Howard Astronomical League

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Howard Astronomical League

HAL

Category: Star Party Reports

Impromptu Star Party (Alpha Ridge) 5/18/2026

NGC 1502, Pribut CC

Seven HAL members enjoyed a mix of visual observing and astrophotography on an unseasonably warm night at Alpha Ridge Park.  There was quite a diverse collection of telescopes in use.  Seeing was about average, but transparency seemed poor.  Unfortunately, I started packing up before I thought to take an SQM-L reading and didn’t realize it […]

Impromptu Star Party (Alpha Ridge) 5/09/2026

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. (c) Ernie Morse

It was a great night for observing at Alpha Ridge Park on Saturday night.  Skies were clear and transparency was above average (SQM-L reading of 19.25 mpas).  Seeing was about average.  The temperature was down to the mid 50s by midnight with no wind to speak of.  There was some moderate dew accumulation, but it […]

Impromptu Star Party (Alpha Ridge) 5/04/2026

NGC 1502, Pribut CC

Two HAL members attended an impromptu star party at Alpha Ridge Park on the night of May 4th.  The sky clouded over intermittently, but the clouds were moving through quickly and the sky was reasonably clear most of the evening.  Temperature was very pleasant (low 60s) and it was only moderately breezy.  Seeing was poor, […]

Impromptu Star Party (Alpha Ridge) 4/30/2026

Moon CC Pribut S50

We had a nice night this past Thursday. There were only 4 members at the star party but the sky was pretty clear and we all took advantage of the bright moon to either troubleshoot things in our telescopes or do some lunar observations. I closed the park by 11:40 pm. Jose Urias

Impromptu Star Party (Alpha Ridge) 4/27/2026

M66 Hubble

Sky conditions were not great for last night’s impromptu star party, with a persistent layer of thin clouds and bright moonlight.  It was a nice night for double star observing and troubleshooting equipment, though. Ian stopped by to pick up the camera that he won in the HAL auction a few months ago.  He stayed […]

Impromptu Star Party (Alpha Ridge) 4/20/2026

M1 (c) David Stein

After the iffy conditions during the day, the night turned out to be nearly perfect!  The daytime clouds disappeared by sunset, and the afternoon winds died completely by the time it was dark.  The transparency was much better than average, and the seeing was average or a little better.  The temperature hit freezing at about […]

Impromptu Star Party (Alpha Ridge) 4/19/2026

M1 (c) David Stein

Four HAL members attended the impromptu star party of April 19th at Alpha Ridge Park.  The weather forecast was pretty accurate, as skies were clear until midnight and the temperature was 39 degrees by that point.  Transparency was very good (19.29 on the SQM-L, the best reading since 19.40 on August 30th of last year). José was […]

Impromptu Star Party (Alpha Ridge) 4/11/2026

M1 (c) David Stein

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

M1 (c) David Stein

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 […]