HOWARD

ASTRONOMICAL

LEAGUE


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Featured:

NEW: Holiday Party & Swap Meet at RNC!
NEW: 2023 Star Party Schedule
NEW: Presentation and Video Recording from our November General Meeting: Cometary DUIs
Recent Star Party Reports
October's winning Object of the Month: Wizard Nebula by Brad Martin (as selected by our Discord users).
September Public Star Party Report and Photos
Updated HAL Covid Policy a la Howard County
Links for HAL's Instagram account
HAL's YouTube channel.

Upcoming HAL and Non-HAL Events

December 5: HAL Planning Meeting (members welcome) Login for Zoom link
December 15: HAL General Meeting (open to the public). Topic: Holiday Party & Swap Meet at RNC!
January TBD, 2023: HAL Planning Meeting (members welcome) Login for Zoom link (available early January)
January 19, 2023: HAL General Meeting at 7pm (open to the public). Topic: Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) Mission

Past HAL and Non-HAL Events

November 19: HAL Members-only Star Party (last one of the year) [more...]
November 17: HAL General Meeting at 7pm (open to the public). Topic: Cometary DUIs: Detected Under the Influence (of the Sun, that is) See below for Zoom info for General Meeting.
November 7: HAL Planning Meeting (members welcome)
November 5: HAL Public Star Party (last public SP this year) [more...]
October 22: HAL Members-only Star Party [more...]
October 20: HAL General Meeting at 7pm (open to the public). Topic: What Is The Best Telescope For You?
October 3: HAL Planning Meeting (members welcome)
October 1: HAL Public Star Party [more...]
October 1: International Observe the Moon Night - At HALO: Build a Lunar Lander / Oreo Cookie Moon Phases / Telescope Stargazing
September 25: Robinson Nature Center - 11th Anniversary Event [Details from RNC...]
September 24: HAL Members-only Star Party [more...]
September 15: HAL General Meeting at 7pm (open to the public).
Topic: I Thank My Lucky Stars. Presenter: Al Nagler, Founder - Tele Vue Optics.
September 6: HAL Planning Meeting (members welcome) - Changed to Tuesday due to Labor Day.
September 3: HAL Public Star Party [more...]

Did You Know?

HAL 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 December 15, 2022 at 7pm. This meeting is open to the public. Topic: Holiday Party!

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: December 01, 2022 @ 14:35 EST