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What's New with HAL?
Our second Virtual Public Star Party, April 17th was very successful!
We had over 20 participants that stayed just short of 3 hours. Phil thanks Chuck Cynamon, Brad Martin, Jim Johnson, and Gene Handler
for their preparations, presentations, and leading discussions. [Read more...]
Second Virtual Star Party - Zoom Recording [2:40; 716 MB; available until 4/30/21]
Many thanks to our April 15th General Meeting guest speaker, Sue Ann Heatherly (Green Bank Observatory),
whose topic was How is radio astronomy different from optical astronomy?
Our members and guests enjoyed her outstanding presentation.
More information is available on the meetings page.
The next Planning Meeting (for current members only) will be held on Monday, May 3rd at 7PM.
Zoom information will eventually be available via the member's log-in.
Astro School - Polar Alignment
Report from Phil: "I would very much like to thank John Nagy for conducting Astro School [on April 8th]. We had 32 participants.
The questions and conversations went much deeper than I would have ever expected on the topic of polar alignment.
It was very interesting to learn of John's methodology on how he did trial and error, as well as measured the
relative differences going from no polar aligning to using different tools."
[Read more...]
April 19, 2021: NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Succeeds in Historic First Flight
"NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter became the first aircraft in history to make a powered, controlled flight on another planet.
The Ingenuity team at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California confirmed the flight succeeded after receiving
data from the helicopter via NASA's Perseverance Mars rover at 6:46 a.m. EDT (3:46 a.m. PDT)."
[Read More...]
NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter
What's happening with the Mars 2020 mission and Perseverance?
NOTE: The parks have now partially re-opened. However, HAL is still not scheduling live members-only or public events. HAL keyholders are free to call members-only impromptu observing sessions via the closed hal_impromptu email list for Carrs Mill Park or Alpha Ridge Park.
There are no restroom facilities available at either location at this time.
Election Update:
As required by HAL bylaws, a new board of directors is elected each year at the HAL general meeting in January.
See the complete list of 2021 HAL Officers and Positions.
Due to COVID-19, the monthly Planning (board of directors) meeting, Astroschool, the HAL public meeting, and various observing events will be held "virtually" using Zoom.
Check back frequently for updates. HAL looks forward to getting back to normal as soon as prudent. We look forward to seeing everyone and again showing members of the public the wonders of the night sky. |
