STARGAZING SESSION IN CALIRAYA , LAGUNA

November 13-14, 2004

by Jett Aguilar

The Caliraya “Beta” group consisting of myself, Mac Libid and Dante Cruz left our Katipunan rendezvous site at about 1:30 PM and   proceeded to the Alabang Shell gas station via C5.   At the Shell gas station, we met with Henry So and Lea Visaya and went ahead to Caliraya in a two-car convoy.  We arrived at the Caliraya Hill Top Resort at about 6:10 PM and had our dinner at the resort restaurant.  The “Alpha” group headed by James arrived about an hour later and joined us for dinner.  While waiting for the group to finish eating, some of us went outside to admire the dark sky.  We had fun surveying the dark sky and were able to spot the Andromeda galaxy both with binoculars and our naked eyes.  We were all very excited and couldn’t wait to get started setting up.  James and Allen then scouted around for the best place to set up – somewhere where we will not be disturbed and where ALPers thinking of doing serious astrophotography (i.e. James) can easily locate the North star for polar alignment.  James settled for a place which turned out to be muddy because of the previous drizzly rain and also of the heavy dewing in the place.   

Unfortunately for James and me, our chosen observation location turned out to be a difficult place to sight Polaris due to the intervening trees, and after about one and a half hours of futile attempts on polar alignment, we finally gave up and just satisfied ourselves with a 3-star alignment of our GP-DX mounts using the Skysensor 2000.   I guess I also have to learn some other way of  doing  polar alignment in situations like this if I’m really serious about my astro  imaging ambitions. I’ve read about the “drift method” which is supposed to be quite difficult and time-consuming but I’m still determined to learn it ASAP. 

After doing a 3-star alignment on my GP-DX mount with the SS2000, James helped me test my Canon EOS digital SLR camera on the Orion nebula.  I took an unguided 38 sec shot at prime focus on my C8 and a 6.3 focal reducer.  The image turned out nice with round stars and showed the colors of M 42 and M43.  It really whetted my appetite for imaging DSOs and I hope to start contributing pictures to the ALP Astrophotos/DSO folder soon!

James also helped me input the orbital data of Comet 2004 Q2 Machholz on my SS2000 and it was quite exciting to view the comet on my EP,  especially since this was the first time I’ve seen a comet on a telescope.  I guess the bigger aperture of my C8 (compared to my Nexstar 5) helped me more easily visualize this comet despite my less than perfect vision (I’m wearing contact lenses for my high myopia and astigmatism).  Aside from the comet, I was also able to observe some DSOs like M 65 and M 51.  I also took the opportunity to do a webcam imaging of  Saturn with my C8.  Seeing was not very good (6/10) but I did my imaging with Saturn near the zenith (alt = 80 deg) and I’m satisfied with my processed image since it is a big improvement over my Nexstar 5  images.  Lastly, I turned my scope on Jupiter and just like Orly and Mac, was able to observe the unusual “five Galilean moons” lined up on both sides of the King of the planets.  Well, the “fifth moon” turned up to be the mag 7.96 star HIP61791 (Virgo) when I reviewed it on my Starry Night Backyard software at home.

To sum up, our Nov 13-14 Caliraya stargazing session was a very satisfying and productive activity for all the participants.  Finally, after enduring an endless series of disappointing stargazing sessions, we finally had a true and memorable star party for ALP.

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For Comments jkty@astroleaguephils.org