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June 21, 2020 Partial Solar Eclipse Report

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June 21, 2020 Partial Solar Eclipse

ALPers were initially planning to travel to Chiayi, Taiwan to document the June 21, 2020 Annular Solar Eclipse but unfortunately, due to Covid19 pandemic situation, international travel is very restricted due to very strict quarantine procedures so it was cancelled 🙁
So ALP President James Kevin Ty together with my son KC setup at their roofdeck in Manila, Philippines to document the partial solar eclipse which starts at 3:01pm PST with maximum eclipse of 68% at 4:22PM PST and ends at 5:31PM PST.
James set up his Canon EOS M6 mirrorless camera on TV-101 refractor on Vixen GPDX mount while his son used a Canon EOS 500D DSLR on Celestron C90 Maksutov-Cassegrain on Nexstar SLT Mount. Eclipse started partly cloudy at around 3:00pm but they were able to play hide and seek with the clouds till 4:10pm PST before they got clouded out and made a final tease for them to make their final image of the eclipse at 4:43pm PST, after more than 20 minutes past maximum eclipse at 4:22pm PST. After that, the clouds shut them down totally till 5:32pm before they end the session and packup. They were also able to see a iridescence colorful cloud formation while they were clouded out at maximum eclipse as a consolation.
From other ALP observing sites, a few of them were able to capture a few minutes before or after maximum partial phase at 4:22pm PST such as a photo from ALP VP Jett Aguilar few minutes past maximum but most of them also experience partly heavy clouds as well.
The rest of the country also experience partly cloudy skies on the entire eclipse duration.

June 7, 2020 ALP Zoom Meeting

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Last June 7, members of the Astronomical League of the Philippines (ALP), held their online zoom monthly meeting. Members who participated were ALP President James Kevin Ty and son Kendrick Cole KC Ty, director Ronald Sison, members Alberto Lao, Val Abapo, Mark Ian Singson and Joyce Gonzalves.

Meeting started at around 1:30pm with members discussing on the just concluded June 6, 2020 Penumbral Lunar Eclipse. The Penumbral being only 57% was very subtle and hard to notice compared to the last January 11, 2020 Penumbral Lunar Eclipse which covers a Penumbral Phase of around 90%.

ALP President James Kevin Ty then discussed on the June 21, 2020 Partial Solar Eclipse that will be visible in the Philippines. An ALP Eclipse Expedition Team would have went to Chiayi, Taiwan for this event but had to be cancelled due to the Covid 19 travel restrictions. Hopefully, ALP will send another eclipse expedition in 2023.

The meeting ended at around 3:30pm.

June 6, 2020 Penumbral Lunar Eclipse Report

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Last June 6th, ALP President James Kevin Ty went up to his  roof deck at around 1:00am to observe and document the Penumbral Lunar Eclipse that was visible in our country.  He setup his Canon EOS M6 mirrorless camera on Canon EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 IS L lens set at 400mm f/11 and mounted on Vixen GP-DX mount. First contact occurred at around 01:45am and reaching maximum penumbral phase of 57% at around 03:25am. The southern limb of the Moon near the Tycho crater shows a lightly shaded area. He continued to image the eclipse till around 04:45am before clouds covered up the Moon which by that time is less than 5 deg above the western horizon. He packed up at around 5:00am.

Other ALPers who were able to image the Penumbral Lunar eclipse as well

Peter Benedict Tubalinal

Mark Ian Singson

 

May 31, 2020 ALP 1st Zoom Monthly Meeting

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Last May 31, some members of the Astronomical League of the Philippines (ALP), participated in their 1st Zoom meeting since its inception. Members who participated were ALP President James Kevin Ty and son Kendrick Cole KC Ty, VP Jett Aguilar, Treasurer Andrew Ian Chan and wife Secretary Justine Guillerma Garcia Chan, director Peter Benedict Tubalinal, members Mark Ian Singson, Alberto Lao, Vincent Gella, Rodel Inclan, and Joaquin Fajardo.

This was the first meeting since February that was held after the whole country was placed under quarantine due to the Covid 19 pandemic last March 16.

It was a special meeting as some inactive or busy members got a chance to join and it was made very informal so as to make the ambience light and easy.  Meeting started at around 1:30pm with ALP President James discussing on data and informations of the 2 upcoming astro events being the June 6, 2020 Penumbral Lunar Eclipse as well as June 21, 2020 Partial Solar Eclipse that are both visible in the Philippines.

VP Jett Aguilar, on the other hand discussed some safety precaution on how to protect oneself from getting infected by this virus.

The meeting ended at around 4pm. VP Jett Aguilar also mentioned that online monthly meeting will probably be made till the end of the year or perhaps till next year until a vaccine for Covid 19 virus will be made available to the public.

ALP Suspends Monthly Meeting and Stargazing Session Amid Covid-19 Spread

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In light of the Enhanced Community Quarantine being implemented by the Philippine Government in the entire Luzon region including Metro Manila to curb the fast spreading of the Covid-19 virus infection, Astronomical League of the Philippines Inc (ALP) will tentatively suspend all upcoming monthly meetings and stargazing sessions until this crisis and quarantine implementation is lifted by the government.  Stay Safe and please help support by staying indoors as much as possible. Thank you.

Feb 22, 2020 ALP National Astronomy Week 2020 Free Public Viewing

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Last February 22nd, Astronomical League of the Philippines (ALP) celebrated National Astronomy Week (NAW) 2020 by providing another  simple free public stargazing session at SM by the Bay at SM Mall of Asia, Pasay City. Members who helped out were ALP President James Kevin Ty and son Kendrick Cole KC Ty as well as director Peter Benedict Tubalinal and members Mark Ian Singson and Eris Raniel Palomeras.  They started their session at around 7:30pm as there was a 30 minutes Drone Show at our setup site. James brought along  Celestron C90 Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope mounted on Nexstar SLT mount as well as Borg 76ED refractor on Vixen Porta II mount ; Mark brought along his Meade 90mm f/11 Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope mounted on sturdy tripod were setup for the event.  More than 350 people were able to observe planet Venus, bright stars  Sirius, Canopus and Betelgeuse and M42 Orion Nebula through the telescopes.

The 5 of them were able to share to the viewers the beauty of the night sky despite KC not feeling well due to stomach cramps but determined to stay the whole event pressure and tiredness on the event. Hats off also to member Mark and Eris who despite living in Cavite and Pangasinan respectively still joined to helped out to make the event another successful one!  They packed up at around 10:00pm to wrap up the NAW 2020.

Feb 16, 2020 ALP National Astronomy Week 2020 Free Public Viewing

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Last February 16th, Astronomical League of the Philippines (ALP) celebrated National Astronomy Week (NAW) 2020 by providing a simple free public stargazing session at SM by the Bay at SM Mall of Asia, Pasay City. Members who helped out were ALP President James Kevin Ty and son Kendrick Cole KC Ty as well as director Peter Benedict Tubalinal. They started their session at around 6:30pm. A Celestron C90 Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope mounted on Nexstar SLT mount as well as Borg 76ED refractor on Vixen Porta II mount were setup for the event. More than 250 people were able to observe planet Venus, brightest star Sirius and M42 Orion Nebula through the telescopes.

Slightly undermanned, the 3 of them were able to share to the viewers the beauty of the night sky and they didn’t feel any pressure and tiredness on the event. They packed up at around 9:30pm and went home happy and looking forward for the next free stargazing session on February 22 to wrap up the NAW 2020.

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