HAL Star Party 4/21/2007

It was great star party at Alpha Ridge on Saturday. I did an informal count of 32 attendees at 9:30pm. The crowd probably peaked at around 40.  The early Iridium flare was observed by a few. The Space Station pass at 10:04 was much better.

Early in the evening there was some cloud cover that limited the targets to the moon, Saturn and Venus and double stars. By about 10pm it was about as clear as it gets at AR.  Thanks to all who came.

The next HAL event is the solar event at the Central Library at 9:00am Sat.May 5th (Cinco de Mayo).  The next AR Star Party is scheduled for Saturday May 12th.

Don Gardner

Wow, the weather was great last night at Alpha Ridge!

I think we've all been stuck inside for way too long, but last night made up for it - clear to almost clear skies and plenty of stars.

Lots of people, too. I think Don said the turnout was over 30 people, so that's pretty good, I think.

A lot of new faces, including Al with his homemade binocular alt-az mount. There was also the gentleman with the red home-made ball-scope (sorry that I can't remember your name), but that was really cool.

Thanks to Don for holding the keys to the park and for pointing out the space station to everyone right on time.

I hope everyone had a great time. I know I did!

Matthew Hannum.

Photos below compliments of Todd Vance

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