Amelia Earhart, one more time.

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Recently, I was in Taiping with two Dutch friends. They loved the Lake Gardens and enjoyed the food. I also showed them the impressive mural of Amelia Earhart, the famous American aviator.

Here, I am standing in front of it.

I pointed out the text on the mural:

Amelia Mary Earhart, the first woman to fly solo around the world stopped to refuel at the Taiping Aerodrome in Tekah on 20th June 1937.

And I told him that Amelia Earhart actually never landed in Taiping.

Of course, Mathew was surprised. I gave him the link to my blog, Did Amelia Earhart land in Taiping?, written three years ago. In that blog I had demonstrated convincingly that she had never landed in Taiping and had not even the intention to do so. Although there was some publicity in the press, no action was taken by the relevant authorities to correct the mistake and I decided to let it go.

Mathew was intrigued and, back in the Netherlands, he searched in Delpher. a Dutch newspaper archive for more information about Amelia Earhart. He found many clippings, in Dutch language of course. I will describe them in the appendix.

Singapore also has a newspaper archive, NewspaperSG. I had used it often to find information about the history of Taiping. But I never searched for information about Amelia Earhart. Now I did! Here is a direct link to the June 1937 database.

Almost immediately I found what I was looking for. In the Pinang Gazette and Straits Chronicle of 21 June. Here it is

On 20June 1937 Amelia Earhart left Bangkok for her flight to to Singapore. The aerodromes of Penang and Alor Star made preparations in case she decided to land at either of them. At 2:35pm a message from Alor STar said that she had passed over. In Penang there was hope she might land there, but after about 45 minutes …

… a message was received from Taiping to say that Miss Earhart’s machine had passed over that State.

This should end the controversy. Will the relevant authorities take action this time and modify the text on the mural?

____________________________________

APPENDIX

Amelia Earhart’s solo flight around the world was global news. Even more so in the Netherlands, for several reasons. In 1934, the KLM had won the prestigious handicap race, London-Melbourne. The flight of the “Uiver” caused a lot of enthusiasm. In those early decades of aviation, Fokker, a Dutch company, dominated the civil aircraft industry. And Amelia Earhart’s flight plan included Bandung in the Dutch East Indies. a Dutch colony (now Indonesia).

Here are a few newspaper clippings collected by Mathew. I have added the English translation (in blue italics) and some comments of my own

+++++++++++++++++

Sumatra-bode, 19 June 1937

Amelia Earhart’s Flight
Akyab, June 18 (Aneta). Amelia Earhart arrived from Calcutta and departed for Bangkok at 6:4 GMT, but after battling the monsoon for two hours and failing to establish radio contact with the bearing stations in Rangoon and Akyab, she returned. The return trip occurred during a heavy thunderstorm. Amelia Earhart encountered dense cloud cover, while visibility was poor over the desolate coastline, one of the most treacherous factors on long-distance flights.
Earhart will continue her world flight on June 19.

The original plan was to fly from Calcutta to Bangkok with a refueling stop in Akyab. But she had to battle the monsoon weather and was forced to return to Akyab. The visibility was so bad that she didn’t dare to fly over land where suddenly a hill might appear. Instead, she followed the “desolate” coastline.

+++++++++++++++++

Algemeen handelsblad voor Nederlandsch-Indie¨, 21 juni 1937

Amelia’s World Flight.
Arrived in Rangoon.
Rangoon, June 19 (Own service). —Amelia Earhart arrived in Rangoon on Saturday morning.She took off from Akyab three times. After the first takeoff, she turned back.After this, she tried again, but again, due to bad weather, she turned back. Finally, the third time, she succeeded. Upon her arrival in Rangoon, the round-the-world flyer declared that the Akyab-Rangoon leg was the worst of the entire trip.

The next day, the weather was even worse. No way of reaching Bangkok. After a few unsuccessful attempts, she managed to land in Rangoon and stay overnight there.

+++++++++++++++++

Nieuwe Apeldoornsche courant, 21 juni 1937

Amelia Earhart to Bandung
Won the Rangoon-Singapore route of the “Ibis” and an English plane.
Amelia Earhart, coming from Rangoon, landed in Singapore. She arrived ten minutes ahead of the KLM plane, the “Ibis.” The two KLM and Imperial Airways airliners took off from Bangkok at the same time as Amelia Earhart. The brave pilot said she had made a bet with the airline pilots that she would cover the distance from Bangkok to Singapore the fastest. Laughing, she took a picture of the “Ibis” as the plane landed at the airport after her. To continue her flight around the world, Amelia Earhart left for Bandung, in the Dutch East Indies, last night.

On 20 June the weather improves and Amelia Earhart reaches Singapore, after a refueling stop in Bangkok. A bit earlier than the Ibis and the English plane, but the story about a bet is fake news and will be corrected later. Notice how this newspaper, based in the Netherlands, writes that she left for Bandung “last night”. Amelia avoided flying at night, she left Singapore early morning on 21 June, Different time zones… 😉

+++++++++++++++++

Het nieuws van den dag voor Nederlandsch-Indie¨, 21 juni 1937

WHERE WAS AMELIA EARHART…?
Last Saturday, wild rumors circulated in a small circle in Bandung that the daring American ocean aviator Amelia Earhart, who was on a round-the-world flight over the British East Indies, would be honoring Bandung with a visit. The Royal Netherlands Air Force (KNIL) agency here had received word that Lady “Lindy” would most likely land in Andir on Sunday, or yesterday during the day. However, it was not to be.
An Aneta report,distributed via the Nirom, informed the public yesterday morning that Lady “Lindy” had only arrived in Rangoon last Saturday afternoon, after having taken off from Akyab three times previously; however, the exceptionally bad weather forced her to return to Akyab an equal number of times.
Last night we received a telephone message from the KNIL agent here, Mr. L. Mees, in Bandung, stating that Miss Amelia Earhart is expected in Andir Monday morning (today) between 8 and 10 a.m.

A nice article from a newspaper in the Dutch East Indies, where people are anxiously waiting in Bandung for her arrival on 20 June, until they are notified about the delay in Burma.

+++++++++++++++++

Dagblad nieuwe Hoornsche courant, 21J une 1937

Amelia Earhart in Bandung.
BANDUNG, JUNE 21 (Aneta—A.N.P.).
Amelia Earhart arrived in Bandung at 1:56 p.m. local time.
Further information.
BANDUNG, June 21 (Aneta—A.N.P.).
The aviator Amelia Earhart landed in Bandung this morning at 10:56 a.m. on her round-the-world flight. She circled above the airfield for fifteen minutes, presumably because the various signs on the ground were obscured by the low-hanging clouds. Then several aircraft from the aviation department took off and landed to show Amelia how to land. There was great interest at the airfield. The “Bandung Vooruit” association offered flowers. Miss Earhart will stay here for three days, as KLM has the only equipment in Bandung where it can have the instruments of its modern aircraft thoroughly overhauled.
Miss Earhart will visit the Tangkoeban Pra-hoe this evening.

On 21 June, Amelia Earhart lands in Bandung. Notice that the arrival time is given twice, with a strange difference of three hours. The report contains one interesting detail, which I have not found elsewhere, that local aviators took off to help her land because low-hanging clouds obscured the landing signs on the runway. Amelia stayed three nights here, so the KLM workshop could thoroughly inspect her plane. Therefore, she had time to be a tourist and visit the Tangkoeban Pra-hoe , a famous volcano near Bandung.

+++++++++++++++++

Dagblad nieuwe Hoornsche courant, 21J une 1937

No Bet
BATAVIA, June 21 (Aneta—A.N.P.).
The commander of the “Ibis,” Mr. Stork, reported that Amelia Earhart, after taking off from the airport in Singapore, returned there due to engine trouble. She was still there when the “Ibis” took off. Regarding reports of a so-called friendly competition between Amelia Earhart and the KLM “Ibis,” he stated that competitions are never held with KLM aircraft, and moreover, the Rangoon-Singapore route for the “Ibis” was completely different from that for the American aviator. The “Ibis” made stopovers in Bangkok, Penang, and Medan, where delays occurred for refueling, food, mail, and loading, while Amelia Earhart—except for a stopover in Bangkok—flew directly to Singapore. It should also be noted that the “Ibis” had a speed of 270 km/h, while Amelia Earhart, with her Wasp Junior engines, had a speed of 237 km/h. The entire betting story must therefore be considered completely false.

In the same newspaper, a correction of the “bet” story. The pilot of the “Ibis” explains that there has never been a bet. The Ibis was a commercial airliner; it had to make two intermediate landings, in Penang and Medan. In a direct competition, the Ibis would have won, because the machine was faster.

My blog post will end here. Amelia Earhart stayed in the Dutch East Indies longer than planned (repairs, sickness), then continued to Australia and New Guinea. On 2 July, she and her navigator, Fred Noonan, started for the long flight (about 20 hours, more than 4000km) to Howland Island.

Where they never arrived. Most plausible explanation is that the plane ran out of fuel and crashed into the Pacific Ocean. But there are other possibilities, including several conspiracy theories.

A Photo Map of Taiping

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In my latest report about my ‘second hometown, Taiping. August 2025, I mentioned that I was working on a project to show my numerous photos of Taiping on a location map. That was a big job. Here is version 1.0 of my Photo map of Taiping. You can also click on the introduction page below. Here is a manual.

My first visit to Taiping was in 2002, but it was only in 2014 that I started using a smartphone with built-in GPS to take pictures. In the introduction page the left column shows the years, only 2021 is missing, because of COVID. You can select one or more years. In the right column, you can select one or more categories. In the introduction page above I have selected year 2025 and the category ‘nature’. Part of the map is show (green markers).

Here is the map for 2025 with all categories selected. There are 10 categories at the moment, all with their own color code.

Abd here is the map with all categories and all years selected. More than 1500markers. Not advisable , it gets messy, although of course you can zoom in. Loading the map will also take quite some time.

It is better to select a limited number of categories and or years. Here is a map of heritage photos. You will see that some official heritage buildings are missing, and other buildings are marked heritage, because they are old and look good. It is a bit arbitrary.

In this map, I have selected hotels/restaurants (yellow markers) and the category ‘social’ (light blue markers). This category is more personal, photos with myself in it, or friends.

Here is the map with ruins and abandoned buildings. I am a fan of ruins, and Taiping has a lot of them. For abandoned buildings, I have sometimes added a question mark. Notice the concentration of black markers around the buildings on Station Road, just left to rot, one of them the Rest House (1894).

The “Shame of Taiping”, as I call it, zoomed in. Together with other markers to show that there is more in Taiping than ruins. The white markers show museums, the blue markers are for murals.

Finally, here are the houses of worship in Taiping and its surroundings (purple), combined with the cemeteries/graves (grey).

I named this Photo Map of Taiping version 1.0 because it is still a work in progress. I am looking forward to suggestions and comments.

Malaysia Day 2025

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As Malaysia Day this year was part of a long weekend, with many people traveling, Aric suggested to visit the Sky Walk in FRIM, expecting not too many visitors. It was many years since I visited FRIM, the last time was in 2015. After paying a few Ringgit for parking and entrance fee, you could roam around freely and enjoy the wonders of this man-made (!) rainforest. In 2005 I attended a weekend organized by the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) who had a bungalow in FRIM. It was about orienteering, and I explained how to use GPS. It was the first time I found the Kapur trees with the fascinating crown shyness Here is the trip report, MNS Orienteering weekend at FRIM

I was hoping to visit the Crown Shyness again, but friends told me that nowadays you have to book a guided tour (RM 150 for 10 pax). A lot has changed at FRIM. A small part has been rebranded as Kepong Botanical Garden; the main part can only be visited on a guided tour. In the GE screenshot, I have roughly indicated the boundary of the Botanical Garden. First, we went to the main FTIM entrance, where security guards told us that the Sky Walk was in the Botanical Garden.

After paying a few Ringgit , we entered the Garden. Well maintained, but without the charm of a rainforest.

Usually, you have to book tickets for the Sky Walk online, but the website was down, so we just tried our luck. When we arrived at the ticket office, we found that it was closed for a lunch break, from 12 pm to 2 pm. But there was a cafe in the garden, not far away, so we decided to have a drink and a snack there.

At 2 pm, we walked back to the Sky Walk. If you look closely, you can see one of the towers in the left picture..

We had to fill out indemnity forms first before we could buy tickets. Ticket price for locals/nonlocals is RM 15/40. RM 5 discount for local seniors. An extra RM 5/10 if you want to climb the observation tower, which of course we wanted to 😉

The Sky Walk has a total length of 259 m and is supported on 8 towers. When you look up under the towers, it is hard to believe that you can actually walk on those narrow walkways. On Google Earth, the circuit is clearly visible. The circuit is one way, anticlockwise, starting at 12 with the observation tower at 6.

This is the exit; the entrance is at the other side. There was one family before us and later a few more people arrived. A good decision to choose Malaysia Day.

It is a stiff climb first to reach the first walkway.

The Sky Walk is a solid construction, very different from the earlier canopy walk. Of course also less romantic.

Halfway, there is the observation tower, 50 m high. Not suitable when you have a fear of heights. Notice the Malaysian flag on top of the tower, and Aric next to it, proof that we actually made it to the top.

A spectacular view of the KL city skyline.

As there were no other people yet, we could stay for some time and take pictures.

What a wonderful view. We were so lucky that the sky was clear

Climbing down the tower and continuing our walk

Almost at the end of the Sky Walk.

Even with the solid construction, only 5 people are allowed at the same time on one stretch of the walkway.

We spent less than one hour at the Sky Walk. Worth the money, a memorable experience.. Before going home, we had a refreshing Ice Kacang near the main FRIM entrance. Ming’s Ice Kacang and Coconut Stall, very popular, people were queuing.

Later that evening, we walked to the Rymba R&R for a small celebration of Malaysia Day with a few Bukit Lankan hikers. The Rymba R&R is a nickname for a meeting place, just around the corner from where we live, lovingly created and maintained by Pathman (blue shirt) and his friends. Nice company.

A nice Malaysia Day with a beautiful sunset

If you are interested in FRIM, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, click here for an interesting article:

Taiping, August 2025

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My third visit to Taiping in 2025!. This time, the main reason was to visit the painting exhibition of my friend Halim..He is suffering from MND (Motor Neuron Disease), can not speak anymore, is confined to a wheelchair, but is still full of energy. He started painting again as a hobby and held a solo exhibition in the Taiping Clock Tower on 9 and 10 August,

On Sunday, 10 August, I took the ETS to Taiping. My favourite coach, C, has a canteen, but this time, I prepared bread and coffee at home.

In Taiping, my friend Yeap picked me up from the station. and after we had lunch, he dropped me at the Furama hotel. I took some rest and had a look at the Majestic cinema, where recently there had been a fire (see my June 2025 post). There was now no police tape, so I had a look inside. Empty space, the fire had destroyed the roof. Was it arson?

It is a short walk to the clock tower. I was welcomed by a lady, who turned out to be Halim’s daughter. There were a few other visitors.

Halim’s painting collection.

When I told the lady that I was a friend of her father, she called him, and soon he arrived. We have been friends for many years, and I have bought two of his paintings that are now decorating my study.

More visitors arrived, it was a very joyous meeting. Mission accomplished.

It has become a tradition that Yeap and I meet for breakfast during my Taiping visits. He asks me what kind of food I would like and then he chooses a location. This time a new one he had found on TikTok(!), the Roti Bakar Arang Fadzil House, a Malay eatery in Tupai. Not bad, I had my favourite roti goyang.

When I mentioned to him the fountain in the Lake Gardens, recently restored and redecorated, he said, let’s have a look.

The original plan for the next two days was to show the attractions of Taiping to my KL hiking friend, but there had been a change of plan, so I had two “free” days 😉 As I had visited Taiping already in June, I decided to do something different, explore the Lake Gardens. For the last few years, I have always walked the Raintree Walk, but never the rest of the gardens. I also wanted to have a closer look at the fountain.

During my walk, I took many photos. Instead of some photos here, I decided to show all of them in a special page on my website, using my (fading) programming skills. The page is still under construction. It works like this: click on the screenshot below, and you will open the page with a map of the Lake Gardens. When you click on a green marker, you will see the photo taken at that location. Click on the photo and you will see the picture on a larger scale. You can zoom in and out on the map. Later, I may add photos of other locations in Taiping and add captions. Comments are welcome.

After leaving the Gardens, I followed Jalan Kota, passing the Public Library, one of the Taiping heritage buildings. I went inside for a while,

I also passed one of the huge Taiping murals. Well done, but just using the wall as a canvas. Those huge murals are a specialty of Taiping murals, not really my favorite.

The Land and District Office is the most prominent landmark of Taiping, a reminder of the glory days of Taiping when it was the capital of Perak. The small building opposite was a personal landmark for me. Lian Thong restaurant, where I often had my breakfast. Pity that it has been sold and renovated, losing its charm.

I had a late lunch at Prima, where I unexpectedly met Yeap again. Taiping is a small town. Back to my hotel for a well-deserved rest, I had walked more than 9000 steps. In the evening, I met Indra, who had been very active with the restoration of the Ceylon Association heritage building on Station Road. Some time ago, he messaged me about another restoration project, the Sri Sithi Vinayagar Temple, built in 1924 by the Ceylon Tamil community of Taiping. I was interested to have a look and Indra was willing to take me there. Also located on Station Road, near the Sikh Gurdwara.

The temple is dedicated to Ganesha, and inside the temple compound, there is a beautiful sculpture of Ganesha with his parents, Shiva and Parvati.

Indra presented me with an interesting book about the temple. We met the priest, who put a pottu on our forehead. Last May, after finishing the renovation, a consecration ceremony was held the Kumbhabhishekham. Hinduism may well be the most complicated of the major world religions.

There was an interesting table outside the temple with the “Nine Planets.” Did the Hindu religion already know about Planet 9? No, at home I Googled for the Hindu nine planrets, The official name is Navagraha. The nine heavenly bodies represent the Hindu deities influencing humans. They are Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn (the 5 planets known in antiquity) plus two more of the Moon, too complicated to explain here. Interesting and beautiful.

After our visit we had some snacks in an Indian restaurant, the Sri Annapoorana Curry House. Worthwhile to come back next time for a full meal.

I just mentioned Lian Thong as my personal landmark. During my many visits, I became friendly with its owner, Teoh, and we kept in touch after he sold the restaurant. We met for breakfast the next morning in a kopi tiam near Novotel. We had a fascinating conversation about Taoism. Teoh is Chinese-educated and dedicates much of his time studying the Tao writings.

How to spend my second “free” day? A considerable part of the Lake Gardens is occupied by the Taiping Zoo. I must have visited it in the past, don’t remember much, so I decided to go again. I took a Grab and paid RM 8 for my (senior) ticket.

The Zoo was disappointing. Maybe the reason was that my timing was wrong, around 2 pm. It was a hot day, and most animals were smarter than I and were resting in their shelters.

No tiger to be seen. I walked around and took many photos, which are included in my picture webpage.

Walking back through the Lake Gardens, I took more photos. This is the famous zigzag bridge, more on my webpage.

I was dehydrated and needed a beer, together with a late lunch. Later that evening I had dinner with my friends Lay Chun and Kar Seng.

The next morning, I had breakfast at the Circus Grounds, CCF with my friend Foo. Another valuable tradition..

My plan was, on my way back home, to stop at Ipoh, stay overnight, and meet a heritage contact. But last minute that morning, he WhatsApped me that he had another assignment and could only meet me at dinner. I was quite upset, cancelled my hotel and bought a ticket Ipoh-KL. I had lunch at the New Club with Bok Kin and Teng Him, who then dropped me at the station

.I had a few hours to spend in Ipoh. I know Ipoh reasonably well, click here or here, so I took only a few pictures. Here is the iconic railway station.

The impressive town hall. Compared with Taiping, Ipoh has an amazing number of beautiful heritage buildings.

The Birch memorial. When I bring friends to Ipoh, I always tell them that the two roads on both sides of the memorial were originally named Station Road and Post Office Road. Now they have been renamed Jalan Dato’ Sago and Jalan Dato’ Maharaja Lela , the killers of Birch. I also point out the whitened historical figure on the frieze and ask them if they know who it is .

There are plenty of heritage buildings in Ipoh Old Town. Left the Chung Thye Phin Building (Arlene House) and right the former Straits Trading Company building, now a bank.

Details of those buildings

This time, no pictures of the pasar replica, the ruined heritage buildings, the infamous Amelia Earhart mural. And no Ansari chendol. But still interesting and always nice to meet friends.

Alien attack in November?

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The Sun, a UK tabloid, published on 17 August an article titled: A MYSTERY++ object tearing towards Earth at break-neck speed has raised fears that ALIENS are on their way here with these two pictures

That sounds scary, right? What is happening?. Here are the facts.

The “Mystery object” was discovered on 1 July 2025 by ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System). ATLAS is a cooperation of earth-based observatories that continuously watch the sky, looking for moving astronomical objects. ATLAS started in 2015 and currently five observatories are taking part. They specialise in looking for smaller asteroids that may impact Earth and can only be detected when they are close. a last alert. Until now they have found 1241 Near-Earth asteroids, of which 110 were potentially hazardous. But also other objects were found, 106 comets and 4847 supernovae (which don’t move but change brightness)

The object found on 1 July is a comet, but it is causing huge excitement in the scientific community because of its extremely high speed. That means it comes from outside our solar system, will be slightly deflected by the Sun, and will escape again. Here is its (hyperbolic) orbit. The (animated) image comes from Wikipedia: 3I/ATLAS

The Wikipedia article contains a massive amount of information about 3I/ATLAS, a proof of the excitement caused by its discovery. Two more pictures from Wikipedia, the original discovery photo (animated gif) and a detailed photo taken by the Hubble telescope on 21 July.

The fuzziness of 3I/ATLAS in the Hubble picture is characteristic of a comet. The icy nucleus is hidden in a coma, water and dust evaporated by the solar radiation. That’s why the present estimate of its size is very inaccurate ( between 0.32 and 5.6 km). The comet will reach its perihelion (closest distance to the Sun) on 29 October and will never come closer to Earth than 209 million km (on 19 December).

Until now, three interstellar visitors have been detected: 1I/’/Oumuamua in 2017, the interstellar comet 2I/Borisov in 2019, and now 3I/ATLAS. In my blog post of February 2018, Oumuamua, I discussed in detail the first interstellar visitor. Now we have another one.

So, why the consternation in the popular press and the social media, like here or here or here. Google for 3I/ATLAS alien and you will find more links.

In my Oumuamua post, I wrote: “Of course, there are people who are wondering if it could be a spaceship”. Basically, it was one man who suggested this, Avi Loeb, an astrophysicist at Harvard University. He was widely criticised by the scientific community. He even wrote a popular science book about it: Extraterrestrial. The consensus is now that Oumuamua is just a physical object.

Avi Laub must have an obsession with alien life. Within weeks of 31/ATLAS’ discovery, he published an article, Is the Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS Alien Technology? Here is a quote (bold by me):.

As largely a pedagogical exercise, in this paper we present additional analysis into the astrodynamics of 3I/ATLAS, and hypothesize that this object could be technological, and possibly hostile as would be expected from the ‘Dark Forest’ resolution to the ‘Fermi Paradox’

He also has a blog and wrote two posts about 3I/ATLAS, on 17 July and 5 August . And two weeks ago, he was interviewed by FOX 10 Talks. Click on the screenshot to watch the video. The interviewers are in awe that, for the first time, they have a Harvard professor in their program.

When Loeb is right about 3I/ATLAS, that it might be an alien, hostile spacecraft, what about November? Here is a possible scenario.

The spacecraft, disguised as a comet (!), reaches perihelium on 29 October. If you look at the animated GIF above, you will see that Earth is then on the other side of the Sun, so 3i/ATLAS will not be visible to us. During that period, the spacecraft will change its course and when it is visible again, it will come to attack and destroy us!

Just when I was ready to publish this post, I came across this website: Elon Musk: “It’s Confirmed, The 3I ATLAS is an Alien Space Craft!”. I am sure the mention of Musk is fake, only meant to attract more viewers. But the YouTube video on the website is fascinating, a mixture of science and sc-ifi. Click on the screenshot to watch the video.

Don’t worry. It’s a comet, not a disguised alien spacecraft.

Here is a promise. If humanity is still alive after November, I will write a post about the Fermi Paradox and the Dark Forest. And about my solution, the Rare Earth hypothesis.

Stabat Mater

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In 2012, I published a blog about Stabat Mater, composed in 1735 by Pergolesi. In that post, you will find more information about this beautiful composition, one of my all-time favourites. Many composers wrote music for the Stabat Mater, one of them being Antonio Vivaldi. In 2024, I wrote another post, Antonio and Andreas, about a recording of Vivaldi’s Stabat Mater by countertenor Andreas Scholl.

A few weeks ago, I found on YouTube a compilation of six Stabat Mater compositions, by various composers, from Palestrina (ca 1590) to Arvo Pärt (1985). Here it is, Pergolesi and Vivaldi are of course included, but others were unknown to me. Click on the screenshot to watch the video.


I decided to search for more Stabat Mater compositions and soon found this amazing site: The Ultimate Stabat Mater Website. A Dutch music lover, Hans van der Velden, started in 1992 to collect Stabat Mater CDs. Five years later, his partner, Hannie van Osnabrugge, created the Ultimate Stabat Mater Website. The site is now managed by the Ultimate Stabat Mater Website Foundation, created in 2020. At the moment, the site has more than 300(!) CD recordings of the Stabat Mater, with lots of information about composers and compositions. Click on the screenshot below for more information about the history of this monumental website.

There are many ways to access the information, alphabetically, by country, or chronologically. I used the chronological option to look for Stabat Mater compositions, composed in the 18th century, when the transition took place from Late Baroque (Handel, Bach) to Classical (Haydn, Mozart).

I found 50 composers of a Stabat Mater. Amazing. Only those are listed where a CD exists, so there have been more. Most of them are unknown to me. I selected a few that appealed to me. Of the four 18th-century giants, only one (Joseph Hayden) composed a Stabat Mater. The other three (Handel, Bach and Mozart ) composed religious masterpieces, which I have in included in the following list for reference.

1712 Antonio Vivaldi

According to Wikipedia, Vivaldi composed the Stabat Mater in 1711, with a premiere in 1712. Written in haste, only eight stanzas of the hymn are used, and the music for the first three movements is repeated for the second three. Still, it is considered one of Vivaldi’s early masterpieces. There is only one soloist, originally a castrato, nowadays sung by a countertenor or a contralto. The Ultimate Stabat Mater Website gives 1727 as the year it was composed.

There are numerous recordings. I have chosen Jakub Olinski’s Here is a screenshot, click on it to watch the YouTube video. Olinski is not only a brilliant countertenor, he is also an experienced breakdancer. Click here for his role in another work by Vivaldi; you may be shocked.

1723 Alessandro Scarlatti

Alessandro Scarlatti is famous for his operas, but he also wrote religious music. In my post Dixit Dominus, I mentioned him. His Stabat Mater was new to me; I found it on the Ultimate Stabat Mater website. It is beautiful music.

He was the father of Domenico Scarlatti, who wrote 555 keyboard sonatas, but also composed a Stabat Mater for choir, without soloists.

1736 Giovanni Pergolesi

Originally, Pergolesi composed the Stabat Mater for a male alto and a male soprano (a castrato!), customary in his days. Nowadays most recordings are for (female) soprano and either contralto or countertenor. I found this delicious recording by a boy soprano and a boy alto.

1741 Handel (Messiah)

Handel, one of the great composers of the Late Baroque, wrote numerous religious works, but never a Stabat Mater. In 1741 he wrote the Messiah, for me his most impressive creation. Here is a recording by the Choir of King’s College in Cambridge

1749 Bach (Hohe Messe)

Bach also did not compose a Stabat Mater (although he used Pergolesi’s music in his Psalm 51 . The greatest of all Baroque composers wrote many religious works. In 1749 he wrote the Hohe Messe. Here is my favourite recording by the Thomaner Choir in Leipzig

1767 Joseph Haydn

The transition from Baroque to the Classical Period took place around 1750. Haydn represents the early Classical period, and when you listen to his Stabat Mater, the differences are obvious. It was on the Ultimate Stabat Mater website that I discovered it. Beautiful music. The recording was made during the COVID pandemic, without an audience.

1781 Luigi Boccherini

Boccherini was an Italian composer and cellist. I knew and liked his string quintets, but I discovered his Stabat Mater only in the compilation mentioned above. I liked it so much that I decided to write this blog post. He belongs to the Classical era, but is a bit of an outsider. His Stabat Mater still has a Baroque setting, in my opinion.

Actually, he revised it in 1800, adding two more voices. and an ouverture. I prefer the original version.

1791 Mozart (Requiem)

Mozart didn’t write a Stabat Mater, His most famous religious composition is the Requiem Mass. started in the year of his death, but not completed. So many recordings on YouTube, how to choose one? Here is one, recorded in the Condertgebouw in Amsterdam. I lived around the corner for 25 years.

GGPS and Geocaching

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In October 2001 my Dutch friend Gerrit showed me the Garmin Etrex GPS he had just bought. Using it we walked to a nearby restaurant and he sent me our track.

I was immediately hooked and within a few weeks I had bought my own Etrex for 459 guilders (208 Euro). In the Netherlands I started using it to record walking and cycling trips.

Here are two bicycle trips. The first one was a round trip from Amsterdam, September 2002, the other one, June 2003, taking our bikes by train to Culemborg, then cycling back to Weesp. Click on the image to see the webpage. In the webpage you can click on the blue dots to see the photos I took during the trip.

There were no digital maps of Malaysia yet. I took my Etrex everywhere to record the roads I traveled, in that way slowly creating my own digital map. Left West-Malaysia, right the surroundings of Kuala Lumpur. Covering the period 2002-2005.

Around 2003 Malsingmaps was created and developed, an example of Community Mapping. I contributed some waterfall access roads ;-). Soon there was no need anymore to create and maintain my own map.

In 2002 I discovered geocaching. In this game/sport you use a GPS device to find the location of a hidden container. And of course you can also hide a container yourself at a nice location. In both cases you report your find or hide to a website. Here is the page I published in February 2003 on my own website about geocaching. Click on the image to link to my site, where you can find more details.

At that time worldwide there were more than 40.000 geocaches, but in Malaysia only a handful. My first geocache was at the Quartz Ridge on 15 December 2002. The second one on 25 January 2003 and the third one on 6 February 2003. Click on the image below to view more hides.

The first two caches were found within a few weeks, the third one never at all. Here is the story. Coming back from hiding the Gombak river cache, I searched the Internet for more information about that river and came across a webpage of a guy named Khong. I decided to write to him and that was the start of our friendship, now more than 20 years. I told him about my two geocaches, he got interested and went to find them with his friends (without any help from my side!). One of his friends, Stephen Boey, a reporter of the STAR newspaper, wanted to write an article about this “new” game, so we went to the remote Berembun falls with him. It resulted in this article, probably the first time that geocaching was mentioned in the Malaysian news.

In my first year of geocaching I kept track pf the goecaches hidden (12) and found (7). But after that year I lost my interest in the game, for several reasons. The main reason was that I became more busy exploring waterfalls and reporting about them on my website Waterfalls of Malaysia. Actually, I placed several geocaches at waterfalls. Here are a few, Lata Berembun, Lata Kijang and the Tanglir Falls. Click on the pictures to view the geocache description. The Berembun and Kijang geocaches were never found, Tanglir one time. The locations were too remote, I archived them many years ago.

Lata Berembun
Lata Kijang
Tanglir Falls

Only one of these waterfall geocaches is still active, the Kanching Falls geocache, hidden in December 2003. It has been found 49 times, about twice a year. The waterfalls are not far from Kuala Lumpur and can be reached by public transport. It is my favorite geocache in Malaysia.

I hid the geocache on 12 December 2003 at the 7th fall, during a visit with my friend Gerrit who introduced me to GPS in 2001. Here he is at one of the lower falls. The other picture shows the 7th fall.

The next picture shows me with the geocache in my hand. In the collage, I am hiding it between the roots of a big tree. The container is covered with a rock, to make it monkey- proof.

The pictures above were taken during another visit. When geocachers report that they can not find the cache, you, as cache owner, have to take action and visit the geocache. Often it happens that the geocacher didn’t search carefully enough, and the geocache is still there. But a few times the cache was indeed missing and I had to replace it. That’s part of the game and it was always a pleasure for me to revisit the Kanching Falls.

When geocachers find the cache they sometimes post photos. Here are a few.

The Kanching cache represents for me the essence of geocaching.

  • You need an attractive location, not easy to find without geocaching info.
  • Geocaching is an outdoor game that is not suitable for an urban environment. Where to find locations to hide a geocache container in a concrete jungle?
  • A container is essential. Big enough to contain not only a logbook and a pen but also some “stash”, items to collect and exchange. The original name for the game was GPS Stash Hunt.

There have been many changes since those early days of geocaching.

  • My favourite type of geocache is now called a traditional. Many different types of geocaches have been introduced. Here is a list. Some types don’t even need a container or a specific location!
  • Even traditionals nowadays don’t always have a real container. So-called nanoaches only contain a small strip of paper where you can log your find (but bring your own pen!). Often they are magnetic. so it is easier to hide them in an urban environment.
  • Geocaching has become a community game. Events are orgainsed where geocachers can meet each other.. There are competitions, favourite points and souvenirs.

For many geocachers this adds value to the game, but not for me.

When I became a regular hiker in Bukit Kiara, I decided to hide a few geocaches there. Traditionals, with a real container and an interesting location. Here they are, hidden between 2012 and 2018. In brackets, the number of finds. Click on the picture for a link to the cache page.

Kiara Stream (85)
Kiara Bridge (28)
Kiara Rocks! (37)
Kiara Trees (47)
Kiara Waterfall (35)

Although not very active, I was a member of the Geocaching Malaysian WhatsApp chat group. In 2018, Bernard, an active member, who knew that I had lost interest in the game, told me that he was interested in adopting the Kanching geocache, as it was one of the oldest geocaches in Malaysia. I agreed, and in June 2018, we climbed up with a few fellow geocachers to the top waterfall, where I ceremonially handed over the cache.

The adoption idea appealed to me, so I wrote in the Chat group that all my Kiara geocaches were also available for adoption. All of them have now been adopted by various geocachers.

I may have lost interest, but the game is still popular. Here is a map of Kuala Lumpur and its surroundings. The latest count of active geocaches in Malaysia is 1179!

Taiping, June 2025

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My last visit to Taiping was end of February. Click here for the report. There were two reasons that I went again after a few months. I was invited for the wedding dinner of my friend Yeap’s son. And my Dutch friends Yolanda and Math would be in Taiping, after spending a few days with us in PJ, see the report Visit of Yolanda & Math.

Most of the content in this post will be familiar to my regular followers. As usual, I went by public transport. It was Muharram that weekend and when I booked, there were only a few seats available. Left the MRT to Sg Buloh, right the ETS.

I took a Grab to Furama and, after checking in, went out to have a look at the former Majestic cinema, around the corner of Furama. It’s been an empty shell ever since my first visit to Taiping. A few weeks earlier, there had been a fire (arson?). The building is still undamaged. I always wanted to have a peek inside, now I could, but there were police tapes around the entrance, so I decided not to trespass.

So tempting to go in! It looks like only the roof was damaged.

That evening I had dinner in Restaurant Yes with my gang, with Yolanda and Math as special guests. A Dutch party, each of us paid RM 30, unbelievably cheap.

These pictures show what we had. From the upper left, clockwise: minced pork tofu, Fried squid, fried chicken, Tempura Kangkung, Stingray curry, and French beans with dried prawns.

After our dinner, we went to the Aeon mall, a tradition for my gang, but an unexpected ending for my Dutch friends. We had an ice cream there as dessert.

The next day, Math and Yolanda went to Kuala Sepetang, and I went for a walk to visit my favourite haunts. First breakfast. Lian Thong had recently changed ownership, was renovated, and had lost its charm. But I found a suitable alternative in Jalan Pasar, where I had my favourite roti goyang (toast with “shaking eggs”).

Next I went to the replica of the market buildings. Still not occupied.

The same for siang malam, still an empty shell.

The other part of the Pasar, also empty. Will the vibrant market atmosphere ever come back? I doubt it.

A short stop at Ansari Cendol. A visit to Taiping is not complete without a refreshing cendol.

What I love about Taiping is the mixture of beauty and decay.

There is a lot of decay. Here is the Rest House, a heritage building (1894). A fire destroyed part of it

As an urbex fan, I used to explore the ruin, using a “lorong tikus”, but there was no need now, a real entrance was open.

Homeless people are still living here, butt I didn’t see anybody during my visit.

The other Shame on Taiping building also has somebody living there, but his/her bicycle was not there. I didn’t enter.

A few years ago an ambitious plan was presented to transform the two buildings into a boutique hotel . Since then all has been silence. The other pictures shows the counter window, familiar to many Taiping Lang.

I passed two of the huge murals, a specialty of Taiping.

It was a very hot day, so I went back to my hotel for a rest. I skipped lunch, because that evening I would attend the wedding dinner/ Later I went out again for a stroll at the Raintree Walk. Many people enjoying the holiday weekend.

I asked permission to take a picture of this nice group. No problem, but of course also a picture had to be taken with a Mat Salleh in the center.

The wedding dinner was in the Soon Lee restaurant, a short walk from my hotel. It was a big event, about 45 tables. Luckily, my friends Bok Kin and Teng Hin were at the same table.

I have known Yeap and his wife for many years, but I had never met the groom and his bride.

It was a traditional wedding ceremony, with the pouring of the wine, yam seng, a speech of the father, and a reply from the groom.

I had an enjoyable evening at my table, with a lot of alcohol.

The next day, I showed my friends the town. We started with a walk in the Lake Gardens and met my friend Foo for breakfast. We had chee cheong fun.

They were interested in the Perak Museum and we decided to walk. I had not been in the museum for a long time.

There was an event going on, so it was quite busy. There was a drawing competition for the kids.

The first floor is dedicated to the Orang Asli, the original inhabitants of Malaysia.

Outside the museum there were various means of transport.

Walking back, we passed the prison, one of the many “firsts” of Taiping.

The All Saints church was closed, we took photos in the cemetery

Time for lunch, I brought my friends to Prima. I ordered popiah for them, which they liked

More murals, of course I had to show them the (in) famous one of Amelia Earhart, who actually never landed at the Tekah airfield..

As they are also urbex fans, they wanted to have a look inside the ruined buildings. There was no bicycle outside, so we ventured in. It is clear that there is still somebody living there..

They also wanted to have a look at the Rest House.

The building of the Ceylon Association is an example of successful renovation. We skipped the Ansari Cendol, as it was too crowded.

I prefer this kind of murals.

At the end of the afternoon, Aric arrived in Taiping. We went for dinner to Mattang, the Lighthouse seafood restaurant.

Leaving the restaurant after a delicious meal, we heard music and had a look. A surprise, never before had we visited this temple.

It is called the Sam Teong Ong (Hock Chuan Keong) temple and supposedly very old (1838). A committee member gave an explanation. Must explore more during my next visit.

There was a lot going on during our short visit. A puppet theatre with front seats for the spirits.

I had a third, secret, reason to visit Taiping again. I wanted to take an ultru-light flight over my 2nd hometown. During my last visit, there were no time slots available, so this time I had made an early booking. But it depends on the weather conditions whether you can fly, so I had not told my friends about my plan.

The weather was perfect. We were at Tekah 7:45am and after registration and payment (RM 350 for me, RM 250 for Aric), we were strapped in our seats.

Ready for take off. Click on the picture to watch. Video taken by Aric before he started his own flight. The pilot is sitting in front of me.

Included in the package is a video of the flight. taken by a GoPro camera. mounted on a wing tip. Here it is, 15 minutes, from takeoff until landing. You can scroll through.

It was an unforgettable experience, worth every Ringgit. Here I am after landing with my pilot.

Math and Yolanda were so pleased with Taiping that they stayed one more night. Aric and I went back to KL, but first we had lunch together in the Casual Market.

On our way back we made a detour to Chepor where we visited the Seen Hock Yeen Confucius Temple, with a nice lake and a lotus pond.

It was a rewarding weekend, but I needed a few days for recovery 😉

Ampang Pecah, July 2025

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A few weeks ago, I came across a report: Cherandong Dam Via Ampang Pecah, KKB, about an old dam in the KKB region. During a recent visit to Fraser’s Hill, I spent some time in Kuala Kubu Baru and wanted to come back because there was a lot to see. I asked my friends Paul and Fahmi if they would be interested in joining me on a day trip to KKB, Ampang Pecah, and the Cherandong dam. They were, and I made a list of all the interesting places we could visit. Fahmi warned me that it was too much for a day trip, and he was right. We could only visit Ampang Pecah and must come back another time for KKB.

Here is a map of the region. I have marked the Selangor River in blue.

It was a one hour drive to the trail head. When we arrived Fahmi said that he had been camping there, a few years ago. And that we could drive further to a campsite.

There was a difficult stretch in the road where we decided to park the car and continue on foot.

It was a pleasant walk in a palm oil plantation.

We passed the campsite and soon came to a shed where we paid 3 x RM 3 to continue. A friendly Malay guy told us that we could go to the waterfall, but that the dam was in a Forest Reserve land and access was not permitted. Heavy fines for trespassers. That was a disappointment.

It was not far to the waterfall, the trail became steeper and a bit slippery.

Almost near the waterfall. The Selangor River is quite impressive, there were a few more visitors.

The Cherandong waterfall is not a spectacular one, but scenic. Two warga emas are proudly posing.

No pool, and the rocks were quite slippery; we had to be very careful. The dam is only a short distance away, but you have to scramble up the rocks (behind me in the picture). We decided not to take the risk.

Fahmi took a shower and a few years ago I would have followed him, but nowadays I have lost confidence and I am afraid of falling and breaking something.

We were just in time, the Selangor river is famous for white water rafting and soon several boats arrived and stopped at the waterfall. We didn’t stay long. I asked the guy in the shed if Rangers sometimes checked. He said that sometimes they were wearing casual clothes and only later showed their badge. I understand that they protect the forest, but they should allow access to the dam, and create a short trail up to the dam.

It was already 1 pm, time for lunch. Fahmi had found an interesting coffee shop on the Internet. A bit complicated to reach because you have to cross the Selangor River on a hanging bridge.

Quite an amazing place, this Kopi Kisar Kebun !. Only open during weekends, 9am to 5pm.. A large variety of food and drinks. Really worth a visit when you are in the region. We had lontong, asam laksa and pisang goreng.

Ampang Pecah (Broken Dam) has an interesting history. Long ago it was Kuala Kubu, located at the confluence of the Selangor and Kubu rivers. But the region was prone to flooding. In February 1883, a dam broke and the whole village was destroyed. There is a legend that it happened because Cyril Ranking, a British officer had shot a white crocodile, the guardian of the Selangor River.

The town was rebuilt and flourished during the tin era. In December 1926 there was a second disastrous flood, destroying the town again. The colonial powers decided to rebuild Kuala Kubu on higher ground and named it Kuala Kubu Baru. It is said that only two buildings survived this flood, a mosque and a Chinese temple.

First we visited the Guan Yin Kok temple. The history goes back to 1904. During the Emergency devotees were not allowed to enter the temple, so they moved the deities to another temple in KKB. Only in the 1980s, this temple was rediscovered and rebuilt.

An impressive Laughing Buddha, and a nice location, next to a pretty small lake.

The other building that survived the 1926 flood is the Al-Hidayah mosque

It is recognised as a heritage site. The signboard at the entrance says that the mosque was built in 1926, the same year as the second flood. That’s a bit strange.

There are still questions to be answered. What was the exact location of the dam that broke in 1883. Does the grave of Cyril Ranking still exist? And was the 1926 flood caused by a heavy downpour or by another broken dam?

KKB has a a historical gallery, I will have to go again 😉 .

Dwarf Planet 2017 OF201 and Planet 9

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In April 2016 I published a post Our Solar System, an update. At the end of this post I wrote about the New Horizons mission, that it was on its way to the Kuiper Belt, after a successful flyby of {luto.

Here is the Kuiper Belt, a ring of (mainly) small icy bodies orbiting the sun beyond the orbit of Neptune. The distance scales are in Astronomical Units (AU), where 1 AU is 150 million km. the average distance between Earth and the Sun. The locations of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are given. Earth and the other planets are inside the yellow blob in the center. The grey cloud between this blob and Jupiter represents the asteroid belt.

More than 3000 Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) have been found and that number is increasing yearly. Many of them are (relatively) small, like, for instance, the 2014 MU69, mentioned in my 2016 post as the next destination for New Horizons. Another flyby on 1 January 2019 was very successful. Here is an image of 2014 MU69, taken by New Horizons. It is a contact binary, dimensions ~40x20x10 km, now renamed Arrokoth. See the appendix about naming (and renaming) objects in the Solar System.

The official name for any object orbiting the Sun beyond Neptune is Trans-Neptunian Object (TNO). Some of them can be quite large. In 2005 Eris was discovered, with a diameter of ~2300 km, about 1/5th of Earth’s diameter, similar in size to Pluto. A heated discussion among astronomers led in 2006 to the demotion of Pluto as a planet and the introduction of a new concept: dwarf planet. Pluto was always an odd one out with its elliptical orbit. It is now a dwarf planet, like Eris. Here is the Outer Solar System.

More dwarf planets have been discovered in the region beyond Neptune. A fascinating one is Sedna, discovered in 2003. Its orbit is extremely elliptical, its distance to the Sun varying between 76 and 937 AU, far outside the Kuiper Belt. One orbit takes 11.400 years, Various estimates for its diameter, Wikipedia gives >1000 km. Here is the orbit of Sedna in orange. The Outer Solar System is now so tiny, the Kuiper belt is marked in blue.

Also shown is the orbit of 2012VP113, in red. Discovered in 2012, diameter ~600 km. Again very elliptical, distance to the Sun between 80 and 460 AU. One orbit takes ~4500 years. You may wonder how astronomers discover such a remote object and even determine some of its properties. In the picture you can see how. Three images, taken by a powerful telescope, with a 30-minute interval, have been superimposed. Look at the small dot in the center. That is 2012VP113, moving against the background of stars

One more extreme TNO, 2015TG387, was discovered in 2015. Its aphelion (the farthest distance from the SUn) is a staggering 2114 AU. The orbital period is about 40.000 years.

More of these extremely elliptical TNOs have been found. What can have been the cause? . Not the giant planets or the Kuiper Belt, they never come close enough to feel their gravitation.

In 2016, two astronomers, Batygin and Brown, came up with an interesting hypothesis. A planet with a mass of about ten times that of Earth, orbiting the Sun in an elliptical orbit between 280 and 1120 AU, orbital period of 5000 years, could explain the orbits. In the diagram, the orbit of this hypothetical Planet Nine is shown.

P[anet Nine has not yet been found and it will not be easy. Not all astronomers are convinced that it exists, but it generated a lot of interest in extreme TNOs.

Recently, a new one has been found 2017 OF201. First observed in 2017. Distance to Sun between  45 and 1630 AU. Orbital period 24.000 years. Here are again three superimposed pictures, this time taken with an interval of 1 hour. Estimated diameter ≈ 550 to 850 km.

In an appendix I will tell more about the interesting way this extreme TNO was discovered and how an estimate could be made about its size. The evidence presented was so convincing that on 21 May TNO 2017 OF201 was accepted by the authoritative International Astronomical Union (IAU) as a new dwarf planet. I flurry of articles in magazines and newspapers followed. Some are accurate, like the EarthSky one, others contain errors, like the Yahoo!News one.

Here the orbit of 2017PF201 is added in red to the other TNOs. The supposed orbit of PLanet 9, here called Planer X, is shown in black.

As you see, the orientation of this new TNO is completely different from the others! And that is a serious challenge for the Planet 9 theory. Model calculations show that Planet 9 would strongly disturb the orbit of 2017 OF201 and, in the future, would kick it out of the solar system. So, does Planet 9 really exist?

That was the ending I had in mind for this post.

But, very recently another interesting article was published, claiming that PLanet 9 may have been found! Click here for the original publication (quite technical). The idea is “simple”. Planet 9 will be cold, but still it emits (thermal) infrared radiation. The authors use data from two infrared missions, IRAS (1983) and Akari (2006), comparing them, filtering out all known infrared sources and looking for an area, that doesn’t move within a few months, the operating time of both missions, but is found in a different location after 23 years. They find one suitable candidate, which fits with the theoretical orbit of Planet 9. Amazing.

I am sure that this is not the end of the story 🙂 .

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Appendix 1 Naming/renaming of astronomical objects in the solar system

All astronomical solar system objects (except comets), smaller than planets, are called minor planets (planetoids). Asteroids, KBOs, TNOs, and dwarf planets. The Minor Planet Center keeps track of them. When a new minor planet has been discovered, it gets a name. For the new dwarf planet, this (provisional) name is 2017 OF201. Here is the explanation. 2017 was the year it was first observed. Followed by two letters.

The first letter, O, tells in which half-month of that year it was discovered, in the second half pf JUly 2017. The second letter gives the order of discovery for that half-month. The F would naan that it was the sixth minor planet discovered in that half-month. But wait. When this coding was designed ( in 1925), it could handle 25 discoveries in a half-month, but nowadays, with modern technology, there are many more. That’s why the subscript is added. 201 x 25 = 5025 +8 = 5033. This dwarf planet was the 5033th discovery in the second half of July 2017!

When the orbit is determined accurately enough, this provisional designation is replaced by a (sequential) number. The team that discovered the minor planet can then suggest a name. The minor planet 2014 MU69, visited by New Horizons, is now named 486958 Arrokoth. Using the coding given above, you should be able to check that Arrokoth was the 745th discovery in the second half of June 2014.

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Appendix 2 T The discovery of dwarf planet 2017 OF201.

The original article can be found here. The authors use data from the Dark Energy Survey project, which itself is not related to the solar system. To find objects in the solar system, you must look for objects that move. Using the survey data, already ~800 TNOs have been found. The next step is to find the distance of the object. For that we use the apparent motion of the object against the background of the stars. It is called parallax. Due to Earth’s orbit around the Sun, the position of the object changes. From how much it changes, the distance can be calculated. For 2017 OF201 this distance is at the moment about 90 AU.

The combined effect of parallax and real motion for 2017 OF201 is shown in this diagram

The oval (due to parallax) is moving throughout the years. Observation dates are indicated.

From the amount of light, combined with the distance, a rough estimate can be made of the size. For 2017 OF201 this results in a diameter of 550 to 850 km . Big enough to call the object a dwarf planet.