Full Circle Booklet

Director’s Note Full Circle began with exploring methods of The Moon takes us back to an age of wonder, when presenting science through creative mediums. In we were driven by curiosity. For me it was the its initial stage, it became apparent that the subject adolescence, a great lack of responsibility and the deserved more than its usual quantitative treatment. abundance of time for me to scale my periphery. The The humanistic value of science bares itself through Moon was the brightest object in the sky. I was newly the lens of everyday objects and living spaces, acquainted to it, but barely knew anything about allowing us to understand information through our it — except that it was distant. And it remained so, experiential libraries. Mundanity acts as a backdrop until the experience of this project that allowed me for information to be amplified. It also liberates to converse with the passionate people of the Science science from its common appearance and allows us to Centre, The Astronomical Society of Singapore draw understanding from our personal experiences. (TASOS), and other enthusiasts. While they were This perspective could be empirical yet subjective to experts of its science, its history and its influence, they the experiences of each audience member, creating a were also incredibly well-versed in their individual narrative that interacts with the unique individual. experiences with the Moon. The objective of this mode of narrativity is to These experiences were the spark for the scenes in humanise science. Full Circle, and the curation of information that Hence, the Moon presented itself as a candidate. As manifest in a highly experiential manner. Their it loomed quietly just beyond my window, barely stories showed me that science, and the science of the noticeable yet overwhelmingly present. It became Moon for that matter, is less than an arms reach away. an avatar for the existential nature of the night. It exists a great deal in the simplest of actions and, How seldom I’d look up to acknowledge, and how contrastingly, the worldly forces that allow us to exist. unwaveringly calm it had watched generations come As science is observational by the human, science is and go. The Moon is an artefact that reminds us of much more personal and humanistic than many of us relativity, and that we are a but speck in both time understand it to be. and space. Yet, it eludes us. With physics simulation technology and information collected The Moon is too far from us. Its science is hard to through interviews with astronomical experts, Full Circle creates weigh or understand. We know the Moon by its a landscape where science and narrativity are able to collaborate. spectacles — eclipses, supermoons, Apollo missions, and other unapproachable feats of epic human — Yeow Su Xian (Shu) interest. A lot of us are afraid to approach its science because it seems too distant from our knowledge, which comes from Earth. We think its science is alien and complicated. In fact, half my childhood had been spent chasing papers through being fed equations and answers. We are not curious enough, and as a result science has suffered with a great lack of discourse.

Based on the personal stories The Surface of the Moon of researchers, engineers, programmers, photographers and enthusiasts within the Singapore astronomical community.



Title? Lim Meng Hwee

Contributors 01 A Singaporean engineer pursuing their Masters in London. 01 has been Moon gazing for over twenty years, a hobby that reminds him of his late father and their childhood memories. 02 A former satellite researcher who has dedicated his retirement years to using his technical knowledge to help people in practical life scenarios. 03 A hobbyist who studies how the lunar cycle influences how people view time — for example, special occasions, calendars, and cultural differences. 04 A member of a local astronomical society that regularly organises activities to promote its appreciation within communities of all backgrounds. 05 An astrophotographer based in Sweden.

Title? Lim Meng Hwee

06 A young astronomy lover who dreams of travelling to space one day. 07 An astronomy professor in a local university who teaches undergraduates to apply their knowledge of day-to-day physics in astronomical disciplines. 08 A member of a local astronomical society that regularly organises activities to promote its appreciation within communities of all backgrounds. 09 A hobbyist who often paints the Moon and other planetary objects based on astronomical studies. 09 currently resides in Sweden. 10 A committee member of a local astronomy society in a university. 10 hopes to pursue a career in satellite research and contribute to real world problems with his engineering research.

11 A member of a Singaporean institution dedicated to making science and astronomical appreciation accesible to the layman. 12 An enthusiast working in unrelated fields who started watching the Moon as it was the most visible planetary object from Earth during the night time. 13 A primary school student who enjoys astronomy and often watches the Moon through a telescope. 14 A satellite researcher whose work focuses on sustainability and the engineering of new technology to impact positively on the climate. 14 is based in Uppsala, Sweden. 15 A member of a local astronomical society that regularly organises activities to promote its appreciation within communities of all backgrounds.

16 A local photographer who occasionally attempts to photograph planetary bodies and clusters as a form of recreation and therapy. 17 An astronomy professor in a local university. 18 A satellite researcher whose work focuses on sustainability and the engineering of new technology to impact positively on the climate. 14 is based in Uppsala, Sweden. 19 A member of a local astronomical society that regularly organises activities to promote its appreciation within communities of all backgrounds. 20 An engineer whose discipline involves satellite research and satellite photography. 20 has developed an appreciation for satellite data from a creative perspective as a break from his regular operational work.



The Moon is the brightest object in our night sky. Moonrise — 01 We often consider the sunset and the moonrise as markers for the end of the busy daytime. For many of us, it is a psycho-heuristic anchor for the rest of night, or a prominent basis for our cultural practices.

The Tides The tides are a collaborative reflection of the Moon and Sun’s forces — 02 interacting with the Earth’s shape and gravity.



03— Movement I used to spend my childhood watching the crests and troughs of the tides, only to realise that I was really watching the Earth move, among other things.



The Moon rotates synchronously with the Earth, so the same side is always facing us. I feel somehow akin to it, being able to look closely at its face through my lens.

04— The Face

05—

Synchronous Rotation The time it takes for the Moon to complete a rotation around its own axis is synchronous with the time it takes to complete a revolution around us (the Earth). This phenomenon is also known as tidal lock. When I first moved into my one-room rental apartment, I relied on Moon gazing to help me cope with the loneliness of the situation. Its familiarity and the fact that it had been there for eons provided me with comfort.

06— Ground We take the gravity of the Earth and its While the Moon is held in our gravity, a lot of habitable climate for granted. We don’t us are unaware that the Moon’s gravity is also often notice how our feet stick to the ground present in the smallest, most common objects because the change is slow and routine. We here on Earth. don’t pay attention to the centrifugal force that keeps us grounded.







07— Relativity As the Earth is a larger body compared to the Moon, a clock on the Earth’s surface is said to run slower than on the surface on the Moon. This phenomenon is also known as gravitational time dilation. But as human beings, we know that time is a measure that is also experiential in nature. With that understanding, we know that on an individual level this measure differs with each person and each period in time. When you look at a clock, time seems to pass slower. And I imagine being on the Moon, time would pass relatively quickly in my head if I were staring at a clock on its surface.





Ironically, moonlight gives us the clarity to perceive things in relative scale and in relative time.

When the world slows down We tend to seperate day and night into two In this age, it may not be unusual to find yourself too different versions of our world. There is a normative caught up in the hustle and bustle of life. To live in segregation of activities natured towards the day and this capitalistic world means we are often required to the night time; energetic activities mostly happen chase short-sighted goals. under the sun; slower, more ambiguous activities are On one of those many sleepless nights, have you known to happen under the Moon. We observe a experienced the ecstasy of saving a file or closing varying passage of time throughout the day, through your laptop. It were as if you had broken the seal brightness, darkness, quietness or loudness, with our of reality. To strive for that one deadline, and then minds at the wheel. be introduced again to the billion other deadlines The night time experience seems to take different that may present themselves to you in months, forms among the walks of life — from those  years or decades. Then to look out further, and then who work during the day, to those who are only further again, to imagine yourself going there. The awake during the night, and those who never seem to moonlight takes you on a retrospective trip through fall asleep. The moonlit world has its ways of enabling time and space. us to experience a semi-realistic state of imagination. In our dreams, we sometimes experience blurry amalgamations and permutations of our day time encounters. The dim moonlit ambience obscures the complexity of civilisation for us both to paint an imaginary picture and project our reality. This lack of focus allows us to look closely at the intricacies of life — in objects, in people, in our past, our present and our future. Ironically, moonlight gives us the clarity to perceive things in relative scale and in relative time.

08— The dim moonlit ambience obscures the complexity of civilisation for us to project new realities.





Moon Stack Lim Meng Hwee

09— Ascending to the Moon



10— Newton’s Apple Gravity is the first word that comes to mind when I think of the Moon. Its existence, purpose, and movement are all related to gravity. On the other hand, when studying physics or learning about the Earth’s gravitational system, we must recognise that it all goes hand in hand. We operate with the assistance of the Sun and the Moon, rather than as an independent body wandering in a vast nothingness. You can take it a step further and say that humans, animals, plants, and objects all work together. Or, to take it a step further, our cells, molecules, and atoms all have gravity that interacts with the gravity of others.

11—

The Moon’s face is marked by the Lunar Maria, dark plains created as a result of volcanic eruptions on the Moon’s surface. Title? Lim Meng Hwee Lunar Maria/ Familiar Face







12— The Surface Craters on the Moon’s surface appear to us as tiny potholes. Each crater, however, is much larger than we might expect at first glance, with some measuring the size of large basins or mountains.





13— One’s function is dependent on the other