Light
Pollution in Southeast Asia
Including Road Map of Malaysia
If you go to the World
Atlas of the Artificial Night Sky Brightness, you can find light pollution
maps for the entire world. During June 2003, in an attempt to find a dark
sky site in Peninsular Malaysia, I downloaded the map section relevant for
Southeast Asia. Also, I got to know Tuckfook from the internet (through a
newsgroup), who very kindly helped me to superimpose a Malaysia road map
onto the light pollution map.
Here are the results (CH refers to the Cameron Highlands). For the meanings
of the different colors, please go to this page.
If you need a larger version of
the Malaysia road map, here it is:
Directions
to the Mersing Observing Site, Peninsular Malaysia
A bunch of astronomers from Singapore, mostly from the singastro group, frequent
this site. The site is a rather large grass field whose edge is about 10-20
meters from the sea. It offers a clear view of the sky almost in all directions,
except for a couple of trees and a couple of lights from nearby homes. While
I've not seen it for myself, I've heard that the Milky Way is very bright
here, indicating that the site is very dark. The downside is that there are
frequent lightning strikes visible, even when there are no clouds.
These are the directions to this site, for someone driving from Singapore.
These directions are mostly drawn from my drive to Mersing with my Dad in
June 2003, with some additional inputs from Chee Chien and Matthew.
1) I can't remember the
details of the first lap, but roughly: after passing through the (first link)
causeway, follow the signs to Kota Tinggi - you should get onto highway 3
eventually.
2) Drive along highway 3 for 2-3 hours, depending on your driving speed
and traffic conditions. Watch the sign boards for Kota Tinggi and Mersing;
there may be one or two places where you'd need to make a turn. For people
like me not used to driving in Malaysia, be prepared for winding roads and
lots of little hills to climb and descend.
3) You should pass through a place called Jemaluang before reaching Mersing.
4) When passing through Mersing town, you'll reach a traffic circle. This
area, I guess, is "downtown" - you can find quite a few restaurants around
here. Take the first (I believe) left after entering the circle; as a check,
this should lead you across a short bridge, and very soon you will pass by
Hotel Timotel on your left. This is where my Dad and I stayed for the first
night. This hotel is fairly clean and has a restaurant at its ground floor;
room rates (RM119 / night for 2) include breakfast.
5) You will then begin leaving Mersing town. About 10-20 minutes' drive
later, you will see an "AWAS" sign on your left indicating an upcoming junction.
By this time you should be seeing only trees and no houses around you. At
the junction, turn right and do not continue on highway 3.
6) Continue until you reach a cross junction that has a sign board telling
you the places you'll reach if you go left or right. The roads on both your
left and right should be semi-paved - worn out, broken down paved roads that
are now covered with lots of gravel, dirt, sand and small rocks. The road
in front leads to the beach. Turn left (north west). (It's about 4 km from
here to the observing site.)
7) You'll pass by goats, buffalos, cows, monkeys, eagles and other birds
and animals. You should see a hill covered with folliage rising on your left.
Then you will pass through a short stretch of well paved road, part of which
is sort of a bridge. Then more semi-paved road. You will pass by houses on
both sides until there is a T junction where you can turn right relatively
well paved road and go to the beach; continue on the semi-paved road.
8) Soon after that T junction, there should be a large mango tree on your
left hand side, followed by a short stretch of road with no houses
at all on either side. Simply find an appropriate place to turn right into
the fields. This is the observation site. It is partially concealed from
the road by short bushes, and it has a couple of coconut trees scattered around
its premises. Just before you reach the grass field, you may pass by several
pits made out of wooden logs and filled with sand inside; perhaps sites for
campfires. If you drive towards the beach far enough, there will be
no more bushes except right at the edge where it meets the beach - there is
a width of taller grass and bushes growing on a raised ledge defining the
border between the grassy field and the sandy beach.
For completeness here are Matthew's GPS coordinates for this site:
2º 36' 13.2"N, 103º46' 48.9"E
9) Now if you go a little too far along this semi-paved road, you will reach
a place with houses and boats parked alongside them. There will be a large
open field on your right (north east), with the beach and sea beyond that.
Note: If you have a Garmin GPS receiver and would like to obtain a map of
Malaysia for it, try the following site
http://www.malaysiagis.com/related_technologies/gps/resources4.cfm