Stargazing Report

 STARGAZING SESSION IN CALIRAYA , LAGUNA

November 13-14, 2004

by Dante Cruz

Since joining ALP last March 2004, I have been to Caliraya three times. This third time, I am richly rewarded with the best Caliraya weather I have ever experienced so far.  Thus, I am sharing this unique experience with you all for your Blessing also.  Most of the time, there were only a few clouds and these quickly passed by. The temperature was just right for me, the wind breeze made it a little bit cooler and one can feel that Christmas is just around the corner. :)

With good weather and the moon not around (it was only visible during the daytime), much more stars were visible in the evening.  So, I took advantage of this grand opportunity such that I was awake (did not felt sleepy) till sunrise! Surprisingly, my feet did not get tired, for I was standing most of the time.  This is my second stargazing that I was awake till sunrise - first was at UP Nismed during the lunar eclipse.

In the observing site, there was no need to use flashlights while walking from scope to scope, for the multitude of stars shone brightly and gently lit our way.  Without the Light from these stars, it would have been very dark. I silently enjoyed the Heavens and my, time very quickly passed by, birds began chirping and flying then the sun slowly rose bathing our Beloved country with more Light.  I was still alert, recharged by the Lights from above and fresh country air. We had a group picture taking with some of the telescopes, plus Venus and Jupiter in the background.  The camera might have also shown Mars which was only magnitude 1.7, just 12 degrees below Venus.

After packing, we had breakfast. I noticed many of the ALPers ate corned beef, which reminded me of the herd of cows that greeted us all and blocked the 5 ALPers vehicles near the entrance when we arrived at Caliraya. :) 

Before leaving, some of us went atop a hill and looked around at the beautiful sight in all directions. I especially liked the view of the green hill in the southwest.

Special thanks to Jett for graciously allowing me, Mac and Jhun to ride with him. We left Caliraya a few minutes past 9 in the morning and I arrived home in Cubao a few minutes past 12 noon.  Note: Going to Caliraya took much more time. We left Katipunan around 130pm, waited at Shell, then reached Caliraya around 6pm.

Summary of what we saw:  We saw the 2 brightest comets this month, many stars, galaxies, some meteors (at least 7 for me), Saturn (magnitude 0.0), Venus (magnitude -4.0), Jupiter (magnitude -1.7; with 5 or 6 moons visible), some man made satellites, some airplanes, faint Milky Way band, etc.  For more details and pictures, see the reports of the other ALPers.

Comet Report:  For the year 2004, thanks to ALP, I was able to see 5 Comets. Here are the latest two:

* Nov 13, 2004. Saturday. 11:49pm (1549 GMT) Caliraya, Philippines.

Saw Comet C/2004 Q2 (Machholz), magnitude 6.9 looked like a green smudge with almost unnoticeable so short faint tail.

* Nov 13, 2004. Sunday. 4:12am (2012 GMT Sat) Caliraya, Philippines.

Saw C/2003 K4 (LINEAR), magnitude 7.4 also looked like a green smudge, a little fainter than Machholz; tail was short and very short anti tail.

10+ ALPers Attendance:  1)Jett Aguilar, 2)Jon Alcartado (with Ellen and 2 kids), 3)Orly Andico (and Lalai), 4)Dante Cruz, 5)Jhun Embuido, 6)Mac Libid, 7)Henry So, 8)James Kevin Ty, 9)Leah Visaya, and 10)Allen Yu.    

Thank you to ALL in the universe who made this lovely experience possible and also to those who were there with me.

A Nice Day to you all, SYMBOL 74 \f "Wingdings" \s 10

ALPer Dante Cruz

 

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©2003, 2004  Astronomical League of the Philippines Inc.