Impromptu Star Party (Alpha Ridge) 4/11/2026
Twenty members joined us Saturday evening for an outstanding impromptu star party. I counted sixteen telescopes around Alpha Ridge with one member actually pointing three scopes skyward. Although seeing was lackluster, transparency remained above average throughout the night. In working through my imagery, I was able to tease out a magnitude 18.9 galaxy with a five-inch […]
Impromptu Star Party (Alpha Ridge) 4/07/2026
Seven HAL members enjoyed a crisp, clear evening of observing and imaging at Alpha Ridge Park last night. It was chilly and a little breezy at times, but the transparency was better than average (SQM-L reading 19.18 mpas) and seeing also seemed to be pretty good. James was working through some issues with his recently-acquired […]
Past Monthly Meeting: April 9, 2026 – Dark Sky Experiences
Travels to Dark Skies. Tales and images.
Public Star Party (Alpha Ridge) 3/28/2026
Clear Skies!
The Sky At Night – April 2026
Upcoming Night Sky Maps & Events
Impromptu Star Party (Alpha Ridge) 3/19/2026
Last night I opened Alpha Ridge for an impromptu star party. I arrived around 7:45 pm and had 5 guests in total. Unfortunately, the sky did not stay as clear as we were hoping. I was still able to image M42 and NGC 869/864 between breaks in the clouds. We packed things up and locked […]
Impromptu Star Party (Alpha Ridge) 3/10/2026
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 […]
Past Meeting: March 12, 2026 – Observing Exoplanet Host Stars with NASA Exoplanet Watch
Exoplanets: Observing the Host Stars
Impromptu Star Party (Alpha Ridge) 3/09/2026
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 […]
Impromptu Star Party (Alpha Ridge) 2/13/2026
There was a good turnout of 14 HAL members for the impromptu star party at Alpha Ridge Park on February 13th. Skies were clear except for a wide band of clouds that moved through around 8:00 PM. The temperature started in the low 30s, decreasing to around 25 at 11:00 PM, and winds were calm. […]