December 12, 2010 ALP Annual Meeting / Xmas Party Report
by James Kevin Ty
 

Last December 12, members of the Astronomical League of the Philippines (ALP) held their annual meeting / Christmas party  at the Manila Planetarium at 12:00pm.  Members who attended were ALP President James Kevin Ty ,  Charito Ty and son Kendrick Cole (KC) Ty, PRO Armando Lee , Myra Lee  and son Jason Lee, Director Edgar Ang, Andrew Ian Chan,  Maria Cristina Gonzales, Christopher Lee, Christopher Louie Lu, John Ray Cabrera, Bel Pabunan, Desiree del Rosario, Alberto Lao & wife Nonie, Aileen Rose Sasot, Greten Vicke Estella, Eric Africa, Thijs Kouwenhowen and Bernie Esporlas.  ALPer Eric Africa, by the way, surprised everyone with his presence as he is nased in the US and was able to squeeze in some time from his short vacation stay here to attend our ALP Annual Meeting !  Eric is one of the top guns of ALP in terms of astroimaging specially in Narrow Band Deep Sky imaging and some of his works had been published in Astronomy and Sky & Telescope Magazines!!!

Socialization started at around 12:30pm till 2:00pm with ALPers using that time to sing , eat delicious foods brought along by ALPers (potluck) as well as chat with fellow members Meeting proper started at around 2:30pm with ALP guest Thijs Kouwenhowen from Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Peking University, Beijing, China,  lecturing on Planet Formation,  Planetary System Dynamics And Exoplanets. He discussed on  the evolution of planetary systems: orbits of planets/asteroids/comets and  how these orbits change due to effects of other planets and the Sun, etc. He said The origin of our Solar System has long been a mystery. Theories about the dynamical properties of planets, moons, comets, and asteroids emerged several centuries ago (Kepler, Newton), and were later refined by those of Einstein. The origin of our Solar System has been a hot issue in modern astrophysics, especially following the discovery of new planets orbiting other stars with unexpected orbital properties. His presentation will provide an overview of the dynamical properties of our Solar System and the theories about its formation. Futhermore, exoplanet detection techniques was  discussed, as well as implications for the search for water and life outside our Solar System.
 

Afterwards, ALP President James Kevin Ty invites ALPers to join the ALP Geminids observation at AstroCamp Observatory in SM MOA San Miguel by the Bay.  Event will start more or less around 9pm of December 13 till 5am of December 14, 2010.  To get access to observe the event past midnight, ALPers are required to wear their ALP white uniform and / or bring their ALP ID with them.

New talent discovery from ALP!  Tindi ng voice ni Andrew! Cool as Ice!!!	Woah! Giant Pizza!!!  Yum, Yum, Yum !
It's Chow Time !!!	Little Santa Claus waiting to serve the food to the members or are they waiting for gifts from members? :) LOL
ALPers used the meeting to also have to to chat with fellow members on latest updates in astronomy :)	ALPers listen to the interesting lecture by Dr. Thijs Kouwenhowen.
Dr. Thijs lectures on Planet Formation,  Planetary System Dynamics And Exoplanets.	ALPer Andrew Ian Chan helps check and inspect the correct bingo balls before the start of the games.

After the interesting lecture, there was a 15 minute break for members to get some more food and drinks before the Astro Bingo gets started.  ALP President James Kevin Ty  explained the mechanics of the Bingo games to the participants and announced that each Participant is entitled to play for 4 games.

The first game started with the pattern A and the lone  lucky winner of the great book Advance Skywatching was Sandra Torita Lee.

The the next game was played on the pattern L and there were 2 participants who got the winning card namely Belen Pabunan and Edgar Ang.  Since it was a draw, the rule to break the tie was for both of them to draw a bingo ball and whoever got the highest number will claim the prize.  Bel got a 49 while Edgar got a 34 thus Bel Pabunan won the Vivitar 7x50 binoculars.

The 3rd game proceeded and the pattern P was played with a Bushnell 14x70 binoculars at stake.  Once again, Sandra Torita Lee got to win the binoculars.  What a lucky lady!  She was also the winner last year's top prize of a Celestron Sky Scout and this year, she got to win 2 out of 4 of the prizes for the Astro Bingo!!!

Last but not the least, the last game was played with a BLACKOUT pattern wherein all the 24 possible combination for the bingo card has to be filled up and this year's top winner was no other than our ALP PRO Armando Lee who got to win a 1 year free subscription of Astronomy Magazine !!!  Congratulations to all the winners for this year's Astro Bingo and let's hope there will be even more participants to join so that the top prizes will get even better!  Who knows, maybe next year, the top prizes could be a Celestron C90 is more members participated in next year's event!!!

ALPer Andrew Ian Chan helps tabulate the called bingo numbers through the use of spreadsheet projected to the screen.	Sandra Torita Lee accepts her Advance Sky Watching Book from ALP President James Kevin Ty for completing the A pattern of the Astro Bingo Game.
Belen Pabunan accepts her Vivitar 7x50 binoculars  from ALP President James Kevin Ty for completing the L pattern of the Astro Bingo Game.	Sandra Torita Lee accepts her Bushnell 14x70 binoculars from ALP President James Kevin Ty for completing the P pattern of the Astro Bingo Game.
Lucky Sandra Torita Lee shows off her 2 prizes won from this year's Astro Bingo/ She was also last year's top prize winner of a Celestron Sky Scout.  Lucky Gal !!!	Armando Lee accepts his 1 year Free Subscription of Astronomy Magazine from ALP President James Kevin Ty for completing the Blackout pattern of the Astro Bingo Game.

Before the end of the meeting, ALP President James Kevin Ty announced the  4 new elected board of directors of ALP and they were reelectionist Treasurer Henry So and Ways and Means Chairperson Melisa Bata and James welcomes the 2 new directors Andrew Ian Chan and Christopher Lee to the board.  They will serve from 2011-2013.

Then James announced that there are some door prizes at stake for members to win,  They were a 3D Astro Puzzle courtesy of Jun Lao, a mini speaker system donated by ALPer Cristine Gonzalez and 10 copies of Jewels of the Night Sky - A Beginner's Guide to Celestial Navigation donated by Armando Lee and Bernie Esporlas.

The meeting ended at around 6:00pm . Merry Christmas and a Happy  ALP Year to All !!!

More images of the meeting can be viewed at  ALP Facebook Page .