April 9, 2011 ALP Monthly Meeting  Report
by James Kevin Ty
 

Last April 9, members of the Astronomical League of the Philippines (ALP) held their monthly meeting at the Rizal Technological University's Astronomy Activity Center at Boni Avenue in Mandaluyong City.  Members who attended were ALP President James Kevin Ty ,  VP Jett Aguilar, PRO Armando Lee & Myra Lee  , director Christopher Lee, Special Events Chairman Christopher Louie Lu, wife Karen and daughter Frances,  John Ray Cabrera,  Peter Benedict Tubalinal, Renato dela Pena, Pejvac Parhizakari & friend Amir Mohammadi, Mark Ian Singson, Henry Lapis, Dennis Buenviaje, new member Arnel Campos.

Meeting proper started at around 6:30pm with ALP President James Kevin Ty welcoming members and guests to one of the new monthly venues that ALP plans for the year.  ALP would like to thank RTU President Dr. Jesus Rodrigo Torres for allowing ALP to hold some of the monthly meetings at the RTU's Astronomy Activity Center. He then introduces Messier Marathon coordinator Peter Benedict Tubalinal who gives a summary of the 5th ALP Philippine Messier Marathon Open 2011 as well as the activities that were held last April 2-3, 2011 under the dark skies of Caliraya. This was followed by a summarization of the ALP SuperMoon observation session that was held last March 19, 2011 at Shell Kalentong in Mandaluyong City by ALP PRO Armando Lee and Special Events Chairman Christopher Louie Lu.

Afterwards, ALP President James Kevin Ty brought out his  Canon  EF 100-400mm L lens which he also made some additional modifications to convert it into a dual purpose imaging and observing scope which he fondly called his "Canon 77L Scope."  He describe how he made fabricated parts to make a visual back to connect eyepiece and star diagonal to make the L lens into a visual scope.  He then invited the guests and members outside to test the77L on the Quarter Moon and image was very good as virtually color free image of the Moon was viewed by them.

ALP then presented Messier Certificates to the following participants of the 5th ALP Philippine Messier Marathon Open 2011:

Peter Benedict Tubalinal (ALP) - 110

Christopher Lee  (ALP)   - 100

Michael Cruspero (ALP) - 94

Mark Ian Singson (ALP) - 70

Lourdes Balayan (ALP) - 23

Kristy Abello (UP AstroSoc / ALP) - 23

Carlo Rey Jelabao (UP AstroSoc) - 23

Rich Pijuan  (ALP) - 21

Beb Jansen Poricallan (UP AstroSoc) - 20

Ana Marie Geronimo (UP AstroSoc) - 16

ALP President James Kevin Ty welcomes guest and members to the monthly meeting at RTU.	ALP Messier Marathon coordinator Peter Benedict Tubalinal gives a summary of the 5th ALP Philippine Messier Marathon Open 2011.
ALP PRO Armando Lee made his summary of the SuperMoon observation session at Shell Kalentong in Mandaluyong City.	Backside view of the ALP Monthly Meeting
ALP Special Events Chairman Christopher Louie Lu adds more input on the SuperMoon Observation.	ALP President James Kevin Ty explains how he made the needed modification and parts fabrication to make his Canon L lens into a dual purpose scope.
New ALPer Arnel Campos has a great time looking at the Quarter Moon through James' 77L scope.	ALPers and guests waited for their turn to look at the Quarter Moon through James' 77L scope.
ALP PRO Armando Lee also had a chance to view thru the 77L scope.	ALP President James Kevin Ty presented the Honorary Messier Certificate to Peter Benedict Tubalinal for logging the complete 110 Messier Objects during the 5th ALP Philippine Messier Marathon Open 2011.
ALP Messier Marathon coordinator Peter Benedict Tubalinal presented the Outstanding Level Messier Certificate to Christopher Lee  for logging 100 Messier Objects during the 5th ALP Philippine Messier Marathon Open 2011 as ALP President James Kevin Ty looks on.	ALP Messier Marathon coordinator Peter Benedict Tubalinal presented the Intermediate Level Messier Certificate to Mark Ian Singson  for logging 70 Messier Objects during the 5th ALP Philippine Messier Marathon Open 2011 as ALP President James Kevin Ty looks on.
ALP President James Kevin Ty gave a powerpoint presentation on how to observe and image the Sun safely.	Afterwards, James gave another lecture on how to image the Sun with a webcam.