April 21, 2012 ALP Caliraya Stargazing Report
by James Kevin Ty
Images by James Kevin Ty, Gary Andreassen,  Christopher Louie Lu, Armando Lee, Jett Aguilar, Mike Enage, etc.

Last April 21, members of the Astronomical League of the Philippines (ALP) went to Caliraya, Laguna to make the final leg of the Philippine Messier Marathon Open as well as do astro observation and imaging under dark skies. Members who were present were ALP President James Kevin Ty, wife Charito and son Kendrick Cole KC Ty; VP Jett Aguilar, Secretary Christopher Louie Lu, wife Karren  and daughter Frances;  PRO Armando Lee with wife Mia and son Jason; director Peter Benedict Tubalinal, Ronald Sison with wife Adriel, children Adrian, Aleecia and Aldrin; Nathaniel Custodio with wife Tere and sons Cedric and Terrence; Miguel Enrique Cajita with his family; Mike Enage, Mark Vornhusen, Oliver de Guzman, Gary Andressen , wife Irma, son Steinnar, Joanna Escober with her daughters and guest Irving Raymundo.

They started to converge at the observing site at around 5:00pm and started to setup their mounts. James brought along his portable Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 IS Lens with Canon EOS 500D mounted on top of Kenko Sky Memo-R tracker; Jett with his Talahashi TSA-102 refractor with ATIK-16HR CCD camera  mounted on Vixen GP-DX mount; Christopher Louie  with his Celestron Powerseeker 80 refractor on EQ-1 mount ; Ronald with his Celestron C90 Mak on EQ-1 mount ; Gary with his Celestron C6N reflector on Orion SVD EQ-5 mount; Nathaniel with his William optics Megrez ED 90mm and 80mm refractors with Canon EOS 400D and 350D mounted on Vixen GP-DX mount; Oliver with his Meade ETX80 refractor on EQ-2 mount. Mike with his Meade ETX125 Mak, Mark with his Coronado PST-Ha solar scope.

ALPers check their astro equipment before sunset.	ALPers chat on astro subjects while waiting for the sky to darken after sunset/
ALP VP Jett Aguilar beside his Takahashi TSA-102 refractor on Vixen GP-DX mount.	ALP President James Kevin Ty beside his portable Canon EF 100-400mm IS L lens on Kenko Sky Memo-R tracker.
ALP director Peter Benedict Tubalinal use a tripod to mount his binoculars for more steady views.	ALPer Gary Andreassen posed beside his Celestron C6N reflector on Orion Skyview EQ-5 mount.
ALP Secretary Christopher Louie Lu beside his Celestron Powerseeker 80 refractor on EQ-1 mount.	ALPer Miguel Enrique Cajita beside his Celestron Powerseeker 130 reflector on EQ-1 mount.
ALPer Nathaniel Custodio & son beside their William Optics Megrez 90mm and 80mm ED refractors on Vixen GP-DX mount.	The Astro Kids had a great time at Caliraya :)
ALPer Joanne Escober with her 2 lovely daughters	ALPers had a good breakfast after  a night of astro observation and imaging.

The sky was practically clear in the evening and all were very busy doing polar alignment of  their scopes, casually viewing the deep sky objects while others concentrated on finishing their Messier Marathon goals and imaging deep sky objects. But unfortunately after midnight, sky got clouded out for around 2 hours before it opened up again to show the beautiful Milky Way stretching from Scorpius to Cygnus area through thin haze.  Lyrids was also active that evening and Peter reported to have seen around only 25 Lyrids and about 14 sporadics meteor shower . A low Lyrid output from an observation time fro evening till morning :(  2 additional participants of Messier Marathon namely Miguel Enrique Cajita and Steinnar Andreassen join the event and got 25 and 36 respectively.  So the final tally for this year's Philippine Messier Marathon 2012 Open are as follows:

Peter Benedict Tubalinal - 92
Mark Ian Singson - 62
Sheldon Espartero - 46
Christian Alagon (UP Astro) - 38
Miguel Enrique Cajita - 37
Steinnar Andreassen - 36
Ann Margarette Tayco (UP Astro) - 35
Regyn Avena (UP Astro) - 35
Ma. Criselda Roque (UP Astro) - 35
Gary Andreassen - 20
Carlo Ray Selabao (UP Astro) - 17
Beb Jansen Poricallan (UP Astro) - 17
Angelie Alagao (UP Astro) - 16
Jerome Sabidong (UP Astro) - 15
Jan Karlo Hernandez - 14
Arnel Campos - 6
 

NGC3372 Eta Carina Nebula by James Kevin Ty	NGC3372 Eta Carina Nebula by Nathaniel Custodio
NGC3372 Eta Carina Nebula by Oliver de Guzman	M42 Orion Nebula by Mike Enage
M41 Galactic Star Cluster by James Kevin Ty	M51 Whirpool Galaxy by Jett Aguilar
Omega Centauri Globular Star Cluster by Oliver de Guzman	Cosntellation Orion by Joanne Escober
M6 Galactic Star Cluster by James Kevin Ty	Milky Way Image by Gary Andreassen
Milky Way Image near Scorpius by Christopher Louie Lu	Milky Way Image near Scorpius by  Mike Enage
Milky Way Image near Scorpius by Joanne Escober	Milky Way Image near Summer Triangle by Christopher Louie Lu

Before they packed up their stuffs, they had their traditional group shot taken and later proceed to Jollibee Pagsanjan to have their breakfast first before going home.

Group Shot

Wacky Shot !!!