ALP May 23, 2009 Stargazing Session Report
by:  James Kevin Ty

Last May 23, members of the Astronomical League of the Philippines (ALP) that included ALP President James Kevin Ty, Vincent Lao, Hernando Bautista, Rosalyn Penol, Mark Anthony Honrade, Aileen Rosa Sasot, Ellaine Pena, Rommel Candaza & fiancee  Diane Karen Callanta , guests Roldan Guia and Edward Delelis went to PAGASA observatory at around 9:30pm to do an urban stargazing session.  It was also a good opportunity for new ALPers Aileen, Ellaine & Rommel to have their first stargazing session with veteran members of the society.

ALPer Ellaine got her first look at ringed planet Saturn.	ALPer Hernando showing to fellow ALPers on how to use the Celestron Sky Scout sky navigator.
"This is the correct way to point the Sky Scout at the stars........ Polaris....... Bullseye!"	ALPers shared their views & observations after looking through one of the 2 scopes setup that evening.

James brought along a Meade ETX-90AT ; Vincent with his Orion Starblast 130 reflector on EQ-1 mount & Hernando with his Celestron Sky Scout sky navigator.  James and Vincent aimed their scopes at the magnificent ringed planet Saturn which showed an edge on ring.  Ellaine was captivated by the beauty of the planet and together with other members were looking forward to seeing more celestial objects as the night progresses.  Hernando, on the other hand, was himself very excited to share with fellow ALPers on the use of his Sky Scout ! Once calibrated, it correctly showed him the correct star positions as well as narrated a short description of each object it was pointed.

James, on the other hand teach some of the new members how to use a star map and the use of green laser pointers also help the new members locate the stars and constellation figures.

Some of the objects that the group observed that evening were M4  globular star cluster, M6 & M7 star clusters, M8 Lagoon Nebula, etc.

The group concluded their urban stargazing session at around 1:00 a.m.