|
 August
27, the day Mars looms the largest in our night sky for the last
60,000 years... In celebration
of Mars' Grand Opposition, tonight, Crossroads 77 with the
assistance of the newly-born ALP, hosted a public viewing of Mars in its
limited but manageable viewing deck (Soul Park?) in Crossroad 77, Ma.
Ignacia Street cor. Sct. Reyes. What a night it would be! Spearheaded by
the energetic jet-setting
Alice Villa-Real (3 hours ago she was still in Butuan City) and her
5" Nextar Elisha , it was backed up by fellow ALPers president James
Kevin Ty with his
TV101(straight from Bicol Express), Treasurer Allen Yu and his ageless
6" newtonian reflector (arrived late with Kevin as usual), the
normally punctual and dedicated Edward Tan with another 6" Orion Dob,
and also the equally motivated Secretary Rich Pijuan, last but not the
least, better-late-than-never Joel Munoz with his
better-looking-than-the-owner truss type (the first in the Philippines!)
telescope :)
 The
informative presentation and hosting managed
to
disproved the hype that Mars would suddenly swell up to Moon size
proportions on the magic night of Aug. 27,
and the 500++ able and curious CW77 crowd went home perhaps more informed
and aware of our planetary connections, and smiling too, as they were
granted with that special privilege of having peeked to another world.
Although the night was not devoid of clouds, they were able to take
advantage of thin passing clouds as they filtered down Mars' excessive mag.
-2.9 glare, and rendered the planet a healthy orange hue. Martian features
visible were the South Polar Cap which was shrinking to near invisibility
yet as white as it could be, so it plainly stands out, the contrast
grayish Mare Cimmerium slicing across the disk, the overall color tone of
Mars which was partly deceiving to the viewers as different telescope
owners used a variety of filters to expose more of the
surface details.
Together, this was an awesome display of force, unity and common love for
the sky unique only to few gifted groups like the ALP
even though they have managed to utilize only 60% of the entire
machinery of the group. We drink to the success of hosting and helping
Alice and CW77 in this momentous occasion, and to the first public
appearance and service of ALP as a no-nonsense astronomical group.
|