HAL Star Parties

Star parties bring people together to share their fascination with space and the night sky. The Howard Astronomical League (HAL) hosts public star parties, as well as members-only events at Alpha Ridge Park from March to November. You don’t need to be a member or own a telescope to attend.

Public star parties are held on one Saturday each month, begin at sunset and last until 11pm. They include educational activities for kids as well as opportunities to observe planets, comets, stars and deep-sky objects through the eye-pieces of members’ telescopes and through electronically-assisted live images from our permanent club telescope on a large screen within the observatory. Our members have a passion and familiarity with the sky’s most stunning sights and love nothing more than to share those sights with others.

Before You Head Out:

Check the weather report for Mariottsville, MD for Alpha Ridge events. Be sure to bring an extra layer or two of clothes just in case temperatures drop more than you expect. You can’t have fun if you’re cold! For public star parties the show goes on – rain or shine. If the weather is cloudy or worse, the observatory will still be open and presentations will be provided on our large flat panel screen.

Be sure to read Public Star Parties: Etiquette, and for more, check out… & Regional Star Parties

Scheduled Star Parties – 2025:

Month	Date	Invitees	Host	Host	CTO	Views/Events/Notes
March	08	Public	Michael Krauss	Victor Sanchez	Christopher Todd
March	29	Members	Jose Urias
April	05	Public	Jose Urias	Victor Sanchez	Richard Ren	Jupiter/Europa shadow transit
April	26	Members	Michael Krauss
May	03	Public	Joel Goodman	Chris Miskiewicz	Christopher Todd
May	24	Members	Wayne Baggett
June	07	Public	Phil Whitebloom	David Stein	Ken Everhart
June	21	Members	Wayne Baggett
July	05	Public	David Stein	Krystal Rolon	Richard Ren
July	26	Members	Jared Case
August	02	Public	Jose Urias	David Stein	Krystal Rolon
August	23	Members	Ernie Morse
September	13	Public	Ken Everhart	Phil Whitebloom	Christopher Todd
September	20	Members	Richard Ren			Saturn at Opposition
October	04	Public	Joel Goodman	Ernie Morse	Krystal Rolon	International Observe The Moon Night
October	18	Members	Jared Case
November	01	Public	Chris Miskiewicz	Ernie Morse	Victor Sanchez
November	15	Members	Ken Everhart