gabriel), 2022, acrylic & bitumen on canvas, 6 × 6 ft 66

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The Moon’s surface material, known as regolith, has subtle colour differences caused by varying mineral compositions in different areas. This picture has been obtained using different colour filters and a process called saturation boosting.

Technically it depicts the Moon’s true colour, but it is not what the naked eye sees because the photoreceptors of the eye are not sensitive enough to the small variations in colour.

The Moon is tinged brownish red and metallic blue. The brown red patches are iron and feldspar that have been oxidized by oxygen atoms from the Earth’s atmosphere that reach the Moon Meanwhile, titanium-rich areas within Mare Tranquilities appear blue.

This map of the Moon uncovers areas rich in precious titanium ore, with some lunar rocks harboring 10 times as much of the mineral as similar rocks on Earth do.

The reason is still a puzzle to researchers. The lunar titanium-richness could be an indication of conditions inside the Moon shortly after it formed, which will allow geochemists to obtain a better understanding of the evolution of the Moon.

This kind of map can lay the groundwork for future mining on the Moon.

Because the Moon has no atmosphere, features on its surface are not eroded under certain climatic conditions as it does on Earth. Hence craters on its surface formed due to impacts of thousands of space rocks are preserved through millions and possibly billions of years. They give us an idea about the rate of collisions throughout the Moon’s history.

The Moon: It Is More Than Romance

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ramadhan ramadhan gives me nights and the moon then i count the passage of time and the fattening of the sickle. on the fifteenth i feel the relief of an old man from his age, and i begin getting younger and slimmer until the old moon fades and new one appears. then it is shawal a time to consume, and consume, to make up for lost time. all marked by the moon. walking in the dark i spotted a moon in the little lake of the forest. i dished it our carefully so that it did not break and placed it in my pond for me to adore, the perfect face that is only possible in a reflection. there it stayed every night in its swamp of water and reeds.

Impact craters viewed at the limb of the Moon show multiple impacts recorded in the Moon’s history.

Due to the lack of weathering on the Moon, these features can persevere for millions, even billions, of years.

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aku perlukan bulan aku perlukan bulan, kerana tanpanya kakiku berlumur lumpur kepalaku digomol bayang-bayang, tanpa mencapai udara untuk hidup di angkasa.

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In a lunar eclipse, the Moon often passes through two regions of Earth’s shadow: an outer penumbra, where direct sunlight is dimmed, and an inner umbra, where indirect and much dimmer sunlight refracted by Earth’s atmosphere shines on the Moon.

The Moon is red during a total lunar eclipse because of the sunlight refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere (called Rayleigh scattering) on to the Moon surface.

It is the same mechanism responsible for causing colorful sunrises and sunsets, and for the sky to look blue.

One thing we should not forget is the Moon has great conditions to be used as a base for space exploration. Many countries have serious plans to set up lunar bases. There are many important compounds and minerals we need to support life and build settlements that can be found on the Moon, including water.

Some day in the future, when you gaze at the Moon, another being might be looking back at you.

A lunar eclipse is a spectacular celestial event which changed the history of certain cultures and civilizations in the past.

The Moon: It Is More Than Romance

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An Interloper from Space

LANGKAWI HAS A FASCINATING GEOLOGICAL HISTORY, BEING MADE UP OF THE OLDEST (500 MILLION YEARS OLD) ROCKS IN MALAYSIA. THIS IS ENHANCED

BY THE FACT THAT THERE ARE A SERIES OF ANCIENT METEORITE CRATERS THAT WERE FORMED AS A RESULT OF AN IMPACT PURPORTED TO HAVE OCCURRED SEVERAL MILLION YEARS AGO.

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The existence of these craters was first speculated by the late Professor Tji Hong Djin, Professor Emeritus of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. Research on the veracity of the claim was subsequently conducted by various researchers.

Remote sensing images show that there exist two distinct circular structures in the centre of the main island. They have been named Mahsuri rings in honour of a legendary figure embedded in Langkawi local folklore. The rings are partially superimposed, each about 2.4 km across, with centres 0.6 km distance apart. The Eastern ring has a depth of 107 m, while the other is 45 m deep. Professor Tjia postulated that apart from these rings, there exist in the southwest direction two more circular structures of progressively smaller size: in the Temoyong district and the partially circular island of Tepor, located west of Tengah Beach. From the positions of these four structures, he posited that they probably represent a series of impacts of extraterrestrial projectiles arriving from the southwest. The impact event could be of Neogene age (20 to 3 million years ago).

The Mahsuri Crater Rings as observed from the Gunung Raya peak.

An Interloper From Space

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Catur Cahyaningsih et alia (1) of Universitas Islam Riau of Indonesia conducted research in thesuspected meteorite impact crater areas using a geochemistry method to seek the presence of rare minerals in the rock samples. These samples were processed using an X-ray diffraction (XRD) machine and analysed by EVA Software. Four types of minerals were found, namely, Jagoite, Dickite, Rubidium Germanium Silicate and Zinc Sulfide Diaminopropane. These minerals are known to be formed by meteorite impact, thus providing geochemical evidence that confirms the Mahsuri rings are, in fact, the result of meteorite impact.

Prof Rahim Samsudin et alia (2) of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia conducted gravity and magnetic surveys of the rings. The rounded shape anomalous contour that they found appears to be coincident with the Mahsuri Ring impact crater as interpreted by the previous researchers. The anomaly map shows a structure of diameter approximately 1.5 km with a depth of about 1.5 km. In addition, a negative magnetic anomaly appears to be dominant within this impact crater area. The subdued low magnetic response found implies demagnetisation of the original rock caused by extreme heating due to the asteroid impact.

Wide view satellite image of Langkawi showing the locations of the Mahsuri Crater Rings.

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hiding history each rock hides its history in the shattered mountains. each history hides itself in the elements of the rock, in the water that rushes over its edges. and in the celestial clouds that are its beginning and distant parent.

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in the darkest shadow in the darkest shadow of the moon mahsuri’s family sailed with the dark winds to satun, where they might still find justice when the eyelids of the sun open. the unjust must suffer its injustice and learn the lessons of arrogance and powerlessness in the dark cave of mahsuri’s curse. thus, langkawi’s days were eclipsed for seven generations on the sea, the hills, the padi fields and fruit orchards. the harvest reaped from an thoughtless king who ruled with envy and jealousy.

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Locations of the Mahsuri impact crater rings seen on a 3-D elevation satellite image of Langkawi.

Impact craters are found on all the moons and planets of the Solar System. This picture shows a crater distribution on the Moon similar to that found on Langkawi island.

An Interloper From Space

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1) Catur Cahyaningsih, Husnul Kausarian and Yogi Aditia, “Rare Mineral Evidence of Mahsuri Ring Meteorite Impact In Langkawi Island”, Journal Of Applied Geospatial Information, Vol. 3 No. 2, 2019.

2) Abdul Rahim Samsudin, Nur Suraya Ahmad, Nur Dalilah Johari and Umar Hamzah, “Geophysical Evidences of a Possible Meteorite Impact Crater at Langkawi Island, Kedah, Malaysia”, Electronic Journal of Geotechnical Engineering,19(1):4741-4749, 2014.

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A close-up 3-D elevation satellite image of the double Mahsuri Crater rings seen from a southerly direction. Gunung Raya is prominent in the background.

A close-up 3-D elevation satellite image of the Temoyong Crater ring as postulated by Professor Tjia taken from a north-westerly direction. No detailed studies have been carried out to verify this claim.

The lake seen in the centre top half of the picture is the Bukit Malut Reservoir where the Langkawi National Observatory is located.

A close-up 3-D elevation satellite image of the semicircular Tepor Island Crater ring as postulated

by Professor Tjia seen from a northerly direction. No detailed studies have been carried out to verify this claim.

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Jalaini Abu Hassan, Archetypal Split, 2021, mixed media & bitumen on canvas, 4 × 8 ft 79

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Langkawi from Space

LANGKAWI UNESCO GLOBAL GEOPARK COMPRISES ALL 99 ISLANDS OF THE ARCHIPELAGO, WITH THREE DESIGNATED GEOFOREST PARKS, AND A RECENTLY DESIGNATED BIOGEOTRAIL. THESE ARE MACHINCHANG CAMBRIAN GEOFOREST PARK, KILIM KARST GEOFOREST PARK, DAYANG BUNTING MARBLE GEOFOREST PARK, AND KUBANG BADAK BIOGEO TRAIL.

Remote sensing satellite captures Langkawi from space.

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Langkawi From Space

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KILIM KARST GEOFOREST PARK As mangrove forests continue to diminish worldwide, it is one of nature’s most beautiful and endangered creations. Explore a pristine wonderland of karst (limestone) in a rich mangrove network of rivers and mudflats. Discover ancient fossil beds, abundant marine life, and the home of the island’s famous sea eagles and brahminy kites.

A 3-D elevation satellite image of the Kilim Karst Geoforest Park area.

Kilim Karst Geoforest Park Machinchang Cambrian Geoforest Park

Dayang Bunting Marble Geoforest Park

A 2-D satellite image of Kilim Geoforest Park.

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DAYANG BUNTING MARBLE GEOFOREST PARK Located five minutes by boat from the main island, Dayang Bunting, or “Island of the Pregnant Maiden”, is the archipelago’s second largest island, and whose most prominent feature is a large freshwater lake surrounded by thickly forested hills. Its suggestive outline inspired the island’s name. The park is home to some of the finest Permian marble formations in the world.

A 3-D elevation satellite image of Pulau Dayang Bunting.

Dayang Bunting Lake

A 2-D satellite image of Pulau Dayang Bunting.

The famous Dayang Bunting Lake is shown on the left-hand side of the island. On the righthand side of Pulau Dayang Bunting is Pulau Tuba.

Langkawi From Space

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MACHINCHANG CAMBRIAN GEOFOREST PARK The Machinchang mountain range forms a spectacular landscape comprised predominantly of sedimentary sandstone and granite. These Cambrian rock formations are estimated to be over 550 million years old — among the oldest on Earth. It is also home to probably the oldest rainforest on the planet.

In addition to numerous mountain trails, Mt. Machinchang can be accessed by the famous SkyCab, one of the longest and steepest free-span cable car rides in Southeast Asia.

This 2-D satellite image shows the locations of the Langkawi Sky Bridge on the left and the Middle Station of the SkyCab.

A 3-D elevation satellite image of the majestic Machinchang Peak.

Machinchang Cambrian Geoforest Park can be accessed through the Oriental Village, located west of Langkawi Island in the Pantai Kok area.

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tafsirlah hikayat pasir, riwayat tualang, serta ceritera secantik pipi puteri. tafsirlah takdir yang berkejar di lumpur, terpatah di simpang, atau berakhir di hujung dengung bahasa kita yang sedang derita.

Jalaini Abu Hassan, Busut, 2021, bitumen and acrylic on paper, 33 × 23 inch Langkawi From Space

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cerita langkawi ini dulu tanah pak long, laut bercakap dengan pasiak, dengan bahasa buih. pak long juai dekat toke. kami beli proton dengan telefon bimbit ni, lihat, cantik bukan hang nak pakai? silalah. kami pindah ke jeniang di tepi utan miang. tapi tak tau macam mana duit tu cepat habeh. tanah di kuah dulu dah bertingkat rumah harga dah 10 juta, depa kata. kami menyesai tapi apa nak buat?

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KUBANG BADAK BIOGEO TRAIL Kampung Kubang Badak is a unique tidal river estuary ecosystem full of geological diversity, pristine mangroves and a distinctive cultural history with the early settlement of the Thai community. The BioGeo site river trail is a strategic partnership project between the Langkawi Development Authority (LADA), Langkawi Research Centre (PPL) and Sungai Kubang Badak Langkawi Limited. The objective is to create a sustainable new geo-tourism product for locals and foreign tourists to enjoy.

Kampung Kubang Badak BioGeo Trail is located in the northern part of Langkawi Island.

A 2-D satellite image of the Kubang Badak BioGeo Trail.

Langkawi From Space

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The Eyes to Space

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The beginning of the optical journey to space.

Granite meets the lake at LNO.

The pristine environment around LNO is preserved through its location the Bukit Malut Forest Reserve.

LNO snuggled in the tropical forest.

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The Moon and the stars provide the story behind the cloths of heaven.

A water oasis.

A space tower.

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LNO landscaping: Light boxes match the main building’s architecture.

Welcoming you to your journey to space.

The Eyes to Space

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can you feel? can you feel the breath of the trees and water behind the curve of the stars? its haze and clouds, envelope the sleeping pineapples and the translucent melaka fruits. laut dan waktu laut menakung waktu waktu berombak sampai ke pantai, ru menerima hari di pucuknya dan pulangkan bayang kepada cermin laut.

there is a pink shade of life on the leaves of the forest trees, the reddish fungus, the slow-moving millipede, and on your lips.

percik saat merintik di kebunnya nelayan bidayuh menyegarkan keturunannya dan merentakkan hidup. di laut, waktu menerima sungai mengumpul serpihan gunung dan kampung, membaurkannya dengan kapas awan dan warna peribadi matahari, tua, mulia dan tenang.

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The eyes to space.

Light pillars against the Big Dipper constellation.

The dome awaits to part its eaves to allow its telescope to peer into the heavens.

The full Moon setting at LNO.

The Eyes to Space

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The telescope for the observation of Near Earth Objects.

The mounting of the telescope.

The main telescope at LNO.

LNO suffers from light pollution which must be minimized or the telescopes will lose their ability to peer deep into the heavens.

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gelap ini ada kehadirannya bersuara dan berkongsi makna, aku meraba muka di cermin dan berhenti untuk mendengar ayat bicaranya rungutan dan esak tangisnya.

The solar telescopes provide daily data on the Sun to the Sunspot Index and Long-term Solar Observations (SILSO) Data Centre in Belgium.

maka aku pun belajar bahasa gelap dan malam yang tumbuh dari tanah dan diri yang gelap yang tertanam dalam lapisan wujud yang menunda hidup dan ertinya. aku pun berdiri, senyap, memasang telinga untuk mendengar raut cakerawala.

The Eyes to Space

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Jalaini Abu Hassan, Luna Merah, 2021, Oil, acrylic & bitumen on canvas, 3 × 8 ft 96

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The Authors

MAZLAN OTHMAN Mazlan Othman was educated in Malaysia and received her PhD in Astrophysics at the University of Otago, New Zealand. Upon returning to Malaysia in 1981, she pioneered an academic programme on astrophysics at the National University of Malaysia and was appointed Professor of Astrophysics in 1994. She was seconded to the Prime Minister’s Department in 1990 to direct the establishment of the National Planetarium under the Space Science Studies Division. As its first DirectorGeneral, she also led the design and manufacture of Malaysia’s first remote-sensing satellite, TiungSAT-1, launched in 2000. In 1999, she was appointed Director of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and returned to Malaysia to set up the National Space Agency (ANGKASA). As its founding Director-General, she established the National Space Centre, which houses TT&C, AIT, calibration, and research facilities; founded the Langkawi National Observatory; and initiated the programme which placed the world’s first remote-sensing satellite in the near-Equatorial orbit. She spearheaded the Angkasawan Programme, which saw the launch of the first Malaysian astronaut to the International Space Station in 2007. That year, she left Malaysia again to resume the post of Director of UNOOSA. In 2009, she was appointed Deputy Director-General of the United Nations Office in Vienna (UNOV). She retired from the UN in 2013 and became the Director of the International Science Council Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific from 2017 to 2021. She is also a fellow of several national and international professional bodies and is the recipient of several national and international awards.

JALAINI ABU HASSAN Jalaini Abu Hassan or “Jai” is a renowned Malaysian contemporary artist. He is an important and influential figure in Malaysian visual art circle and academe. A process painter, Jalaini explores the act of creation that goes into forming a series of body of work experimenting with materials and medium in his attempt to investigate and portray Malaysian visual vernacular, one whose meaning would undoubtedly speak of his identity and culture. Jai’s work is a tableau of text and images referencing the Malay cosmology, contemporary global culture, nature and man-made environment, seen and imagined within the kaleidoscope of Malaysian experience. Jalaini obtained his Bachelor of Art & Design (Fine Art) in 1985 from Universiti Teknologi MARA Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia.

He then furthers his postgraduate studies in London at the prestigious Slade School of Fine Art in University College of London (UCL), England in 1986. In 1992 he continued to pursue his Master in Fine Art at the Pratt Institute in New York City before returning to Malaysia in 1994 to teach at ITM (UiTM). After twenty years in the academia, he was awarded National Academic Award in 2018 and completed his PhD in Art and Design (Fine Art) in 2023.

Acclaimed at home and internationally, Jai has held solo exhibitions in Malaysia Singapore, Indonesia, U.K and the U.S where he showcased ‘Bangsawan Kebangsaan’ at Tyler Rollins Fine Art gallery in New York City in 2010.

Held over twenty five solo exhibitions. Jai works are in the collection of the National Art Gallery, Galeri Petronas, Ilham Gallery Malaysia, Khazanah Nasional Gallery and in private, corporate collections around the world. His work was recently acquired by National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) Australia as their permanent collection.

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MUHAMMAD HAJI SALLEH Malaysia’s National Laureate, Muhammad Haji Salleh, was born on 26 March 1942, in Taiping, Perak. He had his early education at Bukit Mertajam High School (Penang), Malay College, Kuala Kangsar (Perak) and Malayan Teachers College, Brinsford Lodge, England (1963). He then furthered his studies at the University of Singapore, in 1975 for Bachelor of Arts. He gained his PhD in 1977 after he had graduated from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Upon his return to Malaysia, for 42 years, he served in three universities: University of Malaya, National University of Malaysia, and Science University of Malaysia. He has also taught in the US, Brunei, Germany, and Netherlands, as well as received fellowships from universities in those countries. Muhammad was appointed the “Asian Scholar in Residence” at the University of Michigan in 1980. Between 1992 to 1993, he became the Fulbright Visiting Researcher in the University of California, Berkeley, and held the “Kursi Pengajian Melayu/Chair of Malay Studies” at the University of Leiden, from 1993 to 1994. His creative writings are mostly poetry and criticism, both in Malay and English, especially through his efforts in exposing Malaysian literature to international readers.

His poems and literary critiques have been translated into 12 languages. Moreover, Muhammad has published 15 collections of poems and 12 books of literary criticism, in Malay and English. He has also translated 11 Malaysian works into English. His awards include ASEAN Literary Prize in 1977, National Literature Award 1991 and Mastera, 2008.

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List of artworks by Jalaini Abu Hassan

pp.2–3, & 32 Primordial 2022 Bitumen on paper 23 × 33 in

p.43 Primeval Floor 2021 Bitumen and acrylic on paper 33 × 23 in

p.59 Lantai Dimensi Sepi 2021 Bitumen and acrylic on paper 33 × 23 in

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p.66 (Gabriel) 2022 Acrylic & bitumen on canvas 6 × 6 ft

p.79 Archetypal Split 2021 Mixed media & bitumen on canvas 4 × 8 ft

p.84 Busut 2021 Bitumen and acrylic on paper 33 × 23 in

p.96 Luna Merah 2021 Oil, acrylic & bitumen on canvas 3 × 8 ft

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Acknowledgements

We are extremely indebted to everyone, especially the following individuals whose dedication and expertise have helped put this book together and bring it to fruition.

MALAYSIAN SPACE AGENCY (MySA) Tn. Hj Azlikamil Napiah Kamaruzzaman Wahid Farahana Kamarudin Mohammad Redzuan Tahar Karzaman Ahmad Zahira Mohd Radzi Siti Muazah Md Zin Mohd Zahir Harun

ACADEMY OF SCIENCES MALAYSIA (ASM) Dharshene Rajayah Hazrul Liki Syazwani Abu Bakar Nazmi Lao Ilham Raudhah Syazwani Mohd Razman

LANGKAWI DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY (LADA) Nasaruddin Abdul Muttalib Dr Azmil Munif bin Mohd Bukhari Shuhaila Ahmad Rozi

IMAGE PROCESSING AND IMAGES Samuel Lloyd Gibbs William Chin Wei Loon

ARTWORK LAYOUT KentaWorks Graphic

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