March 16-17, 2013 ALP Caliraya Stargazing Report

March 16-17, 2013 ALP Caliraya Stargazing Report
by James Kevin Ty
Images by James Kevin Ty & Per Edman

Last March 16, members of the Astronomical League of the Philippines to the dark skies of Caliraya, Laguna to do do some deep sky imaging. Members who were present were ALP President James Kevin Ty, wife Charito and son Kendrick Cole KC Ty ; ALP VP Jett Aguilar, ALP PRO Armando Lee, wife Mia and son Jason Lee as well as some of their relatives; ALP director Peter Benedict Tubalinal, Mike Enage, Ronald Sison, Per Edman, Mark Ian Singson, Mark Vornhusen & wife Arlen Vornhusen ; Marv Gulapa, Gary Andreassen, wife Irma and son Steinar Andreassen; Nathaniel Custodio, wife Tere and sons Cedric and Terrence Custodio; The night sky was partly cloudy in the early evening but true to expectation that I got from a reliable weather program, my estimation of a clear window from 10:00pm to 2:00am was far exceeded with an extended 4am clear sky view !!!

With the beauty of the Summer Milky Way visible from late evening till early morning, ALP Team Polarie didn't waste the opportunity to use their DSLRs mounted Vixen Polarie Star Tracker to do lots of Milky Way shots with this setup. ALPers James Kevin Ty and Nathaniel Custodio use the clear sky to image the Blue Horsehead Nebula as well as NGC 5139 Omega Centauri with DSLR and CCD camera respectively.

Results for this year's ALP Philippine Messier Marathon 2013 are as follows:

Mark Ian Singson - 87
Peter Benedict Tubalinal - 70
Steinar Andreaassen - 61
Mark Enrique Cajita - 38

Overall, they all had a great time observing and imaging the beauty of the universe as well as had a lot of time chatting with my fellow members of ALP whole night long. It was a beautiful night to remember and regrets for those who were not there with them that evening to enjoy the great view! They left in the morning and eat breakfast at Jollibee Pagsanjan before heading home and looking forward to next month's stargazing session again.

ALPer Peter Benedict Tubalinal preparing his telescope for Messier Marathon.	ALP VP Jett Aguilar posed beside his dual MicroTech 6" RC and Megrez 90mm scope imaging setup.
ALPer Mike Enage posed beside his portable Vixen Polarie mount with DSLR system.	ALP President James Kevin Ty posed beside his Canon EF100-400mm IS L lens with ATK-16HR CCD camera on Vixen GP-DX mount.
ALP President James Kevin Ty posed beside his Canon EOS 500D DSLR with EFS 10-22mm lens for ultra wide field Milky Way imaging mounted on Vixen Polarie mount.	ALPer Mark Vornhusen had a great time imaging numerous Messier DSO with his Nikon DSLR with 180mm lens on Vixen Polarie mount.
ALPer Miguel Cajita used his large Celestron 15x70 binoculars.	ALPer Per Edman posed beside his Vixen Polarie mount with Canon EOS 600D DSLR with Canon 55-250mm lens.
ALPers Mark Ian Singson with Gary and Steinar Andreassen with their Vixen Polarie mount with Canon EOS 600D DSLR with Canon 55-250mm lens.	ALPers Mike Enage and Ronald Sison chats while letting his Vixen Polarie do its thing :) Cool.
ALPer Mark Ian Singson is top contender to beat Messier Marathon Peter Benedict Tubalinal this year :)	ALPer Nathaniel Custodio is all smile after capturing the faint Blue Horsehead Nebula :)
Summer Milky Way - Scorpius / Crux Region by ALPer James Kevin Ty	Summer Milky Way - Scorpius / Sagittarius Region by ALPer James Kevin Ty
Caliraya Southern Sky by ALPer Mike Enage	Pipe Nebula by ALPer Mike Enage
NGC 5139 Omega Centauri by ALPer James Kevin Ty	NGC 5139 Omega Centauri by ALPer Mike Enage
IC4592 Blue Horsehead Nebula by ALPer Nathaniel Custodio	M4 Globular Star Cluster by ALPer Mark Vornhusen
M16 / M17 / M24 by ALPer Mark Vornhusen	M8 / M20 by ALPer Mark Vornhusen
NGC 3372 Eta Carina Nebula by ALPer Gary Andreassen	Gamma Cygni (Sadr) Region by ALPer Gary Andreassen