We had a successful impromptu star party Sunday night, March 2, in the
cold but mostly clear weather. There were some high clouds around at
sunset, but they had moved out by about 7:45pm and it stayed clear until
it wasn’t. Temperatures were below freezing all night, starting at
31degF as I started observing and dropping to about 20degF by the time I
finished. Transparency was about average but the seeing was below average.

Four HAL members came to enjoy the evening, although three didn’t stay
very long. Relatively new members Lee and Maryanne stopped by briefly
to check out the location as they had never been to one of our star
parties before. Although they own an 11-inch Celestron SCT, they didn’t
bring it this time. They stayed for a while and chatted about astronomy
and our remarkably similar work experiences, and left before it got
truly dark. Gary brought his Celestron Origin 6-inch EAA scope and
started imaging NGC 2403 in Camelopardalis. Unfortunately, he had
trouble maintaining a WiFi connection with the scope, so he left by
8:45pm, leaving me alone. I continued imaging NGC 3718, a spiral galaxy
in Ursa Major, with my 8-inch RC scope.

I finished imaging at about 1:00am because a large bank of clouds moved
in. I locked the gate at 2:35am, after collecting flats and giving the
clouds a chance to clear up.

Thanks to everyone who came out. It was nice seeing you, and I hope we
can do it again soon.

Wayne

(The One with Mercury)

Six HAL members (including me) and around a dozen members of the public enjoyed clear skies and nice weather at the impromptu star party at Alpha Ridge Park last night.  I didn’t arrive until 6:15 and was suprised to find many people there with small telescopes and cameras set up to watch the “parade of planets.”  After consulting with a couple of the HAL members present and Wayne (via email), I decided to treat it like a public star party and turned on the lighting accordingly (back row on + red bollards).  I had the Dob set up, but put it back in the car in favor of interacting with the public and keeping an eye on things.  I talked to a few people about HAL and told them about the upcoming public star party, and pointed out Venus, Jupiter and Mars to a couple who showed up for a few minutes of naked-eye planet viewing.

 

By around 9:00, the public had cleared out except for one couple.  They had been observing with a small telescope for a while, but had just been sitting in the car for around a half hour at that point.  HAL member Jeff was packing up to leave, so he accompanied me as I politely asked them if they could please call it a night so that Jeff could close the gate when he left.  They agreed to do so, and I turned off the remainder of the park lights after they left.

 

Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to get a very detailed idea of what HAL members were doing.  Jeff was imaging Thor’s Helmet with a Unistellar eVscope 2, but wasn’t pleased with the result.  He also had an SCT for visual observing.  Mike was imaging the Wizard Nebula, among other targets, and reported that he had a pleasant night.  Steve was using a SeeStar and a Dob, but had some issues with leveling the SeeStar.  James was imaging the Horsehead Nebula, but I didn’t get the details on his equipment.  Finally, I met another HAL member just as he was leaving, and I unfortunately didn’t write down his name to get the correct spelling.  Phonetically, his name was Chou.  Sorry about that, I’ll remember to write all names down in the future.  If you are that person, please feel free to respond and your name can be corrected when this report goes up on the HAL website.

 

I decided not to set up the Vespera, but did some visual observing with the Dob after 9:00.  I observed 5 open clusters in Monoceros and Puppis (NGC 2301, 2343, 2353, 2506, 2539) and planetary nebula NGC 2440 in Puppis.  These are all Herschel 400 objects.

 

James was the last HAL member to leave, just after 11:00.  I turned the park lights on, locked everything up, made a final sweep of the park to make sure no members of the public were still present, and locked the gate at 11:15.

 

Ernie

James and Mae joined me for an impromptu star party last night at Alpha Ridge.  Skies were clear all night.  Winds were gusty for a while, but settled down to mostly calm by 9:00.  Temperature was down to 25 degrees by 11:00 with 40% relative humidity.

James and Mae imaged the Tadpole Nebula (IC 410) in Auriga with a William Optics refractor.  I made a (mental) note that the telescope was a Z71, but I looked back and saw that James posted first-light images for a Z61 with a Canon 250D/SL3 camera in December, so my note may be erroneus.

I added 800+ sub exposures to my imaging of the Seagull Nebula (IC 2177) and did some visual observing with my 8″ Celestron Starsense Explorer Dob.  Seeing conditions seemed better than what we’ve been experiencing this winter, as stars appeared steady and I was able to get a clean split of the double star Eta Orionis (magnitudes 4 and 4.9, separated by 2 arc-seconds).  I revisited some of the open clusters that I observed two weeks ago under bright moonlight and added a few more, including M50 and M35.  I attempted some very faint fuzzies, including the rare winter globular M79 in Lepus, the reflection nebula M78 in Orion and the Crab Nebula (M1) in Taurus and was able to see at least a hint of something for all of them.

Since I mentioned a rare object in Lepus the rabbit, I’ll share this joke that my ex-girlfriend liked to tell some 35 years ago:  “How do you catch a rare rabbit?   How? Unique up on it!”  Ah, well,. maybe you had to be there.

The night went without incident.  James and Mae left at 11:15 and I locked up HALO and the park at 11:35.

Hoping to host impromptus on some warmer nights soon, now that this cold snap finally seems to be ending (knock on wood)!

Ernie

(The One with the Solo Keyholder)

I was the only attendee for the impromptu star party that I hosted last night. Skies were clear the entire time that I was there. The metadata of the exposures from my imaging shows 47 degrees and 45% humidity at 7:00 PM, falling to 41 degrees by 9:00 PM, but I think these values are ~5 degrees warmer than the real air temperature. The bright, waxing gibbous moon was was an uninvited guest, hanging out near the zenith and generally degrading the conditions for everyone (i.e, me).

Nontheless, I used my 8″ Dob to observe the double and multiple stars Gamma Leporis, Sigma Orionis (a breathtaking quadruple star system with the triple star Struve 761 in the same field), Zeta Orionis (Alnitak) and 145 Canis Majoris (aka h 3945), which some folk presume to call “the winter Albireo.” I also observed open clusters M41, M46, M47 and NGC 23622 (Caldwell 64, the Tau Canis Majoris cluster). The last one was my favorite, due to the namesake 4th-magnitude star blazing alone in the center, surrounded by a ring of much fainter stars.

I imaged the Rosette Nebula in Monoceros with my Vaonis Vespera II smart scope, using a dual-band filter and the new 3D-printed dew shield that I bought on Etsy. I obtained 75 minutes of data (450 ten-second sub exposures) of a 2.8- x 2.1-degree mosaic and was happy with the results. I’m attaching the JPG processed by the telesccope, but I’m going to work on processing the TIF file myself to see if I can do better than the telescope software. I would like to someday get to a place where I consider my processed images to be worthy of being displayed at the HAL monthly meetings! Not there yet.

I had to politely ask a couple of people to leave the park at dusk so I could lock the gate. One was a driving instructor giving lessons to student around the roads and parking lots. These lessons have been conducted before all three star parties that I’ve hosted, but I don’t recall seeing them previously. The other was a woman who showed up right at dusk and requested a 5-minute extension to walk her dog (which I granted). There were no other issues, and I locked up HALO and the park and left at about 9:10 PM.

I had a very nice time, but I’m hoping to attract some guests (besides the moon, which will not be invited back) to my next star party!

Ernie Morse

(The One with Clear, Cold Skies and a Mystery Car)

Four HAL members showed up to enjoy the clear skies at Alpha Ridge last night. Three were successful, but one suffered the heartbreak of technical difficulties. Happily, there were no incidents of equipment being blown away by high winds.

Mike imaged the Fish Head Nebula (IC 1795, adjacent to the Heart Nebula) in Cassiopeia and the Wizard Nebula (NGC 7380) in Cepheus. The rest of us focused our imaging on Monoceros and Canis Major in the southern skies. Shrikant got nice results on the Rosette Nebula (Caldwell 49) in Monoceros, while I started over on the Seagull Nebula (IC 2177) and surrounding nebulosity and clusters on the Monoceros-Canis Major border with a redrawn 3.1 x 3.1-degree mosaic on the Vespera. Jose had planned to image the Thor’s Helmet Nebula (NGC 2359) just over the border in Canis Major, but he wasn’t able to get any data due to his ASIAIR refusing to connect to WiFi. He thinks he may have to go old-school and plug it in via Ethernet, but is going to troubleshoot the problem at home. Hopefully, that issue will be resolved before our next star party.

I made some visual observations of various open clusters in Taurus and Perseus (NGCs 1342, 1647, 1807, 1817) with the Dob, partially inspired by the Suburban Stargazer column in the January issue of Sky & Telescope, and also revisited one of the all-time greats, the Double Cluster (Caldwell 14) in Perseus.

There was an issue early on with someone who left his car parked beside the road just inside the entrance and went off wandering around the park. He was nowhere in sight by the time dusk fell, so I called the ranger, who said she’d be there in about 30 minutes. Fortunately, he returned to his car and left around 6:20, so I called off the ranger visit.

It was getting colder and windier around 10:00, so Shrikant and I decided to call it a night. I locked up HALO and the park and we left around 10:35.

Ernie Morse

(The One with High Winds and a New Impromptu Keyholder)

The high winds made for a frustrating star party experience last night. Mike had planned to image the Heart Nebula (IC 1805) in Cassiopeia with his 8″ SCT and Shrikant was going to observe the Orion Nebula with his 72mm refractor. Unfortunately, the gusty winds made guiding impossible. One particularly strong gust, which I think must’ve been over 20 mph, even moved Mike’s laptop across his table!

My Vespera was able to collect an hour’s worth of data on a mosaic of the Seagull Nebula (IC 2177) in Monoceros and adjacent open clusters NGC 2335 and NGC 2343, although the wind caused a high rejection rate (50%) of the 10s sub exposures. Unfortunately, the mosaic framing was off a bit, so I’m missing half of one of the seagull’s wings. The problem is that IC 2177 technically refers to just the head of the seagull, and the surrounding nebulosity is not shown in the Vespera app interface. I’ll probably just discard the data and restart with a better framing next time.

Both Shrikant and Mike decided to leave around 8:00, but Mike discovered that someone (hopefully a park ranger) had locked the gate. I went out to unlock it for them. When I returned, I found that the top foam layer of my eyepiece case had blown away! I looked around the immediate area, but didn’t find it. I was planning on just closing up the park at that point, but my 8″ Dob was all set up, and I hadn’t actually observed anything with it yet, so I decided to take a quick look at a few targets. I observed the triple star Beta Monocerotis (aka Herschel’s Wonder Star), double stars Iota Orionis and Struve 747 and then the Orion Nebula, which was absolutely magnifcent and gorgeous at 85X with a UHC filter. It was a real shame that it was so windy, as the skies were very clear, transparency was good and it wasn’t very cold. Seeing wasn’t great, and I had a difficult time splitting the BC pair (3″ separation) of Beta Monocerotis at 170X.

I then turned on the park lights, searched all over the parking lot for my foam layer (no luck), and then closed up HALO and the park by around 9:45. Thanks to Shrikant and Mike for coming out and making a valiant effort. Hope we all have better luck next time!

Ernie Morse

(The One with Over a Dozen Members)

We had a successful impromptu star party Monday night, January 27, in the cold but calm conditions. More than a dozen HAL members attended, and there was a mix of visual observing, imaging, and engineering activities among the attendees. Transparency was pretty good, but seeing was below average and the sky was rather bright — my Sky Quality Meter (SQM) reported a brightness of about 19.4 mag/arcsec^2. This is happening frequently, and I am unsure of the cause. It could be the solar activity level causing an increase in sky glow, maybe there was a sufficient amount of remaining snow on the ground that more was reflected into the sky to be scattered, or maybe the light pollution has simply become worse.

Greg and Joanna stopped by for their first impromptu to check things out. Ernie observed the Jupiter shadow transit by Ganymede, followed by some deep-sky observing with his 8-inch Newtonian. He also tried to image with his EAA scope but had some technical difficulties and didn’t collect much data. Jeffrey made some visual observations, as did Sundar. Denise and Mike used binoculars to observe the Pleaides (M45).

James was imaging with a refractor, and Bianca gathered data in H-alpha and OIII on the Jellyfish Nebula using a small refractor and a color camera with a dual-band filter.

Chris did some work in HALO to re-familiarize himself with the equipment. John stopped by to compare the output of his DIY sky brightness meter with Ernie’s and my SQMs. The three devices differed by a couple of mag/arcsec^2, so one or more of us will need to calibrate our device to get an idea of what the actual sky brightness is. I spent the night trying to optimize the collimation and mirror separation on my 8-inch RC; I’m not sure if I succeeded.

Thanks to everyone who came out. It was nice seeing you, and I hope we can do it again soon.

Wayne Baggett

(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

(The One with More Eagle Nebula Photos)

(The One with a Clear Skies Cool Weather)

(The One with a Strawberry Moon and Suboptimal Conditions)

It was a hot day and evening, and seven HAL members and guests enjoyed the night of the Strawberry Moon for an impromptu star party at Alpha Ridge Park. The skies were mostly clear but very hazy, resulting in poor transparency; this is typical for a triple-H — hot, hazy, and humid — summer day in Maryland. Also common with triple-H days is good seeing, and the atmosphere was steady most of the night. The Full Moon was low in the southeast at sunset and added greatly to the sky brightness, so with the poor transparency it was not a night for visual observations of faint fuzzies.

Richard used his Televue TV-85 APO doublet refractor to tour the sky. Ernie viewed with a Celestron 8-inch StarSense Newtonian and concentrated on double stars and open clusters — he observed the double stars Epsilon Lyrae, Algieba (Gamma Leonis), Mizar (Zeta Ursae Majoris), the open cluster Caldwell 37 (NGC 6885) in Vulpecula, and the Coathanger asterism (Brocchi’s Cluster) in Vulpecula.

We had two Loyola students show up looking for a place to look at the stars, so they camped out in a corner of the parking lot and did their thing. I told them about HAL and gave them business cards; they sounded interested in checking us out further.

The remaining three members were imaging. Alvin used an SVBONY 80mm refractor to image M4 (globular cluster in Scorpius) plus a nearby reflection nebula, with the primary goal being the reflection nebula. However, he fell victim to the bright skies and poor transparency and went to plan B, the North America Nebula in Cygnus, with much greater success. Anil used his Stellarvue 102P refractor to image the Pelican Nebula in Cygnus using narrowband (SHO) filters, while I gathered H-alpha images of M51 (Whirlpool Galaxy) in Canes Venatici with my 8-inch RC in hopes of using it for the June Discord Object of the Month, and an hour of LRGB of M13 (globular cluster) in Hercules.

Thanks to the members who came out for the somewhat disappointing conditions; I enjoyed chatting with each of you and hope see you all again on a clear night soon.

Anil and I locked the gate at 3:50am.

Wayne B.