HAL Public Star Party Report - Special Edition
Public Star Party (Alpha Ridge) 9/14/2024
(The One With 300 Stargazers and 23 Scopes)
I'm happy to report that [the September 14th] Public Star Party was a big success. We had
23 telescopes set up in the Alpha Ridge parking lot and there was a steady flow of
an estimated 300 guests throughout the night . Temperatures were mild and skies
were clear, but there was a haze and yellowish tint to the skies due to high level
smoke from the fires out on the west coast. Despite this, I heard many "oohs,
aahs and wows" as people shared telescopic views - both traditional-passive and
electronically-assisted.
A big thank you to all our members who made it out and shared their time and
energies on International Observe the Moon Night. Of particular note...
- Krystal Rolon had her activities tent set up with projects for kids - lunar lander challenge, light-bright make your own constellations, and a coloring station (also, thank you to Krystal for sharing the attached pictures)
- Bob Savoy had his Solar System exhibit table set up outside the HALO building
- Dale Ghent was running the show within the observatory - sharing views of the Crescent, Elephant Trunk, Eagle & Ring Nebulae as well as Andromeda and Pinwheel galaxies, and of course - the Moon
- Grace Coventry was sharing views of various deep sky objects with her eVscope
- Phil Whitebloom had up to 300x magnification looking at the Moon through his 5" refractor
- Richard Ren and Jim Tomney had the large Meade telescope out showing views mostly Saturn and The Moon, but also some deep sky objects (M13 and M57, I believe). They also collimated the scope later-on in the evening.
Our last guests left around 11:15 pm. I packed up my telescope around 11:30 and
closed the gates just around midnight. We've got two more public events this year
- scheduled for October 26th and November 9th; hope you can make it out to one of
them. Clear skies,
Victor
September Star Party Co-Host
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