April 30 - May 1, 2011 ALP Caliraya Staragzing Session Report

April 30 - May 1, 2011 ALP Caliraya Stargazing Session Report
by James Kevin Ty
Images by James Kevin Ty & Pejvac Parhizkari & Christopher Louie Lu

Last April 30, Members and families of Astronomical League of the Philippines (ALP) went to Caliraya , Laguna to continue their observing & imaging session. They were ALP President James Kevin Ty, wife Charito and son Kendrick Cole KC Ty, VP Jett Aguilar , Treasurer Andrew Ian Chan and Iah Serna , PRO Armando Lee , wife Mia and son Jason Lee, Special Event Chairman Christopher Louie Lu , wife Karen and Frances Lu, Pejvac Parhizkari, Arnel Campos , wife Michelle , nieces Phoebe and Jaimee.

They arrive at Caliraya around 6:00pm and setup their equipment. ALP President James Kevin Ty brought along his Canon EOS 500D DSLR with Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 IS L Lens on Kenko Sky Memo-R mount ; Pejvac Parhizkari with his Canon Astro 50D DSLR with Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 lens on Takahashi Sky Patrol 2 mount ; Jett Aguilar with his Canon EOS 50D DSLR and Atik 16HR CCD camera on Takahashi TSA102 refractor on Vixen GP-DX mount with Skly Sensor 2000; Armando Lee with his Canon EOS 350D DSLR on William Optics Zenithstar 80ED refractor on EQ-6 mount ; Andrew Ian Chan with his Canon EOS 500D DSLR on Skywatcher 80ED refractor on Vixen GP mount with Sky Sensor 2000 ; Arnel Campos with his Celestron Powerseeker 127 Newtonian reflector on EQ-1 mount while Christopher Louie Lu brought along his binoculars.

The sky was clear when they arrive and it stayed that way almost the whole session and they all had a good time observing as well as imaging the night sky. ALPers Andrew and Christopher arrived a little late in the evening as they have important things to finish in the afternoon before they proceeded to join the group. It was also Arnel's first observing session at Caliraya and was amazed at the dark skies and numerous DSO and stars that he can observe that morning with his telescope.

Unfortunately, the wind was very strong as well thus they have to use their cars try to make a wind breaker out of them :( They had to struggle with the strong wind that the had ruin numerous exposures that they did that whole session. Nevertheless, they still mange to get some shot of amid the windy situation.

Milky Way under dark sky condition at Caliraya by Christopher Louie Lu

James tried out the Coal Sack Region n Crux as well as Cat's Paw & Lobster Nebula in Scorpius. Pejvac , on the other hand, did wide field region section of the Milky Way. Jett concentrated on M51 and Milky Way wide field shot. Armand image several bright DSOs; Christopher Louie also tried to image the Summer Milky Way , Andrew test shot some DSO images while Arnel test shot the Crux region with his Olympus digicam on sturdy tripod.

At around 5:00am , some ALPers also image the beautiful Earthshine as well as nice planetary conjunction of Venus, Mercury, Jupiter and Mars together with the crescent Moon .

They hope to try it again this coming June 4 session at Caliraya again with fellow ALPers.

ALPer Mia Lee points a nice Rainbow arching across the lake.	Astro Moms and Kids
ALPer Jett Aguilar posed beside his Takahashi TSA102 refractor on Vixen GP-DX mount.	ALPers James Kevin Ty & Pejvac Parhizkari posed beside James' portable imaging setup.
ALPer Armando Lee beside his William Optics Zenithstar 80ED refractor on EQ-6 mount.	ALPer Arnel Campos brought along his Celestron Powerseeker 127 Newtonian reflector on EQ-1 mount
ALPer Arnel Campos together with his wife and nieces were there the first time to enjoy the dark skies.	ALPer Armando Lee give pointers to the Astro Kids on how to do proper fishing.
Astro Kids trying their luck in Fishing :)	The 3 Astro Kids
The New Wackier Astro Kids!!!	Hungry ALPers waiting for meals to be served.
ALPer Charito Ty posed with the Astro Kids	Astro Kids had fun on the slide at the Palaisdaan sa Bay restaurant while waiting for the food to be served.
It's Chow Time !!!	Astro Kids took a stroll after a hearty meal.