HAL Monthly Meeting July 17, 2025 – From the Retina, to Astronomical Drawing to Observing Programs
We will have three great speakers and diverse topics:
• Chris Todd on the retina
• Rich Orr on Astronomical Drawing
• Steve Jaworiwsky on observing programs of the Astronomical League
Far Out Journal Club: Featuring Author Dava Sobel 7/15/2025
Far Out Journal Club: Featuring Author Dava Sobel
June 2025 Image of The Month, “Sirius A & B”
Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, is orbited by a much fainter companion, “Sirius B.” Orbiting its primary every 50-years, Sirius B is the closest example of a “White Dwarf Star.”
Sirius B can be seen in this image as a tiny white dot just below its brighter companion. While Sirius shines at magnitude -1.67, Sirius B appears as magnitude 8.4 – fainter than Neptune! Moreover, they are currently separated by a tiny 10 arc seconds! To capture both stars. I imaged Sirius with a series of short 250-millisecond exposures. After stacking them, I processed the stack in the same way I tease Jupiter’s innermost moons out of the data.
Public Star Party (Alpha Ridge) 7/05/2025
Clear Skies! Fun for all. MPT Visits.
Impromptu Star Party (Alpha Ridge) 7/04/2025
It was a surprisingly cool night on Friday for the HAL impromptu starparty — several people, including me, wished they had brought a lightjacket as the temperature dropped to about 64 degF by midnight. Windswere nonexistent and there was more moisture than predicted, butconditions were not bad at all and dew didn’t stop anyone fromobserving. […]
Members-Only Star Party (Alpha Ridge) 6/21/2025
Saturday night’s Members-Only Star Party at Alpha Ridge Park was a greatsuccess. Approximately 20 club members, several of them at their firstHAL star party, ventured out with their scopes to enjoy the night sky.High, and not so thin, clouds were present at sunset and were initiallyrather discouraging, but they cleared out by about 11:15pm and […]
Past HAL Monthly Meeting: June 19, 2025 -ALPHA Observatory, Near-Earth Asteroid Detection and Automation
Presenter: Marcel Mabson, Professor Of Practice, Astronautical and Space Engineering, will speak on Near Earth Asteroid Detection on June 19 at 7 PM at the Robinson Nature Center & Zoom
The Sky At Night – July 2025
Upcoming Night Sky Maps & Events