HAL Star Party Reports and Other News
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2025 Star Party Reports
Impromptu Star Party (Alpha Ridge) 1/01/2025
(The One that Kicked Off the New Year)
We had our first impromptu Star party of the year on the first night of 2025.
I got at alpha ridge park at 4:30 pm and closed it around 7:30 pm.
Unfortunately the weather didn’t cooperate as clouds came in and out
repeatedly due to the fast winds, giving us only a few patches of clear sky
every now and then.
We had 5 members showing up, and 2 of them were first time attendees. Welcome
to both and I hope to see you around often.
Despite the clouds, we had some nice conversations about equipment so I think
it was a good time after all.
We have a snow storm coming but I’ll be looking out for the next good night to
have another star party.
Jose Urias
2024 Star Party Reports
Impromptu Star Party (Alpha Ridge) 12/22/2024
(The One that Wraps Up the Year )
5 members showed up that night which was rather surprising considering
how cold the night was. I showed up to the park and opened the door of
the observatory at 4:30 pm and closed the park at around 11 pm when we
could not endure it no more.
The night was very clear and uneventful. We enjoyed talking with the
members who showed up and got some amazing images like the andromeda
galaxy James shared a week ago or the horse head and flame nebulae I
shared yesterday.
It was rather nice to close the year with such a good night and some
good geeky conversations.
I truly hope we get a lot of clear nights this coming year. I’ll be
happy to host as many impromptu events as I can and hopefully I’ll be
joining some other events as well
Jose Urias
Impromptu Star Party (Alpha Ridge) 12/02/2024
(The One with 4 More Frigid Amateurs)
It was another cold night at Alpha Ridge Park for last night's impromptu
star party, and four HAL members braved the freezing weather to enjoy
the sky. Temperatures started at freezing and dropped into the mid-20s
by the time we all left. Luckily, the wind was very light so there
wasn't a lot of wind chill tacked onto the temperature. There was some
frost by the end of the night, though, but our optics all stayed clear.
The seeing and transparency were below average and the sky was
inexplicably bright, almost like there were high, thin clouds
everywhere. The satellite photos showed no clouds at all, so something
else was happening. We checked Astrospheric for smoke and there was
none predicted. My eventual hypothesis (OK, my guess) is that the solar
maximum activity level is causing atypically bright airglow*. The sky
did get darker during the night, so this would fit with airglow as the
excited electrons decay away. I have included a plot of my sky
brightness measurements to illustrate how the sky became darker with time.
Mario brought out his 6-inch SCT to do some visual observing, but his
computer ran out of juice before he did very much. He switched over to
some tripod-based imaging with an astro-modified Canon camera and a
16mm focal length lens to make the night more useful to him. Shrikant
continued his imaging with a DSLR and an AstroTech 72mm refractor,
capturing more data on the Helix Nebula and two hours on the Horsehead
and Flame Nebulae. Ernie tried to image the Elephant Trunk Nebula with
his Vaionis Vespera smart scope, but encountered some technical problems
and didn't collect much data. However, he observed numerous planetary
nebulae and double stars with his 8-inch Newtonian and ended up happy
with the night. I continued imaging IC 167 in Aries with my 8-inch RC
scope, eventually collecting more than 6 hours of additional data.
Clouds started approaching from the northwest at about 12:15am -- see
the accompanying photo -- and I stopped imaging about 45 minutes later.
The photo shows HALO and my setup in the thermal infrared (about 10
micrometers wavelength) using a garish false color rendition. The cross
on the observatory indicates a reading of 2.8 degrees Fahrenheit, but
that value is misleading due to an inappropriate setting on the camera;
it wasn't nearly that cold even with radiative losses.
Thanks to everyone who came out. It was nice seeing you, and I hope we
can do it again soon. I always enjoy our conversations.
Wayne
Impromptu Star Party (Alpha Ridge) 11/30/2024
(The One with 4 Cold Amateur Astronomers)
It was a cold night at Alpha Ridge Park for last night's impromptu star
party. Temperatures started at about 28 degrees and dropped steadily to
about 20 degrees. Luckily the wind was absent so the wind chill was
minimal. Unfortunately, there seemed to high thin clouds all night,
with times of thicker clouds. The Sky Quality Meter reported sky
brightnesses as high as 19.62 mag/square-arcsec, which is a rather
bright reading for a moonless night.
Four HAL members came out to enjoy the conditions. Dana stopped by just
after sunset to say Hi, but left after just a few minutes. Ernie made
some double star observations with his 8-inch Newtonian (Dob mount), and
imaged the Elephant Trunk Nebula with his Vaionis Vespera smart scope.
Shrikant imaged the Helix Nebula and a couple of other targets with a
DSLR and an AstroTech 72mm refractor mounted on a ZWO AM5 mount. I
continued imaging IC 167 (galaxy in Aries) with my 8-inch RC scope.
Clouds started getting a lot thicker about 11:30pm, so we stopped and
called it a night. I locked the park gate at 12:45am.
Thanks to everyone who came out. It was nice seeing you, and I hope we
can do it again soon.
Wayne
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