January 26, 2009 ALP Partial Solar
Eclipse Observation Report
by James Kevin Ty , Armando Lee , Teodoro
Gonzaga
ALP BOARDWALK OBSERVING SITE
by James Kevin Ty
Last January 26, 2009 , members
of the Astronomical League of the Philippines (ALP)
setup in various observing sites around the country to
document the partial solar eclipse that was visible in
the late afternoon. The primary observing site was
based on Boardwalk seawall beside the Manila Ocean
Park. Aside from Boardwalk, prime observing sites were
also setup by ALPers at Aling
Mahsya
Restaurant
in South Wing Seaside Parking of SM-MOA
(near the SM-MOA dampa seafood market) , Cebu City and Iloilo City.
At the Boardwalk main site,
members started to arrive at the site at around 2:45pm.
Among who were present that day were ALP President James
Kevin Ty, VP Jett Aguilar and wife Angge, Membership
Chairperson Angie Tan, PRO Alice Villa-Real, Secretary
Rich Pijuan, members Tommy Tan, Alfonso Sy, Andrew Ian
Chan, and sister Berenice Viola , Dennis Buenviaje
, members of the Manila Planetarium staff that include
Liza Quitlong, Nel Lagda , Roberto Silvestre, and Maximo
Zabanal ; guests Mr. & Mrs.Yoshikatsu Chikira and staff
of Sun East Asia Corporation , AP photographer Aaron
Favila. ABS CBN reporter Jeff Canoy and his crew. During
that day, Francis Sarmiento III and Soriano Lim became
the newest ALP members as well! If one was to se
who will comprise the ALP Solar Eclipse Expedition Team
to Wuhan, one could say that most of the ALPers present
on that day are the serious ones that will comprise the
team :) ALP eclipse expedition team leader James Kevin
Ty had informed the members that this event will be use
as one of the first dry run to be made by the expedition
team to further train their awareness and concentration
for the upcoming July 22th total solar eclipse in China.
At around 3:30pm, they started
to setup their telescopes facing the
 seawall.
James brought along his trusty TV-101 refractor on Vixen
GP-D mount ; Jett with his Takahashi TSA-102 refractor,
Stellarvue 80mm refractor and Canon 100-400mm IS zoom
lens on Vixen GP-D mount ; Andrew with his Skywatcher
80ED refractor on EQ-1 mount ; Alice and Angie brought
along their Orion ST-80 refractors on tripod and
Planetarium staffs brought along their Celestron C8 SCT.
Guests Mr. Chikira of Sun East Asia Corporation brought
along several units of the Galileo telescope which will
be the official telescope that will be used by PAGASA
National Organizing Committee (NOC) in promoting
this year's International Year of Astronomy (IYA) while
AP photographer Aaron brought along his huge Canon 400mm
f/2.8 telephoto lens!
The sky that afternoon was not
clear as lots of thick clouds were covering the entire
sky with only some small patches of clear sky were
passing through or beside the Sun :( First
contact was expected at around 4:55pm but unfortunately,
they missed seeing it because of the bad weather.
First glimpse of the Sun was seen at around 5:39pm
already with a large chunk of the Sun already eclipsed!
A loud bursts of cheers and camera shutters started to
trigger away and with the Sun already low in the sky,
James shouted out to the members to remove their solar
filters as the Sun was still covered with a thin haze of
clouds near the horizon. With less than 10 minutes
to go, anxiety fills the air as everyone was wondering
if the Sun will make a final move to let the members as
well as the crowd see a perfect eclipse Sun before it
sets into the western horizon and a few minutes before
sunset, the Sun popped out of the clouds to show its
maximum 62% obscuration and sink behind a freighter
parked at the edge of the horizon where the Sun sets.
Still a beautiful sight to behold! Everyone as
well as the foreigners and local crowds cheered and
applauded after the Sun sets. It was a nice
experience for the team members specially the
first timers of the group to get a feel of what's in
store for them in the July event. As for James, it
will help him assessed how the team members performed
that day. It will also let him get a
first hand look on what needs to be addressed and
corrected to ensure the team members will perform
flawlessly when E-Day arrives!
Initial reports coming from
ALP's South Wing Seaside Parking side of SM
MOA side was also a success and they were also
lucky to get a clear view of the horizon with the Sun
setting beside the freighter! In my opinion, the
orientation of the setting Sun against the position of
the freighter was more of a matter of LUCK
than what others were saying that careful planning of
the site between the MOA and the Boardwalk site was the
key. I would presume that one cannot predict the exact
location of the freighter's parked position
a few days earlier that gave the ALPers at MOA site a
better view of the setting Sun. It could have gone
also the other way around to the advantage of the
Boardwalk observers had the freighter parked on the
other part of the horizon :) . Nevertheless, the
important matter is that the successful
documentation of the event was a good initial training
ground for ALPers to get prepared for the upcoming July
22, 2009 Total Solar Eclipse in China.
ALP SM MOA SOUTH WING
SEASIDE PARKING OBSERVING SITE by Armando Lee
As early as 345pm, ALPer Dr Lee
together with his wife Mia and Son
 Jason
arrived at the South seawall of the SM-Mall of Asia.
They were later joined by the 1st year BS Astronomy
Technology students from the Rizal Technological
University namely; Antonette Icot, Pauline Divinagarcia,
Angela Lequiron, and Miguel Artificio. The restaurant
manager Aling Rosa was there to assist and coordinate
with the security personnel of SM-MOA. Telescopes came
in when Sidewalk Astronomers Bencie Lee (Dr Lee's
brother) arrived with Fermin Naelga, Wilbert Palma and
girlfriend Bes with a van. The following scopes were
then set up: WO ZS80edII on an EQ2 mount, ST80 on an EQ2
mount fitted by Dr Lee with PC164c-ex ccd video camera
and KIWI-OSD-VTI and Canon ZR200 videocamera, and
another set up for public viewing - the Celestron
version of ST-80.
At first the sky was so cloudy
that the Suns' disk could not be discerned even by naked
eye. At first contact time - 4:55pm, the video set up of
Dr Lee was already recording but unfortunately too much
cloud prevented the view of that moment. Relatively
clear sky followed until right before sunset when thick
clouds again covered the sun. And 5 mins before sunset,
the western horizon cleared and people were ecstatic to
see a cresent Sun setting. Shouts were heard. People ran
towards the seawall while Dr Lee and Fermin Naelga shot
their images and the rest of the people watch the sun
with their naked eye while they scream, shout and
clapped with joy.
Everything went too slow as we
watch the spectacle with great awe! A very memorable
event indeed that will last a lifetime of memories. This
one for the books...until the next eclipse comes. We
will sure be there again to be awestruck. The group
finished off the session with a sumptuous dinner
provided partly by the owner of the restaurant, Mr
Bernie Esporlas, and Dr Armando Lee. Everyone kept
talking about the event as if it never ended. A sure
sign that everyone did got their share of pure bliss.
NOTE: ALPer Alexander Loinaz
was also at the SM MOA site to image the partial solar
eclipse but he opted be separated from the ALP's SM MOA
South Wing Seaside Group as well as the ALP's Boardwalk
Group to be mobile in search for an even better
imaging position with his very mobile setup, a 1000mm
mirror lens setup on tripod.
ALP ILOILO CITY OBSERVING
SITE by Teodoro Gonzaga
Solar eclipse really fascinated
new ALPer Ted when he experienced it more than two
decades ago, during his high school when they were
allowed to go out from their classrooms and observed
crescent shapes of sunlight through punctured
cardboards. It grew an interest in him to explore the
heavens and some frequent stiff necks watching the night
sky.
October last year, thanks to Mr. James Kevin Ty and
through his help, he was able to acquire a Vixen R130sf
Newtonian Reflector telescope on Porta 2 mount and also
a Baader solar filter. He tried practicing afocal
pictures of the sun (and the Moon as well) with an
Olympus FE-170, a point and shoot camera which is the
only one he had on hand.
Upon learning there would be solar eclipses this year,
He checked the internet if he could see it from Iloilo
City. Luckily, his friend and officemate Chad
Torrefranca mentioned that from his lawn, he can see the
sunset. Ted brought along his cousin, Mark Sequio, and
they set up at his residence as early as 4 pm and waited
eagerly for the moon’s silhouette on the Sun. He
used a 20mm Plossl eyepiece in order to get a full
picture of the Sun when photographing it afocally.
They were grateful that it was sunny that day, though
windy, but with very few cloud cover. It was a good idea
to put sunblock on for they seldom took their eyes off
the eyepiece. He took several shots, until the Sun was
too low and covered with clouds hovering along the
mountains of Cabatuan few minutes before 6 pm.
It was a very rewarding experience, able to see an
eclipse up close and in real-time and not just from
pictures or television. Being new to astronomy sure has
many of “Firsts” and he is quite sure this is one
of the best.
For more partial solar eclipse
images taken by ALPers, please click
here.
For more activity images taken
by ALPers during the partial solar eclipse event, click
here.
Alice's Partial Solar Eclipse & Activity Images
Francis Sarmiento III Activity Images
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