Impromptu Star Party (Alpha Ridge) 4/20/2026
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
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
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 […]
Public Star Party (Alpha Ridge) 3/28/2026
Clear Skies!
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 […]
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) 3/01/2026
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 […]
Impromptu Star Party (Alpha Ridge) 2/20/2026
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 […]