Total Lunar Eclipse

10 December 2011 - One of the rare moments where we had the opportunity to catch the entire duration of a total lunar eclipse in Singapore! The event was at a very "earthly" timing too - the different phases were visible from around 8.30pm to 12.30am local time.

The timing of the phases of the eclipse from NASA:

Penumbral Eclipse Begins: 11:33:32 UT

Partial Eclipse Begins: 12:45:42 UT

Total Eclipse Begins: 14:06:16 UT

Greatest Eclipse: 14:31:49 UT

Total Eclipse Ends: 14:57:24 UT

Partial Eclipse Ends: 16:17:58 UT

Penumbral Eclipse Ends: 17:30:00 UT

* Note: Add 8 hours for Singapore time.

I only managed to watch the second half of the eclipse from totality till the end of the eclipse. The coppery-red moon was really stunning, and even more so when viewed through a pair of 8x40 binoculars.

Here's my modest attempt at capturing yesterday's total lunar eclipse. The photos were taken from around 10.30pm to 12.30am with my old Canon S2 IS at maximum zoom.

It was a real treat to be able to catch the total lunar eclipse as they do not occur that frequently. A lunar eclipse occurs when Earth casts its shadow onto the Moon. The Sun, Moon and Earth must be perfectly aligned, with Earth in the middle blocking sunlight from striking the Moon. As such, lunar eclipse occurs only on a full moon night.

During a total lunar eclipse, the moon may appear brown, red, orange or yellow due to light being scattered and refracted from Earth’s atmosphere onto the Moon. The colour is affected by the amount of particles such as dust in Earth’s atmosphere – the dustier the atmosphere, the darker the colour of the fully eclipsed moon. You can read more about lunar eclipses here.

The next total lunar eclipse will occur on 15 April 2014, but observers in Singapore will have to be disappointed as it will occur before moonrise during our daylight hours. There is however another total lunar eclipse happening on 8 October 2014 which we may get a partial glimpse of!

Lunar eclipse aside, December is a good month to look out for shooting stars as it is the Geminids meteor shower season. The peak of the shower usually occurs around 13 or 14 December each year. Read more about the Geminids here.

Hoping for clear skies!

Christmas Eve on Big Sister's Island

24 December 2010 - It was nice to spend Christmas Eve with a group of fellow nature lovers on Big Sister's Island, away from the crowd of last-minute shoppers and revellers in town. So, what did we see on this peaceful and quiet island?

Plenty of Frilly Anemones (Phymanthus sp.) were found.

In contrast, this is the only Giant Carpet Anemone (Stichodactyla gigantea) which I came across today. But sigh, no anemonefish or shrimp were spotted on it.

This is not an anemone, but the Circular Mushroom Coral (Family Fungiidae). Saw quite a few of them today.

Spotted Black Flatworm (Acanthozoon sp.). This flatworm was huge, approximately 10cm in length.

A clump of seaweed? Look closely again. There's an Ornate Leaf Slug (Elysia ornata) hidden among the Hairy Green Seaweeds (Bryopsis sp.).

Is this a Turban Snail (Family Turbinidae)?

Two-spot Reef Octopus (Family Octopodidae).

I like the colours on this Blue-spined Swimming Crab (Thalamita sp.). Isn't it pretty?

This is the Red Egg Crab (Atergatis integerrimus).

And it's fellow poisonous cousin, the Floral Egg Crab (Atergatis floridus). I didn't see the most poisonous crab of Singapore this evening - the Mosaic Reef Crab (Lophozozymus pictor).

We saw many different fishes on the shore. This is a Flathead (Family Platycephalidae).

Filefish (Family Monacanthidae) hiding among the seaweeds.

Is this a Scorpionfish (Family Scorpaenidae)?

No idea what this is. Some fish perhaps?

And this is the best find of the day - a Tiger-tailed Seahorse (Hippocampus comes)! Kok Sheng found a pair of them clinging onto a sponge. =)

Land Hermit Crab (Coenobita sp.) residing in a large moon snail shell. Cute!

A cute little spider scuttles across our path as we made our way back towards the jetty.

Today's trip to Big Sister's Island is the last intertidal trip of the year for me. Looking forward to more wonderful adventures on our shores in 2011. Merry Christmas and a great year ahead everyone!

Back on Ubin

7 December 2010 - The memory of last year's trip is still fresh in my mind and here we are, one year later, exploring this stretch of shore again on Pulau Ubin...

Dark clouds loom ominously above us as we headed out towards the sea to look for marine life...

the friendly stray that followed us about as we explored the shore...

Alas! All we had was 15 minutes before the rain pelted relentlessly on us. Armed with our poncho and umbrella, we gamely continued with our exploration.

Despite the rain, we still saw many marine creatures! Such as this Thorny Sea Cucumber (Colochirus quadrangularis)...

an Orange Sea Cucumber ...

and many (and I really mean MANY), Thumbs-up Sea Squirt (Polycarpa sp.).

Drills and their egg capsules on the rocks...

A rather large (and very shy) Striped Hermit Crab (Clibanarius sp.)...

the prehistoric-looking Horseshoe Crab (Tachypleus gigas) with encrustations on its shell. Am really happy to find this as it has been a long time seen I last saw a live one...

and this is the more commonly seen, but quite hard-to-photograph Mudskipper. Mudskippers are actually fish that breathe with gills. When out of water, they breathe by retaining water in enlarged gill chambers. They can also breathe air through their wet skin!

A trip to Ubin (or Changi) would not be complete without a starry find. And we were not to be disappointed. We saw many Biscuit Sea Stars (Goniodiscaster scaber).

and a number of Cake Sea Stars (Anthenea aspera)...

What's so interesting about a sponge?

There's more to it than meets the eye. It's actually a Sponge Crab in disguise! Sharp-eyed Ria spotted it as the crab had given itself away by leaving two of its legs outside the sponge. =)

Towards the end of our trip, Kok Sheng found a pair of Lined Chromodoris Nudibranchs (Chromodoris lineolata) while flipping over rocks.

This is what it looks like when relaxed in a pool of seawater... This is indeed a nice surprise as this nudibranch is usually only found on our southern shores.

On our way back towards the jetty, Rene spotted this huge web with a rather large black spider on it. Don't you think the web is beautiful?

It was nice to be back exploring the shores after a long hiatus. Looking forward to more trips!

Coastal Clean Up @ Tanah Merah

5 June 2010 - On World Environment Day, 19 energetic volunteers heeded Andy's call to clean up our beloved Tanah Merah shore that has been hit quite badly by the recent oil spill.

Unlike East Coast Park and Changi Beach, this shore hardly sees visitors and is thus not cleaned as regularly. This is a great pity, as Tanah Merah is rich with marine life!

Our objective this morning is to remove plastic bottles and other light debris which may be coated with crude oil from the shore. But just as we were about to set off, lightning and heavy rain descended on us and the team had to spend almost an hour waiting for the storm to blow itself out.

Braving the light rain and wind, the team set out to clean the shore - geared with poncho, rubber gloves, umbrella and many trash bags. There was still a lingering smell of oil in the air.

The poor shore is coated with a layer of crude oil. Even the sand is stained black!

It's sad to see our beautiful shore strewn with rubbish, many of which were coated in crude oil. Apart from lots of discarded plastic bottles and styrofoam debris, other items we came across include shovels, ropes, buckets and rubber gloves.

Trash picking is pretty back-breaking work. Some of the crude-soaked rubbish are really heavy! The bags of trash were gathered and left on the high shore as Andy had made prior arrangements with NEA to dispose them.

The team of 19 collected 85 bags of rubbish in 2 hours! Here's the team in high spirits at the end of the clean up session.

Ria and Kok Sheng also took the opportunity to check out the marine life on the oil-slicked shore. And one of the casualties spotted this morning is....

Ria's swimming camera! It bravely took a dip in the oil-covered lagoon to check out the situation underwater. Read Ria's blog to find out how the marine creatures are doing.

Read also:

• Ria - Clean up oily 'orphaned' Tanah Merah
  
• Kok Sheng - Tanah Merah cleanup on World Environment Day

Corals of Kusu Island

29 May 2010 - This morning the team was out on Kusu Island for another giant clam hunt. While waiting for our boat to the island, a commotion caught our attention...

Two anglers had caught a lobster! The poor creature was thrashing wildly about when it was hauled out of the water... =(

Not long after setting foot on Kusu, an exclamation from Chay Hoon got many of us excited. She had spotted a small wolf snake gliding through the grass!

Just outside the seawall of Kusu Island lies a magnificent stretch of coral reef. It was really stunning. The reef was densely packed with corals and anemones of all shapes, sizes and colours.

Here's a collage of the various types of corals we saw today. Many would find it hard to believe that we actually have these beauties right here in Singapore!

This soft coral lookalike is really the Fire Anemone (Actinodendron sp.). As hinted by its name, do not touch it unless you want a nasty sting.

Another special anemone encountered today is the Leathery Anemone (Heteractis crispa). This particular anemone has purple tips on its tentacles and is home to a five-spot anemone shrimp.

Many Giant Carpet Anemones (Stichodactyla gigantea) can be found on Kusu Island and this particular one has three False Clown Anemonefishes (Amphiprion ocellaris) living in it!

This female Five-spot Anemone Shrimp (Periclimenes brevicarpalis) was found on another giant carpet anemone.

and this is one of its two male companions...

We saw many of these White-orange Black Flatworms (Pseudobiceros uniarborensis) on the shore today.

This is a White-rumped Sea Cucumber (Actinopyga lecanora).

It was nice to find Feather Stars on our shore today. This black one was found nestled among corals.

and here's another one, but in red.

The team retreated to explore the lagoon when the tide returned and we found many Common Sea Stars (Archaster typicus). This one is a little more special as it has 6 arms.

Also spotted in the lagoon, is a pair of Extraordinary Sea Hares (Aplysia extraordinaria).

Here's a shot of the team in action today.

Kusu Island is just a 15 minute boat ride from mainland Singapore. And yet, it is home to a beautiful coral reef with lots of wonderful marine animals. Now, who said there are no nice coral reefs in Singapore?

Read also:

• James - 100529 Kusu Island
• Kok Sheng - Spectacular coral reef of Kusu
• Ria - Kusu Island: slick-free, for now