Last February 21, the Astronomical League of the Philippines were invited by the Science Centrum in Marikina to do a public stargazing session at the Riverbanks Center. Members who were present that day were James Kevin Ty, Allen Yu, Jett Aguilar,  John Lawrence Uy, Peter Benedict Tubalinal ,   Michelle Lampa ,  Kristy Anne Abello,  Rafael Lunar, Angie Tan, Melisa Bata, Rich Pijuan , Jomar Lacson ,Henry So , Irving Raymundo and Dennis Llante.

The group arrived at the Riverbanks Center at around 7:00pm and Science Centrum coordinator Karen Cantos as well as Roland Moya were there to meet them.   Initially, , the sky was clouded out but the group nevertheless still setup their telescopes and waited patiently for the clouds to disperse later.

ALP President James Kevin Ty brought the society's 8" Meade LX10 SCT and a portable ETX-90 telescope; Treasurer Allen Yu with his Skywatcher 6" f/5 reflector; VP Jett Aguilar brought his Celestron C8 on Vixen GP-D mount ; John Lawrence Uy brought his Celestron C8 on ASGT mount.

Initially, all scopes were pointed at the Moon as it was the only object that is visible on small openings in the clouds.  But as the night progresses, the sky cleared up for the group to show the public Orion Nebula, Pleiades star cluster, Saturn, etc.

Estimated number of crowd that were present were pegged at around 200 people more or less. The crowd were eager to look through the scopes and many were delighted to see magnificent Saturn with its majestic rings. The Moon was also a crowd drawer as since it is in the quarter phase, lots of lunar craters can be seen at the terminator. The session ended at around 10:00pm with Karen Cantos and Roland Moya presenting a plaque of recognition for the ALP for its help in promoting astronomy in Marikina.

For more activity images at the Science Centrum in Riverbanks Center, click here.

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For Comments jkty@astroleaguephils.org