David and Jose submitted reports:

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 is now ready to go for our first public star party of 2026, which will be on Saturday March 28.

There were five(!) Seestar S50 smart scopes running (as I could see on my wifi menu as I connected to mine).  I took a picture of the Crab Nebula from 8:25 PM to 10:25 PM which netted me 80 minutes of usable data.  Jose was kind enough to volunteer to stay late and lock up so I left about 10:30 PM

David Stein

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 double star for the first time!
Bianca spent some time observing Jupiter, Orion and the Pleiades through the 10” dob. Federico used his Seestar S30 in EQ mode of the first time.
Danielle was imaging the Rosette nebula, and I believe the rest of the people were imaging galaxies.

Danielle and I were the last ones at the park and we closed it at 11:45.

Jose Urias

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 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.

Ernie Morse

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 out and the winds abating.  Transparency and seeing were both about average, with a sky quality reading of 19.16 mag/as^2 at 10:30 PM.  It was about 50 degrees at sunset and in the low 40s at the end of the night.

Evelyn was trying out the mono camera, filters and filter wheel that she won in the HAL auction.  I assume she was using them with her Sky-Watcher 80mm refractor, but I forgot to ask.  She was imaging the Orion Nebula with a sequence of filters and everything was working well.

Jose intended to image the Thor’s Helmet Nebula in Canis Major, but the fog made it impossible, so he switched to the Orion Nebula.

Shrikant imaged the Horsehead Nebula with his 72mm AstroTech refractor and Canon D77 camera.

Brandon and his son Jamison were making some visual observations with a new Svbony 80mm refractor.  Jamison was happy to have identified the moons of Jupiter and to have discovered a little triangular asterism.

Mike attempted to image the galaxy M81 in Ursa Major with his Svbony 122mm refractor, but that attempt was negated by the fog.  He switched over to the Horsehead Nebula, but the high winds ruined his guiding.

Two park rangers, Deana and Esteban, stopped by to check on how we were doing.  I showed them the Orion Nebula, Jupiter and the moon and Jose chatted with them about his imaging.

I observed some Messier open clusters with my 8″ Dob (M38, M41, M46 and M47) and used an OII filter to get a better look at the planetary nebula in the foreground of M46.  After the fog lifted, I set up my Vespera II EAA scope and imaged the Pleiades for an hour.

I locked up HALO and the park and departed at 11:15 PM.

Ernie

There was a good turnout of 14 HAL members for the impromptu star party at Alpha Ridge Park on February 13th.  Skies were clear except for a wide band of clouds that moved through around 8:00 PM.  The temperature started in the low 30s, decreasing to around 25 at 11:00 PM, and winds were calm.  Transparency seemed bad through the eyepiece and my SQM registered only 18.75 at 10:45.  Seeing was about average.  Although some misfortunes were encountered on this Friday the 13th event, it was overall an enjoyable night of observing.

Ashley and Jason were conducting visual observations with a Celestron Starsense Explorer Newtonian.  I didn’t get the specs, but I’d guess that it was a 130 mm.  They observed stars and clusters, including M44 (the Beehive).

New members Patricia, Jesse and Jay didn’t have any equipment to use, but they were able to share some views through Ashley and Jason’s telescope and my Dob.  I showed them M42 (Orion Nebula).

Jamie observed several objects with a white phosphor light amplification monocular, including the Andromeda Galaxy, Flaming Star Nebula and California Nebula.

Jose had planned on imaging the Thor’s Helmet Nebula, but didn’t get good results and switched to the Orion Nebula.  I think he was using his 150mm CarbonStar RC.

Ian was imaging the Jellyfish Nebula with his Seestar S50.

Shrikant imaged the Rosette Nebula with his AstroTech 72mm refractor and DSLR camera.

Mike P. was planning to image the Christmas Tree Cluster and Cone Nebula with his Celestron EdgeHD 8″ SCT, but wasn’t able to get good results.

Todd was working out the kinks with a new Celestron EdgeHD 9.25″ SCT.  He initially experienced star images that looked like donuts, but that cleared up after a while.  He was thinking that maybe the scope just needed more time to cool down.  I forgot to ask about his imaging target.

Mike D. and new member Dan were imaging with Mike’s usual 122mm Svbony refractor and a secondary scope, which appeared to be a smaller refractor.  I also didn’t get a chance to ask what they were imaging before they left.

I had planned on observing open clusters in Cassiopeia with my 8″ Celestron Starsense Explorer Dob, but found them visually unimpressive under the conditions.  I eventually abandoned the plan and just viewed some of my favorite objects, including the Double Cluster, M41 and the Tau Canis Majoris Cluster (Caldwell 64).  I also enjoyed some multiple stars:  iota Cas, beta Mon (both close triples) and HJ 3945 (winter Albireo).  I was able to split gamma Ceti with 170X after a couple of unsuccessful attempts last year.  Its separation is currently 1.8 arcseconds and it’ll be decreasing for the rest of my lifetime (down to less than an arcsecond twenty years from now), so I was glad to be able to split it now.  I tried out a new Optolong L-Synergy SII/OIII filter with my Vespera EAA scope.  I imaged the Pac-Man Nebula (NGC 281), which I had read was a significant source of SII (ionized sulfur) emissions, but it didn’t seem like much in the JPG produced by the telescope after 87 minutes of exposure time(attached image, red is SII and blue-green is doubly-ionized oxygen (OIII)).  Unfortunately, I fumbled the filter trying to insert it into the filter cell in my dew shield and got fingerprints all over it as I managed to catch it before it hit the ground.  I also tried out a new heated vest, and it helped to keep me comfortably warm all night.  The 15 oz. of coffee that I brought in my insulated Yeti mug also helped in that regard.

Shrikant and I were the last ones left at the end of the night.  I locked up HALO and the two of us locked the park gates and left at 11:25 PM.

Ernie