HAL Star Party Reports and Other News
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2024 Star Party Reports
Impromptu Star Party (Alpha Ridge) 5/13/2024
(The One with Two Keyholders and Lots of DSOs)
This evening an impromptu was called. The weather forecast called for
clear skies to turn cloudy between 8-10 pm. One other member said they
would join us but at the last minute was unable to come. The 28% Waxing
Crescent Moon was beautiful in the north-west sky at dusk.
Chris Todd and I met-up at HALO at 7pm and went through the newly
revised/updated protocols to open HALO and start up the Illig Telescope
with no problems. We were able to observe the Moon during early
twilight deep into dusk. The clouds graciously stayed away and we then
turned the Illig Scope to look at and capture images of the
Leo Triplet (M66, M65 and NCG 3628).
We looked at some of the many
Messier Objects in Cancer and Leo including:
the Black Eye Galaxy (M64),
Coma Berenices (M85 and M53) and the
Golden Eye Cluster (M67).
After this we then shut-down the Illig Telescope and closed up HALO and
locked up the park at 11pm.
Cheryl Kerr
Impromptu Star Party (Alpha Ridge) 5/12/2024
(The One with a Happy First-Time Keyholder)
I hosted my very first Star Party last night at Alpha Ridge Park.
I arrived at the park around 7:45 pm while there was still some sunlight
so I could take my time to get everything ready. Before any other
members arrived a little bit after sunset, a few families started to
come to the park as I left the gate open for HAL members. I had to
politely ask them all to leave and at some point when I was certain no
one else would come I closed the gate.
The members who arrived were Cheryl Kerr, who tried taking some pictures
of Aurora, Dana Porter, and Michael (whose last name I forgot to write
down), and we also welcomed a new member, Ramani, who joined on the spot
thanks to Dana and Cheryl's encouragement.
As for observations, the night was mostly cloudy and chill. We were not
able to spot the Aurora
and I forgot my dew heater ring so my scope was
completely covered in dew, however, the night was very pleasant filled
with geeky conversations about Auroras, astronomy equipment, and space.
I closed the park around 11:45 pm after we decided we would not see
Auroras.
Finally, I want to add that I am really happy to have become a keyholder
as most of you must have seen me asking for someone to open the park
before. I am always eager to go to Alpha Ridge when the weather is nice
enough as I don't have a backyard or a place dark enough to use my
telescope otherwise, so if the conditions are good, expect me to offer
an impromptu.
I will also write this as a reminder whenever I call for an impromptu,
but I will be closing the gates (not locked) from now on after sunset so
no unknown people come there, so you will have to move the chain, open
the gate and close it behind you. This is for everyone's safety so we
can focus on observing or doing our activities rather than wondering who
is accessing the park and what they are doing.
Thank you for your attention and keep looking up!
Jose Urias
Members-Only Star Party (Alpha Ridge) 5/04/2024
(The One with May the Fourth)
Well... as you can imagine... it wasn't much of a star party tonight as the
skies were overcast and we had precipitation, ranging from light rain to a fine
mist, all evening at Alpha Ridge. Three members came out and socialized for a
while within HALO and we wrapped up shop around 9:30 pm. Let's keep our fingers
crossed for better weather at our upcoming events. Best regards and clear skies,
Victor
Impromptu Star Party (Alpha Ridge) 5/01/2024
(The One with a Cool, Clear Sky)
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Six of us enjoyed some time out under the stars last night at an impromptu at
Alpha Ridge. The weather was cool but not cold and the sky was clear with average
transparency. Three people were working with big SCTs on German equatorial mounts
with varying degrees of success, one had a 5" reflector, one had a pair of
binoculars and I had my 2" Seestar. I saw very nice views of M3, M13 and M81/M82
visually through the other scopes and I took a couple of pictures. It was a
weeknight so no one wanted to stay late and I locked up at 11 PM. A very nice
way to start May!
David Stein
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Impromptu Star Party (Alpha Ridge) 4/28/2024
(The One with a Very Lovely Evening)
Upon arrival yesterday evening at approx 7:20 pm high thin clouds were present
over the western and north western skies. These clouds began to break up and
thin out just as Polaris became visible at dusk. From then on the skies improved
and became clear. Temps were very lovely all evening.
Five HAL members joined me for a very lovely evening among the stars: Gary
Richardson came specifically to work on a new mount and tighten-up tracking.
Grace Coventry spent time focused on gathering nebulosity in Orion and practising
with her new move-shoot-move updated tracker as she gets ready for an upcoming
trip to Namibia. Alvin Savage spent the evening tracking and gathering data on
NCG 4495, a lovely galaxy. Jose Urias spent the evening tracking and gathering
data on M81-Bodes. Ernie Morse spent the evening visualizing various Messier
objects and the Eskimo Nebula.
My purpose for the evening was to attach a polar scope to the AVX mount and work
on tracking. Gary was a life saver for me and helped me align which enabled me
to track and photograph M61.
We closed up at 11:45 pm and locked the gates at 11:55 PM.
Cheryl Kerr
Public Star Party (Alpha Ridge) 4/13/2024
(The One with a Separate Page of Post-Total Solar Eclipse Excitement)
See Krystal's report with photos submitted by 2 members/officers.
Members-Only Star Party (Alpha Ridge) 4/06/2024
(The One with a Relaxing Evening)
Member star party tonight turned out to be a nice relaxing evening.
We had 5 folks join us, and while the night started off looking pretty clear,
it got cloudy by 8:30 and we left the park around 10pm.
Jared Case
Public Star Party (Alpha Ridge) 3/16/2024
(The One with 2 Separate Pages of Photos)
See Mike's report with 2 pages of photos submitted by 4 members/officers.
Members-Only Star Party (Alpha Ridge) 3/09/2024
(The One with a Thunderstorm)
The rain turned into a thunderstorm when I arrived at Alpha Ridge about 5:50 pm.
Two other members joined me today when I did a dry run of the Illig.
All the gears were running smoothly and are ready for next week's public star party.
I locked the observatory at 6:30.
Richard Ren
Impromptu Star Party (Alpha Ridge) 2/19/2024
(The One with a Bright Moon, Freezing Temperatures, but No Frost)
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The forecasts were pretty much right on the nose, and six HAL members
trekked to Alpha Ridge Park for an impromptu star party last night. The
temperature started close to freezing and dropped to about 27F by the
time I closed up. The wind was calm all night, but the humidity was OK
and the frost stayed off windows for almost the entire night -- optics
also fared well. The only real issue was the very bright Moon very high
in the sky -- deep-sky objects like nebulae and galaxies were very
difficult targets.
Mayurika and her daughter did some viewing with binoculars and saw a few
objects in a fairly short observing session. Alex Grant used his
10-inch Newtonian for a sky tour, with one highlight being splitting the
triple star Castor in the constellation Gemini. Jose spent some time
working with his new Celestron Nexstar Evolution SCT and observed M42
and several other objects; he was very satisfied with the scope and his
time under the sky.
Kurt spent a couple of hours imaging the Orion Nebula with a dual-band
narrowband filter with his Askar V 60mm refractor, stopping early
because of an early start the next morning. I spent the night imaging
the open clusters M37 (in Auriga), M67 (Cancer), and NGC 188 (Cepheus)
and some star fields so that I can hopefully do photometry of the
clusters. I have attached the image of M67 that I collected and made
into a pretty picture.
After a long night of observing, I locked the gate at 2:40am. Thanks to
the HAL members who came out to enjoy the near-perfect conditions!
Wayne B.
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Impromptu Star Party (Alpha Ridge) 2/03/2024
(The One with 10 HAL Members Enjoying Cold but Clear Skies)
We had a sizable turnout for last night's impromptu star party at Alpha
Ridge Park with 10 HAL members taking advantage of the cold, clear
skies. Temperatures were cold, but not terribly so, and the wind was
calm all night. A handful of clouds blew through at around 9pm but they
didn't interfere with observing. The combination of cold temperatures
and calm winds led to some frost on the cars but it wasn't nearly as bad
as it could have been.
Dana came to check out the library -- she took a couple of books home
with her -- and just to enjoy the evening. Peter brought his 12-inch
Meade SCT on his new Losmandy mount so that he could work out the
process for using the mount with some visual observing; Victor assisted
him with some of the more obscure aspects of controlling the mount.
The remainder of the observers were imaging, and we had a veritable sea
of SeeStar S50 imaging scopes. William (Peter's son) was using a
SeeStar to image some of the scopes best objects of the night, while
David was imaging M33 (Triangulum Galaxy) with his. David started out
with success but then experienced some issues with tracking objects.
Steve and Bob were also using SeeStars and spent some time familiarizing
themselves with their systems.
Benjamin spent the night imaging the Christmas Tree cluster with his
Apertura 75Q refractor with a couple of dual-band narrowband filters to
get a complete Hubble palette set. Victor measured his filter offsets
on his 130mm AstrPhysics refractor using a RST135E harmonic drive
mount. He also used the Illig scope in HALO to image the Horsehead
Nebula in Orion and start learning NINA's advanced sequencing
capability. Finally, I used my 8-inch RC to obtain narrowband images of
the Jellyfish Nebula (IC 443) for the January/February Discord group
Object of the (Two) Month(s) activity.
After a long night of delightful observing, I locked the gate at
2:45am. Thanks to the many HAL members who came out to enjoy the
near-perfect conditions!
Wayne B.
Impromptu Star Party (Alpha Ridge) 1/02/2024
(The One with 7 Cold Deep Sky Imagers to Kick Off 2024)
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The temperature hovered at freezing all night, but seven HAL members
came out to Alpha Ridge Park for our first impromptu star party of the
year on Tuesday, January 2, 2024. Skies were clear, winds were calm,
and the transparency and seeing were about average. It was mostly an
imaging night, with Alex the only visual observer doing a sky tour with
his 10-inch Newtonian. Peter and his son imaged several objects with
their ZWO Seestar S50 imaging scope, and David did likewise with his
Seestar scope. Benjamin imaged the Elephant Trunk Nebula with his
Apertura 75Q refractor and an Askar D2 filter (OIII and SII dual-band
for one-shot-color cameras).
Kurt imaged M33 (Triangulum Galaxy) with
his Askar V APO refractor at 80mm aperture; a quickly-processed version
of his result is attached to this email. I imaged the Orion Nebula
(M42) in both narrowband and RGB images to work on a high-dynamic range
image of the bright object. Clouds began approaching from the southwest
just after 11pm, and everyone was done imaging by midnight. After
packing all my gear I closed the park at 1:15am.
Thanks to all the members who came out and shared their night with
everyone. Hopefully we can do it again soon!
Wayne B.
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