One night leads to the next day.

The night was nice and a little cold but the moon set early and 5 members attended the party. 4 of us were imaging and Earnie was doing some visual astronomy and also imaging with his Vespera.

For what I could see, one person was doing the helix nebula, another one the flaming star nebula, and I was doing the Pleiades.

I closed the park at around 11:45 pm as it got really cold and we did not prepare for it.

No incidents to report, however, I tested the red bollards as someone asked me last time and they all look fantastic with the new filters.

I also noticed the gate to the park is vent like of it was hit by a car or a truck. It made it quite difficult to close.

 

Jose Urias

Part 2

Just to report the second half of this impromptu star party. The first half of the party was hosted by Jose on November 23.

I arrived at Alpha Ridge Park at 3:35 am yesterday and unlocked the gate (the gate was very well locked so good job Jose!). I closed the gate with the bungee rubber band and left it unlocked.

I was the only member who showed up.

The weather was calm and the sky was clear. The temperature was in the mid 30’s.
I was able to capture some images for I3/ATLAS, though the guiding was barely tolerable. I haven’t got time to process the photos yet.

By the time I left Alpha Ridge around 6:15 am, apparently someone had widely opened the gate and parked a school bus at the entrance (inside the park). I left the gate as was.

The take home message is that I feel the eastern horizon of Alpha Ridge Park at the playground is as clear as the Carrs Mill park (though it is not available any more). For the clearest western horizon, no place is better than the Howard County Conservancy.

Richard Ren