WRITTEN IN THE STARS

If you go to any colourful Thai market and even to some placid Buddhist temples, you will find in some quiet corner an astrologer waiting for custom. He will ask the date and time of your birth. With that scant information and his zodiacal charts, he’ll tell your fortune. It has been that way for thousands of years. But then about 150 years ago, a new form of knowledge of the stars, western astronomy, came to Thailand. It was brought here by one of this country’s greatest kings, Rama IV or King Mongkut. The king was so enthused with this new knowledge that he ordered an observatory built at his hilltop palace in Phetchaburi province. He quickly became adept and predicted a total eclipse of the sun near Prachuab Khiri Khan on August 18, 1868. Almost everyone was skeptical, including the court astrologers who believed such an event was impossible. So a great expedition was organized to what is now Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park to which many foreign scientists were invited. There, the king’s prediction was dramatically confirmed-a six-minute total solar eclipse that had the court astrologers calling out in awe. Today, star-gazing is practiced by anyone with binoculars or their own telescope. You can even join the Thai Astronomical Society on one of their regular trips. Generally, these go off to a remote location such as a hilltop in a national park or an island in the gulf where the night sky is clear. You can either share their big telescope or use your own equipment. Or of course you can follow in King Mongkut’s steps. His Phetchaburi observatory is still there and so is Phra Chomklao Science Museum at Wah Kor.