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May 26, 2021 Total Lunar Eclipse

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On the early evening of  May 26, 2021, there will be a total lunar eclipse that will be visible in the Philippines as well as Asia. The Moon will rise at around  with more or less 50% umbral partial phase  started midway already  at 06:18pm PST (Philippine Standard Time) so it is best to find an observing site with a clear eastern horizon.  This eclipse will pass near the Northern path of the Earth’s shadow thus  totality for this eclipse will be quite short at around 15 minutes only ! Moon will enter Totality at around 07:11pm PST with maximum totality phase occurring at 7:19pm PST with the Moon at around 11 deg high in the SE horizon near the constellation of Scorpius so the bright star Antares will be around 5 degrees below the eclipsed Moon.  Totality will end at around 07:26pm PST. Afterwards, the Moon will gradually start to exit the umbral shadow until it exits umbral phase at around 08:53pm PST. The Moon will totally exits the penumbral phase at 09:50pm PST signifying the end of the eclipse event.

Full Eclipse circumstances are as follows:

Moon enters Penumbra :

Moon enters Umbra :

Moonrise :  06:18:12pm  // 00 deg Alt  // 112 deg Az

Moon enters Totality : 07:11:28pm  // 11deg Alt  // 116 deg Az

Maximum Eclipse : 07:18:42pm // 13 deg Alt  // 116 deg Az

Moon exits Totality : 07:25:56pm // 14 deg Alt // 117 deg Az

Moon exits Umbra:  08:52:25pm  // 31 deg Alt // 127 deg Az

Moon exits Penumbra: 09:49:47pm // 41 deg Alt // 138 deg Az

The Moon is expected to still be bright during totality so this is also favorable for imagers who doesn’t have a motorized tracking mount. Good luck to all and clear skies!

July 12, 2020 ALP Zoom Monthly Meeting

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Last July 12th, Members of the Astronomical League of the Philippines hold a zoom online monthly meeting at 1:30pm. Members who attended were ALP President James Kevin Ty, directors Peter Benedict Tubalinal and Ronald Sison; Val Thomas Abapo, Mark Ian Singson, Dexter Cruz and Joyce Gonsalves. 

Meeting started at around 1:45pm with normal cordial chats on current events happening as well as discuss astro topic on Comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE which has brightness outburst this week between magnitude 0 to 1.5 and was visible on the esrly morning time before sunrise. The comet will now sink further below the horizon and will become an early evening object ager sunset with an estimated magnitude between magnitude 3 to 4 till end of July 2020.

Afterwards, a discussion on astro equipment pursued with ALPers hoping fellow ALPer Val Thomas Abapo buy or fabricated a rail system for his Celestron Evolution 8 SCT scope. The meeting was fun filled as well as all attendees brought out their big guns for a beautiful group shot before ending the meeting at around 4:30pm.

 

Finder Chart for Comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE

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Here is a finder chart for Manila, Philippines use to locate Comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE after Sunset. This can be use more or less for Philippines use with a few degrees higher or lower from this illustration depending on your location courtesy of Mobile Observatory. Comet animation courtesy of Vixen Comet Book. Good luck and happy hunting after Sunset!

Please disregard the estimated magnitude on the chart as the comet last week’s brightness outburst to around mag 0-1.5 make the estimates obsolete. Thanks.

 

 

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.

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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