ALP August 17, 2008 Stargazing Session
by James Kevin Ty
Images by James Kevin Ty and Jett Aguilar

Amid a bad weather outlook , some members of the Astronomical League of the Philippines (ALP) that include ALP president James Kevin Ty, VP Dr. Jett Aguilar, Observation chairman Peter Benedict Tubalinal,  Edgar Ang and  Vincent Lao went to PAGASA Observatory in UP-Diliman last August 17 to have observe and image the Partial Lunar Eclipse that early morning.

It was raining late Saturday night but James gave a fearless forecast that the rains will stop in time for us to observe this beautiful phenomenon. True enough, James was right on the dot with his prediction that early morning as the weather in the western horizon where the Moon was located  was partly clear at around 1:45am and without further delays , they quickly setup their equipment.  James brought along a TV-101 refractor on Vixen GP-DX mount as well as the Orion Short Tube 80 refractor that was mounted on a sturdy Slik fluid video tripod for the members to use it to observe the event ; Jett brought along his Takahashi TSA-102 refractor on Vixen GP-D mount ; Edgar, Peter and Vincent all brought along their 10x50 binoculars as well.

They were able to enjoy a clear eclipse observation and imaging session from 2:15am to around 3:30am wherein clouds started to cover up the Moon.  Afterwards, the Moon would play a hide and seek game with them all through the remaining time of the eclipse event.  Maximum partial eclipse was reached at around 5:10am with the Moon just 7 degrees above the western horizon.

ALP VP Jett Aguilar setting up his Tak refractor to image the lunar eclipse.	ALPers Edgar Ang, Vincent Lao and Peter Benedict Tubalinal had a great time observing the partial lunar eclipse with their binoculars as well as through the Orion ST-80 refractor.
Members of the PAGASA Astro section prepare their telescopes and CCD cameras to document the eclipse.	ALPer Edgar had a good lview of the lunar eclipse through James setup.
ALP President James Kevin Ty documented the entire eclipse through his TV-101 refractor.	ALP Observation Chairman Peter Benedict Tubalinal use his Nokia N70 phone to image the eclipse through afocal method with the Orion ST-80 refractor.

Unfortunately, persistent clouds in the western horizon spoiled their view most of the time and on the other hand there were wide swatches of clear sky from North to East and also at the zenith which made the situation doubly frustrating!  Nevertheless, the group were glad that they proceeded with the session as a side from observing the eclipse, they also use the opportunity to observe some bright deep sky objects such as Orion Nebula, Pleiades star cluster as well as Andromeda Galaxy.

At around 5:30am, they had a group picture taken before packing up their equipment. Despite the disappointing sky conditions, they  were happy and satisfied. It has really been a long time since ALP had a successful observing session and they were really grateful for taking their chances that morning. 

For more eclipse images taken by members of ALP, click here.

For Comments jkty@astroleaguephils.org