A fairly large earthquake hit east japan this evening (around 5:30 pm).
I was outside, trying to observe Jupiter with a recently purchased big reflection telescope. This type of big telescope would be fantastic to enjoy the detailed surface of planets and subtle colouring of nabulae, etc. if the alignment of the autoguidance was perfectly set. Otherwise, this heavy chunk of metal is totally useless. It is likely to happen especially to most of beginners: the setting of the big telescope is very difficult. Last two days, I have been trying to see Jupiter with this telescope, but no success. Even a glance of Jupiter was not seen so far. Only a darkness...
Today, I followed the manual to set the alignment of the telescope with the help of the attached computer system for the control of the gears of the telescope mount. It was that moment when I felt a subtle shaking of the whole ground... It was just a beginning of another big Earthquake hitting Tokyo for the first time since the March 11, 2011.
The oscillation amplitude became larger and larger in time. I could feel the undulation movement of the asphalt itself. Looking up a building and a chimney tower in front of me, I noticed they were also oscillating slowly. The earthquake continued about a minute or so. Indeed, very long-lasting transverse wave it was! So scary. I run to the security office and asked an officer where the epicentre was. He said "Again in Tohoku. Almost the same area as the last big one happened. A Tsunami alert again along the all coasts in the north east Japan!"
Big earthquake, followed by Tsunami, which strikes Fukushima Nuclear Power station: this is the golden formula to destroy many parts in Japan. And I had a feeling that this could happen again. I try to gather the information about the No.4 reactor in Fukushima 1 nuclear power station. Because the spent-fuel pool placed on the top of the reactor has been tilting since the mega earthquake hit last year. Some scientists and engineers have warned that once the pool falls down to scatter the spent fuels, people in Tokyo need to evacuate from the capital immediately. I was so afraid of this possibility. I called my wife and told her to prepare for a possible evacuation in case.
Fortunately, this time, the spent-fuel pool survived the earthquake. But the Fukushima-2 Nuclear power plant, which survived the mega earthquake last year, underwent a minor emergency situation due to today's earthquake, allegedly to Mainichi Newspaper. The met office (of Japan) announced that this evening's earthquake is an aftershock of the mega earthquake last year, so that it can happen again soon. I don't want to live with nuclear power stations under this sort of situation for long.
Tunnel collapses can happen again somewhere near the epicentre, I guess.
