Monthly Meeting: August 13, 2026 – Working the Mission: An Inside Look at NASA’s Artemis Science Team
Travels to Dark Skies. Tales and images.
Impromptu Star Party (Alpha Ridge) 7/13/2026
It was another nearly-perfect night of observing at Alpha Ridge Park Monday night. There were no clouds visible at sunset, although there was some high-altitude wildfire smoke that put some structure into the sky. The temperature was actually a little cool, dipping into the low 60s by 2:30am, with no dew and calm winds. Transparency […]
Monthly Meeting: July 9, 2026 – Astronomy made simple
Travels to Dark Skies. Tales and images.
The Sky At Night – July 2026
Upcoming Night Sky Maps & Events
Impromptu Star Party (Alpha Ridge) 6/24/2026
Six HAL members attended last night’s moonlight impromptu star party at Alpha Ridge Park. The weather was fine, seeing and transparency were about average and the skies were clear except for a thin haze of high clouds. Federico and a companion were imaging with an equatorially-mounted Seestar S30, but they left before I made my […]
Impromptu Star Party (Alpha Ridge) 6/15/2026
It was a nearly-perfect night of observing at Alpha Ridge Park Monday night. The clouds dissipated completely before sunset and the sky remained clear all night. The temperature was actually a little cool, dipping into the upper 50s by 1:00am, with no dew and some occasional light wind. Transparency was good and seeing was about […]
Past Monthly Meeting: June 11, 2026 – Advancing Earth Observation: The HARP2 Sensor on NASA’s PACE Satellite
Travels to Dark Skies. Tales and images.
Past Monthly Meeting: May 14, 2026 – Why The Moon?
Travels to Dark Skies. Tales and images.
Past Meeting: February 12, 2026 – All Things HAL – a series of mini-presentations
All Things HAL
Impromptu Star Party (Alpha Ridge) 1/07/2026
First of the Year Six HAL members attended the first impromptu star party of 2026 on the balmy (for January) evening of January 7th. The temperature was in the low 50s at sunset and down to 40 by 9:30 PM. Winds were calm and the sky was clear except for a large band of clouds […]