October 26, 2013 ALP Caliraya Stargazing Session
by James Kevin Ty
 

Last October 26, 2013 , some members of the Astronomical League of the Philippines proceeded to Caliraya, Laguna to start off their Caliraya stargazing session since March. Members who were present were ALP President James Kevin Ty, Secretary Christopher Louie Lu, Auditor Edgar Ang, Per Edman, Oliver de Guzman, Manuel Goseco, and Armando Maralit.

They arrive at the site at around 8:00pm.  The sky was partly cloudy so James didn't setup his imaging equipment and instead brought out the Celestron 20x80 binoculars on sturdy tripod for the members to use and observe the night sky. Edgar brought along his Canon 400D DSLR with Vixen Polarie Star Tracker to do some wide field imaging.  Unfortunately, the sky open and close quickly thus preventing them from doing any imaging.  So the members brought out their binoculars to observe some deep sky objects such as M42 Orion Nebula and M45 Pleiades star cluster.  The 20x80 binoculars shows one of the best views of the Pleiades star cluster as the entire field was staggered with stars!

They stayed up to around 11:30pm before they decided to call it a night and went back to Manila but not before having a hot coffee session at a gas station before heading home.

ALPer Edgar Ang beside his Canon 400D DSLR with Vixen Polarie Star Tracker,	ALPer Christopher Louie Lu tests out the Celestron 20x80 binoculars.
ALPer Per Edman:  " M45 Pleaides Star Cluster rocks through the big binocs !!!"	(L-R) ALPers Amado Maralit, Christopher Louie Lu, Oliver de Guzman and Edgar Ang beside Oli's Polarie Star Tracker setup.

Group Shot