December 29-30, 2011 Stargazing Session Report
by James Kevin Ty
Images by James Kevin Ty , Armando Lee & Arnel Campos

Amid a partly cloudy weather condition last December 29th, members of the Astronomical League of the Philippines (ALP) consisting of ALP President James Kevin Ty, wife Charito and son Kendrick Cole KC Ty ; PRO Armando Lee, wife Mia and son Jason Lee ; Arnel & Michelle Campos. guests Venancio Cobankiat with sons Kendrick, Kevin and Clifford Cobankiat.

They independently proceeded to Ecosaddle at Caliraya, Laguna and more or less arrive between 6:30-8:00pm.  There was some light drizzles that greeted the group and lasted to around 11:00pm.  Afterwards, weather started to clear up and they started to setup their telescopes.  James brought again a portable setup with Canon 500D DSLR on Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 IS L lens mounted on top of Kenko Sky Memo-R Tracker ;  Armand brought along his Canon EOS 1100D DSLR on William Optics Zenithstar 80ED with Atlas EQ-6 mount ;  Arnel brought along his Canon EOS 550D DSLR on Celestron Powerseeker 130 Newtonian reflector on EQ-1 mount ;  Clifford brought along his 76mm f/12 reflector on altazimuth mount.

After they polar aligned their mount, they started to image the night sky.  James concentrated on imaging the Rosette Nebula in Monoceros while Armand randomly shoot Orion Nebula, Pleiades star cluster & constellations shots using his Canon EF 75-300mm zoom lens; Arnel , on the other hand, borrowed Armand's fisheye converter and mounted on his Canon EF-S 18-55mm lens to get super wide angle shots of the Winter Milky Way.

Rosette Nebula in Monoceros by James Kevin Ty	Winter Milky Way by Arnel Campos
M42 Orion Nebula in Orion by Armand Lee	M45 Pleiades Star Cluster in Taurus by Armand Lee

In the morning hours before sunrise, James and Arnel attempted to recover Comet Garrand but unfortunately, the comet was covered by the low lying eastern horizon clouds :(

In the morning, they meet up with  Sir Vecencio Cobankiat at the Caliraya Spring Resort and Golf Course to have breakfast there and also scout the area for 2012 ALP Philippine Messier Marathon Open to be held on March 24, 2012.  They then had their late lunch in Palaisdaan sa Bay before they head home with good contentment with a good stargazing session to close the year 2011.

Afterwards, the Moon will start to exit totality phase little by little at around 10:57pm PST until it exits the umbral phase entirely at around 12:18 am of December 11, 2011. and finally, the Moon will exiting  the penumbral phase from the western part of the Moon at around 1:30am PST.

 

The Cobankiat family are also getting into astronomy :)	ALPer Mia Lee with astro kid Jason Lee
ALPer James Kevin Ty with his portable imaging setup	What a great way to close the year 2011 with a stargazing session at Caliraya !
Breakfast at Caliraya Springs Golf & Country Club	Astro Kids Jason Lee & Kendrick Cole KC Ty
ALPers posed at an area where the 2012 Philippine Messier Marathon Open will be held this year.	ALPers relaxed in a hut near the fishing ground.
ALPers relaxed in a hut near the fishing ground.	Astro Kids posed with the Astro Ladies :)
ALPers posed at the entrance of Palaisdaan	It's Chow Time !

ALPers with the Cobankiats

ALPers posed after the conclusion of the stargazing session at Caliraya.. See you next year again !