HOWARD

ASTRONOMICAL

LEAGUE


					HAL Website Search:

What's New with HAL?

Presentation and Video Recording from our May General Meeting
Want to suggest a speaker for a future HAL meeting?
James Willinghan's Total Lunar Eclipse image from Frostburg

May Sky Charts from AL (members only) - Lunar Eclipse and Jupiter passing Venus
Updated HAL Covid Policy a la Howard County
Read about HAL's Instagram account
HAL's YouTube channel.

Upcoming HAL and Non-HAL Events

June 6: HAL Planning Meeting at 7pm (members only).
June 11: HAL Public Star Party! Open to members and non-members. [Read more...]
June 16: HAL General Meeting at 7pm (open to the public). Topic: Possible Causes of Hydration of Vesta's Oppia Crater. Details [below] and Zoom link [forthcoming].

2022 Star Party Schedule

Where is Webb?
Explore Webb Deployments

Past HAL and Non-HAL Events

May 19: May HAL General Meeting at 7pm (open to the public). Topic: International Latitude Observatory
May 15-16: Total Lunar Eclipse – A Supermoon Eclipse
May 7: HAL Public Star Party! Open to members and non-members.
May 2: HAL Planning Meeting at 7pm (members only).
April 30: April HAL Members-Only Star Party
April 21: April HAL General Meeting at 7pm (open to the public). Topic: Six Impossible Things.
April 23: Earth Day Celebration at Clarksville Commons
April 9: HAL Public Star Party! First public SP of 2022. See Star Party Reports.
April 4: HAL Planning Meeting at 7pm (members only).
March 26: HAL Members-Only Star Party
March 17: General Meeting - Presentation, Recording, and other Artifacts
March 12: [CANCELED] HAL Public Star Party! First public SP of 2022. Open to members and non-members.
March 12 at 1pm: KAS Online: Art of Astrophotography
March 7: HAL Planning Meeting at 7pm (members only). Login for Zoom link.
March 5 at 8pm: Fans of Benjamin Banneker Astronomy Club
February 17: General Meeting.
- Topic #1: Ron Miller: Space Art - Personal Experiences of an Artist/Author
- Topic #2: Arjun Meenashi Sundar: Quantum Tunneling in Nuclear Fusion
February 7: Planning Meeting at 7pm (members only).
February 5: Virtual Star Party at 8:00pm with Gene Handler (open to the public). See Gene's initial announcement and Phil's followup for details.

Did You Know?

HAL now has an Instagram Account: hocoastro!
- To post, use our Instagram Submission Form.
- To share your own posts on our Instagram stories, use the #howardastro hashtag.
- To contact our Social Media coordinator, email socialmedia@howardastro.org.

What is HAL? - MD STEM Festival Interview with Phil Whitebloom, HAL President (8 min.)
2022 Keyholder Responsibilities (Duties and Agreement) (members only)
You Can Help NASA Observe Other Worlds! - Exoplanet Watch
Recent Star Party Reports
How to Join HAL's Impromptu Mailing List?
HAL's COVID-19 Policy for Events
Recent Planning Meeting Minutes and Latest Treasurer's Report (member login required)

The next HAL General Meeting is June 16, 2022 at 7pm. This meeting is open to the public. The topic will be: Possible Causes of Hydration of Vesta's Oppia Crater. [Read more...] Zoom link will apear here early June.

December 18th: Winter Solstice Celebration - Under the Stars [see page 13]. Celebrate the longest night of the year with an evening of activities that explore the light and the dark! Enjoy a planetarium program to discover the significance of the solstice, myths, and folklore about our sun. Take in nature's winter beauty during a night hike as we examine how animals and plants prepare for the long nights and short days ahead. Warm up with a campfire and hot chocolate. [6 yrs + Robinson Nature Ctr] RP4873.550 Saturday, Dec 18 from 6:30-8:30pm, $10 fee. To register: www.howardcountymd.gov/rap or 410-313-PARK (410-313-7275).

Mars Report: Update on NASA's Perseverance & Curiosity Rovers "With no road maps on Mars, I'm building my own as I go. There are lots of places I want to explore, and mapping while I drive will help me see and do more. "

Watch on Facebook...

NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter

What's happening with the Mars 2020 mission and Perseverance?

Welcome
to the Howard Astronomical League. HAL is an astronomy club located in Howard County, Maryland. We hold monthly meetings on the lower (mezzanine) level of the Robinson Nature Center in Columbia, MD, conduct public star parties at Alpha Ridge Park utilizing the "HALO" observatory, and provide community outreach events at various Howard County locations - often in public library parking lots. We invite everyone to be a part of amateur astronomy with us. You will find information about our meeting dates on the Our Meetings page. Information on membership is located on the HAL Membership page.

HAL's Updated COVID-19 Policy for Events

For HAL impromptu and member-only star parties, participants should wait for an invitation before approaching to look through others’ telescopes; respect each other’s desires for social distancing.
We are following Howard County guidelines such as: https://www.howardcountymd.gov/News021822
Face coverings are encouraged inside the Alpha Ridge HALO building.

Currently, the monthly board of directors' planning meeting, Astroschool, and the HAL public meeting are being held virtually using Zoom. Check back frequently for updates. HAL looks forward to resuming in-person gatherings.

The parks have now re-opened. HAL is now scheduling public events. HAL keyholders are also free to call members-only impromptu observing sessions via the closed hal_impromptu email list for Carrs Mill Park or Alpha Ridge Park.

Join Us
for our Star Parties and Outreach events. We also provide an e-mail group for communication of timely club News and for astronomical discussions.

Information
to help plan your observing sessions is available on the calendar page or the astrolinks page -- where you can check for moonrise times, Iridium flares, International Space Station sightings, Jupiter's Great Red Spot transit and a lot more. And don't forget to check the weather before you venture out.

HAL's Observatory at Alpha Ridge Park (HALO)
HALO houses HAL's 6 inch "Illig" Refracting telescope. Check these web pages for full details about the observatory. For a schedule of events at the observatory, check the HAL star parties page or the HAL calendar.

HAL is proud to have official affiliations with:

	Robinson Nature Center		Astronomical League
	Howard County Recreation & Parks Alpha Ridge Park		International Dark Sky Association
	Howard County Conservancy		Alpha Ridge Park

Last modified: May 21, 2022 @ 13:45 EST