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April 30, 2023 ALP Astronomy Experts Speaker Series featuring Dr. Daniel Green

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Comets, the so called denizens and visitors from deep space, have inspired awe and even fear since ancient times. On April 30, 2023 (Sunday), at 9;30 a.m. Philippine Standard Time (April 29, Saturday, 9:30 p.m. EDT), please join us for an online talk on “A Brief Tutorial on Comets” by Daniel W. E. Green, Ph.D. , Director, Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams (CBAT}
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EslAx6JD-ks
Dr. Green will talk about what comets are, how they are becoming harder to define in terms of their physical nature, how they are discovered and named, some statistics regarding comets, and how amateur astronomers can contribute greatly to the science of comets.
Dr. Daniel Green has been the Director of the International Astronomical Union’s CBAT since 2000. The CBAT is responsible for the dissemination of information on transient astronomical events (i.e. comets) and various IAU news including the announcement of designations and names of various celestial objects. He is involved in research of small bodies of the solar system — particularly, comets and meteors but also minor planets. He collects and archives/publishes data on comets from observers around the world, and these data are published in the International Comet Quarterly.
Dr. Green is also a member of the International Astronomical Union’s 15-member Committee on Small Bodies Nomenclature, which approves names for comets and minor planets (including trans-Neptunian objects) and their satellites.
He obtained his Ph.D. in physics and astronomy from the University of Durham (U.K.).

April 20, 2023 ALP Partial Solar Eclipse Image Gallery

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Below are images taken by members of the Astronomical League of the Philippines. Therefore, all images are the property of ALP as well as the imager mentioned. Any intention to use the images should seek permission to the ALP as well as the main author of the image.

James Kevin Ty 

Images taken using Canon EOS M6 mirrorless camera on Borg 76ED Refractor with TV 2.5x Powermate.  Baader 3.8 Solar Filter mounted on Vixen GPDX mount. 1/1000 sec exposure at ISO 200.

 

Jett Aguilar

Images taken using Lunt 100 hydrogen alpha telescope to capture whole disk images of the partially eclipsed sun as well as a Takahashi TSA 102 refractor with a Baader Astrosolar filter (ND5) and a Canon 7D DSLR at prime focus.

 

Kendrick Cole Ty

Partial Solar Eclipse at Maximum taken using Canon EOS 500D DSLR on Cankn EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 IS L Lens set at 400mm f/11. 1/750 sec at ISO 100.

 

Raymund Sarmiento

Images taken using a Mobile Phone Huawei Mate20Pro with a Kase Mobile Scope and a DIY 3d Printed Baader Solar Fllter Adapter. Tracked using a Desk Top Polarie Sky Tracker. 

 

Val Thomas Abapo

Image taken from Cebu, Philippines using WO GT71 Refractor with WO 0.8 Reducer  and Celestron Skyris 132c camera.

 

Peter Benedict Tubalinal 

Images taken using Orion ST80 Refractor with 15mm Expanse Eyepiece and Smartphone.

 

Steven Bacalian

Images taken using Canon EOS 60D DSLR with Celestron C90 Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope mounted on Skywatcher Star Adventurer. 

 

Vincent Gella

Partial Solar Eclipse at Maximum taken using Celestron Powerseeker 80MM with Celestron 32mm Plossl with 
Baader Solar Filter 5.0 and Celestron EQ-2 Equatorial mount.

 

Renan Acosta

Images taken using Samsung Fold 4 Smartphone with 30x zoom.

 

Jowen Kibtiani 

Images taken from Polomolok , South Cotabato using Real Me 8 5GB Smartphone with Celestron 20mm Erecting Eyepiece on Celestron Powerseeker 70EQ Refractor on EQ-2 mount.

 

Miguel Cano

Safe projection method used by Miguel Cano using binoculars to show a sharper eclipsed Sun. 

 

Teddy-Ty Chua

Image taken using Samsung S21 ultra.. 70x zoom and Solar Filter.

 

Fung Yu

Image taken using Canon 70D DSLR with Canon EF300mm lens.

 

 

 

 

 

 

2023 Father Victor L. Badillo Astronomy Service Award

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ALPer Raymund Sarmiento is this year’s Father Victor L. Badillo Astronomy Service Awardee for 2023 for his “For his innovative development of EQMOD, an open source telescope mount control software, which greatly aided astronomers worldwide.”

Raymund is the Senior Vice President and Chief Technical Officer of GMA New Media, the technology arm of GMA Network.

Serving as CTO of GMA New Media for the past 20 years, he is the co-inventor of some of the R&D projects for the organization, with patents obtained and applied locally and abroad.

He has extensive experience in AI and robotics, recently creating from scratch a Rubiks Cube Solver Robot.

An amateur astronomer as well as member of ALP since 2004,  he also developed a Telescope Observatory / Automation algorithm called EQMOD, which he launched as an open source project in 2006. It remains active to this day.

April Global Astronomy Month Free Telescope Viewing Event

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There will be a free telescope viewing event by the Astronomical League of the Philippines (ALP) on April  23 at Luneta and 30, 2023 at SM BY the Bay (SMBY) near the fountain area in celebration of Global Astronomy Month 2023.

On April 23rd, the event will start at 3:30pm with a free solar viewing session wherein the public get a chance to view the Sun safely with our member’s solar telescopes. The solar session will end at around 5:00pm.

Afterwards ,  night time free telescope viewing event will start at 6:00pm to 9:00pm. The event is free to everyone to join and get a chance to view planet Venus, Orion Nebula, double star Castor and many more!

Lastly on April 30th, ALP will held another GAM Free Telescope Viewing Event at SM by the Bay (SMBY) from 7:00pm to 9:30pm. The event is free to everyone to join and get a chance to view the Waxing Crescent Moon, planets Jupiter & Venus, Orion Nebula, double star Castor and many more!

See you all there! Please share these events to your friends and family.

April 15, 2023 ALP Global Astronomy Month Astro Webinar Talk

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Please join us online this coming April 15, 2023, at 8:00 p.m. Philippine Standard Time (8:00 a.m. EST), as we celebrate Global Astronomy Month.

There will be two online talks to be given by our Astronomical League of the Philippines members. The first talk will be on “The EQMOD Platform” by Mr. Raymund Sarmiento.  EQMOD is an open-source software project that was initially developed by a team of amateur astronomers led by Mr. Sarmiento. The project was started in the early 2000s as a way to provide computer control of equatorial telescope mounts, which can be used for astrophotography and other observational purposes. The development of EQMOD was made possible through the collaborative efforts of a community of amateur astronomers who contributed their time, skills, and resources to create an open-source software platform that is available to everyone. Today, EQMOD continues to be developed and maintained by a community of volunteers who support the software and its users.

The second talk will be on “Remote Astrophotography: The dream, the challenges” by Mr. Enrico Africa, who is also a member of the Cincinnati Astronomical Society. Mr. Africa will discuss the options available for  remote astrophotography and the solutions he had discovered  based on his own experience. He will specifically mention what one would need in doing remote astronomical photography in terms of hardware and software requirements as well as what are currently available. Enrico “Eric” Africa is a passionate amateur astronomer and astrophotographer and had been interested in astronomy for most of his life The apparition of Comet Hyakutake (C/1996 B2) in 1996 triggered his interest in observational astronomy. Comet Hale-Bopp (C/1995 O1) in 1997 got him into astrophotography, first using film, and then digital imaging starting in 2001. Many of his images have been featured in Sky & Telescope, Astronomy Magazine and Astronomy Now magazines. He has been using a remote observatory in the dark skies of New Mexico since 2011.

March 12, 2023 ALP Astro Experts Series Webinar 2023 with Heidi Hammel, Ph.D

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Please join us this March 12 (Sunday) at 10 A.M. Philippine Standard Time (March 11, Saturday, 9 P.M. EST) for the Astronomy Experts Speaker Series 2023 online talk on:
“The First Year of the James Webb Space Telescope: What We’ve Learned, What Is Still to Come” by Heidi Hammel, Ph.D.

Abstract:
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) launched into space on Christmas Day, 2021. During its first year, this innovative observatory has already made revolutionary advances across astronomy with its infrared capability and high sensitivity. In this talk, Dr. Heidi B. Hammel will describe how JWST came to be and what it was designed to do, with personal insights into the long and complicated path to its launch. She will highlight amazing results from JWST’s first year, from discoveries about our nearby neighbors in the Solar System, to the spectacular deep-space images of distant galaxies. Dr. Hammel will also describe JWST’s studies of planets around other stars, explaining how we can study their atmospheres. She will finish with a look ahead not only for JWST, but also for the future of space astrophysics.

February 25, 2023 ALP NAW 2023 Closing Event Free Telescope Viewing Session

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Last February 25th, the Astronomical League of the Philippines (ALP) concluded National Astronomy Week 2023 with another Free Telescope Viewing Session at SM by the Bay at SM Mall of Asia , Pasay City.

Members who were present are ALP President James Kevin Ty and son Kendrick Cole KC Ty, Treasurer Andrew Ian Chan, Secretary Justine Co Chan, director Peter Benedict Tubalinal, Joyce Gonsalves, Pam Sabado, and Teddy-Ty Chua.

They initially meetup at Coffee Bean at around 3:30pm to have a short monthly meeting there to discuss logistics as well as install new motor drive on the Joyce’s Celestron Astromaster 114 Newtonian reflector for the free telescope viewing evebr later at 6pm.

James brought along his Borg 76ED Refractor on Vixen GPDX mount, Andrew with his Skywatcher 80ED refractor on Vixen GP mount, Joyce with her Celestron Astromaster 114 Newtonian reflector on CH-2 mount, Teddy-Ty with his Celestron Nexstar SLT127 Maksutov-Cassegrain reflector and Pam’s Svbony SV501P 60mm short tube refractor on sturdy tripod .

They started the event at around 6:00pm by viewing the planet Venus as the sky was also cloudy. They later observe Waxing Crescent Moon also through passing clouds while the people waited patiently as the Moon comes in and out of cloud opening.

More or less around 300 people were able to get a nice view of planet Vebus and the Waxing Crescent Moon. It was also ALP’s 1st free telescope viewing event since the last NAW event in February 2020.

At around 9:15pm, the group had their traditional group picture taken before packing up and went to McDonald’s in Blue Wave to have late dinner before going home.

 

February 19, 2023 ALP NAW Opening Talk / Astronomy Experts Speaker Series

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Last February 19, Astronomical League of the Philippines had their NAW opening program featuring Astronomy Experts Speaker Series in celebration of National Astronomy Week 2023 with great astronomical Lectures coming from from former Sky and Telescope magazine editors J. Kelly Beatty , Imelda Joson & Edwin Aguirre and ALP observations Chairman Peter Benedict Tubalinal and also a Great Opening Remarks coming from IAU President Dr. Debra Elmegreen.

ALP will also be providing 2 free telescope viewing events on February 19 and 25, 2023 at SM Mall of Asia SMBY as well.

Full video coverage link will be posted in the days to come at Astronomical League of the Philippines Official You Tube Channel
https://youtube.com/@astronomicalleagueofthephi9669

Please do subscribed, like and jot the notification bell to get latest updates on our speaker series.

February 19 & 25, 2023 NAW Free Telescope Viewing at SM by the Bay (SMBY)

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There will be a free telescope viewing event by the Astronomical League of the Philippines (ALP) on February 19, 2023 and February 25, 2023 at SM BY the Bay (SMBY) near the fountain area in celebration of National Astronony Week 2023.

On February 19th, the event will start at 3:30pm with a free solar viewing session wherein the public get a chance to view the Sun safely with our member’s solar telescopes. The solar session will end at around 5:00pm.

Afterwards ,  night time free telescope viewing event will start at 6:00pm to 9:00pm. The event is free to everyone to join and get a chance to view planets Jupiter, Venus, Orion Nebula, double star Castor and many more!

On February 25th, ALP will held its NAW closing event with another free telescope viewing session at SM by the Bay (SMBY) from 7:00pm to 9:30pm. The event is free to everyone to join and get a chance to view the Waxing Crescent Moon, planets Jupiter & Venus, Orion Nebula, double star Castor and many more!

See you all there!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

February 19, 2023 NAW Opening Program Talk

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Please support and attend our ALP National Astronomy Week 2023 Opening Program (via Zoom) to be held this coming Sunday, Feb 19, 2023, 9:00 AM Philippine Standard Time , 01:00 UTC (8 PM EST, February 18)

We have invited several esteemed speakers for our ALP NAW 2023 theme – “Under One Sky, One World”. We are very fortunate to have with us none other than the current President of the International Astronomical Union IAU), Dr. Debra M. Elmegreen to give the Opening Remarks. The Senior Editor of the very prestigious Sky & Telescope Magazine, J. Kelly Beatty will then talk on “The Fight Against Light Pollution”. This will be followed by Ms. Imelda Joson and Mr. Edwin Aguirre who will speak on “From the Earth to the Stars, and Back: Our Personal Journey”. The last speaker will be Mr. Peter Tubalinal of the Astronomical League of the Philippines who will discuss “Observing the Sky with Small Telescopes” in addition to cellphone astrophotography.

Register now for this free Zoom online program using this link http://bit.ly/3XlXwgf or by scanning the QR code in the poster shown here using your cellphone camera. After registration, check your registered e-mail for the Zoom meeting link. See you!

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