Howard Astronomical League

There were five(!) Seestar S50 smart scopes running (as I could see on my wifi menu as I connected to mine).  I took a picture of the Crab Nebula from 8:25 PM to 10:25 PM which netted The night was pretty nice with wonderful weather and nice temperatures. We had a few clouds rolling for like 20 minutes at some point but after that it was all clear and nice.

We had a total of 8 members coming, mostly imaging or troubleshooting their gear, but we also had Ernie observing and sketching a double star for the first time!
Bianca spent some time observing Jupiter, Orion and the Pleiades through the 10” dob. Federico used his Seestar S30 in EQ mode of the first time.
Danielle was imaging the Rosette nebula, and I believe the rest of the people were imaging galaxies.

Danielle and I were the last ones at the park and we closed it at 11:45.

Jose Urias

We had a really nice impromptu last night!  It was not cold and the sky was entirely clear and nicely transparent.  We had about 20 HAL members show up even though it was the Monday night after the time change. Victor and Jose gave our observatory a check-out run after the winter hiatus and everything is now ready to go for our first public star party of 2026, which will be on Saturday March 28.

There were five(!) Seestar S50 smart scopes running (as I could see on my wifi menu as I connected to mine).  I took a picture of the Crab Nebula from 8:25 PM to 10:25 PM which netted me 80 minutes of usable data.  Jose was kind enough to volunteer to stay late and lock up so I left about 10:30 PM

David Stein

Sunday night’s impromptu was attended by just one HAL member (me).  The moon was very bright, but skies were clear until after 10:00 and there was no wind.  Temperature was down to 33 degrees at 10:30.

I observed 11 double stars across Pisces, Andromeda, Aries, Triangulum, Perseus and Orion with my 8″ Celestron Starsense Explorer Dob:  56 And, 65 Psc, gamma Ari, lambda Ari, 1 Ari, STF 183, iota Tri, 15 Tri, eta Per, iota Ori, lambda Ori.  I hadn’t observed 15 Tri before and was pleasantly surprised by the vivid orange-blue color contrast.  It’s a wide (142 arcsecond) optical double with magnitudes 5.6 and 6.8.  The only one of my double star sources that recommended it was “Observer’s Sky Atlas” 4th edition by Erich Karkoschka, which is an excellent all-around observing guide.  I like that it lists the B-V color indices for double stars to give an idea of which ones will have good color contrast.

My main goal for the night was to test out the new firmware update for my Vespera II EAA scope.  I took short (20 – 60 minutes) exposures of open clusters NGC 752 (Caldwell 28), NGC 2362 (Caldwell 64) and the Pleiades (M45) and galaxies M81 & M82.  I also used a ring with a crossbar (purchased from Etsy) in front of the lens for the cluster exposures in order to get diffraction spikes on the stars because I like the look of spiky stars.

Clouds were moving in from the north by around 10:15 and the sky was also crisscrossed with lingering airplane contrails, so I started packing up.  I locked HALO and the park gates and departed at 10:40.

Ernie Morse

Friday’s impromptu star party was announced on a cloudy afternoon following a rainy morning, but the forecast for clear evening skies was accurate.  Seven HAL members attended on a night that presented some challenges from fog and wind.  Conditions were much better once the 3-day-old moon set just after 9:30, with the fog having cleared out and the winds abating.  Transparency and seeing were both about average, with a sky quality reading of 19.16 mag/as^2 at 10:30 PM.  It was about 50 degrees at sunset and in the low 40s at the end of the night.

Evelyn was trying out the mono camera, filters and filter wheel that she won in the HAL auction.  I assume she was using them with her Sky-Watcher 80mm refractor, but I forgot to ask.  She was imaging the Orion Nebula with a sequence of filters and everything was working well.

Jose intended to image the Thor’s Helmet Nebula in Canis Major, but the fog made it impossible, so he switched to the Orion Nebula.

Shrikant imaged the Horsehead Nebula with his 72mm AstroTech refractor and Canon D77 camera.

Brandon and his son Jamison were making some visual observations with a new Svbony 80mm refractor.  Jamison was happy to have identified the moons of Jupiter and to have discovered a little triangular asterism.

Mike attempted to image the galaxy M81 in Ursa Major with his Svbony 122mm refractor, but that attempt was negated by the fog.  He switched over to the Horsehead Nebula, but the high winds ruined his guiding.

Two park rangers, Deana and Esteban, stopped by to check on how we were doing.  I showed them the Orion Nebula, Jupiter and the moon and Jose chatted with them about his imaging.

I observed some Messier open clusters with my 8″ Dob (M38, M41, M46 and M47) and used an OII filter to get a better look at the planetary nebula in the foreground of M46.  After the fog lifted, I set up my Vespera II EAA scope and imaged the Pleiades for an hour.

I locked up HALO and the park and departed at 11:15 PM.

Ernie