January 4 & 11, 2014 ALP Free Public Viewing Sessions
by James Kevin Ty & Christopher Louie Lu
Images by Gary Andreassen & Christopher Louie Lu

Last January 4 & 11, ALP staged 2 free public viewing sessions simultaneously  at SM South Mall as well as Caltex Kalentong Station for the public to get a view of Jupiter as well as the Moon.

January 4 in South Mall

ALP PRO Gary Andreassen and Treasurer Andrew Ian Chan brought their telescopes at SM South Mall parking area to share the beauty of planet Jupiter at opposition and Moon.  They held the event from 7:30-10:00pm with more than 500+ people get a chance to peer through their telescopes at the 2 objects.  Special thanks to SM South Mall marketing manager Eva  for letting ALP share the beauty of the universe to the crowd.

A boy got to look at planet Jupiter through Gary's 8" Newtonian reflector.

Jupiter was also magnificent through Andrew's 80mm refractor.

A long queue of people eager to get a chance to look at Jupiter through both telescopes.

More than 500+ people got to view Jupiter up close and personal that evening.

ALPers posed with SM South Mall Marketing Manager Eva and Staffs after a successful Jupiter Opposition Watch.

ALP director Armando Lee passed by SM South Mall with son Jason Lee to support ALP SM South Mall team.

January 11 - South Mall

For the second Saturday, ALP PRO Gary Andreassen & director Arnel Campos brought their telescopes at SM South Mall parking area to share the beauty of planet Jupiter and the Moon.  They held the event from 7:00-10:00pm with more than 500+ people get a chance to peer through their telescopes at the 2 objects. 

ALP PRO Gary Andreassen point a green laser at Jupiter to show its location in the sky.

Another happy 500+ people go tto view both Jupiter and Moon that evening.

ALPer Arnel setup besides a nice SM South Mall Ad Promo for the event.

A long queue of people never ends till 10pm still wanting to get a chance to view both heavenly bodies.

January 4  - Caltex Kalentong

Answering the call of fellow ALP Director Gary Andreassen along with Andrew Ian Chan, who gave a free public viewing at SM Southmall, ALP Secretary Christopher Louie Lu simultaneously set up his telescope at Caltex Gas Station along Gen. Kalentong Street to give a free public viewing of the planet Jupiter. He started the public viewing at 8 pm where people came in trickles of 2's and 3's at first, when suddenly, before he realized it, there was a long line of curious people waiting for their chance to see the largest planet in our Solar System. By 10:50pm, the crowd started to thin out and  he finally packed up his scope at around 11:15pm. An estimated crowd of about 80 - 100 people had chance to see Jupiter.


 

A nice hand made poster made by ALP Secretary Christopher Louie Lu for the event!

ALPer Louie aligns his telescope toward the planet Jupiter.

Kids and adults lined up to get a chance to view Jupiter and its Jovian satellites.

More than 100+ people queued that evening to view Jupiter up close and personal.

January 11 - Caltex Kalentong

In its second week for this month,  the Astronomical League Of The Philippines, Inc. has once again hosted a simultaneous Free Public Viewing of Jupiter + our nearest neighbor, the Moon. While fellow ALP Directors Gary Andreassen & Arnel Campos conduct a free public viewing at SM South Mall, ALP Secretary Christopher Louie Lu  set up his telescope at Caltex Kalentong Station. Viewing started at 8:00 pm with Jupiter as their first target. At the time Jupiter was only showing 3 Galilean Moon namely Io, Europa and Callisto. Ganymede at the time was in transit over the Jovian face with its shadow projected on its surface. At around 9:00 pm Ganymede started to emerge from Jupiter's south-western limb. He then swung the telescope and gave the public a view of the Moon at around 9:30 pm. Assisting him that evening was his elder brother Anthony Watson T. Lu, using his Canon SX-50 digiSLR  that has a 1200mm lens and affixed on a sturdy tripod to gave the viewing public a view of the Moon. They estimated about 150 - 180 people stopped and took a few moments of their time to look through their scope and cameras. They officially ended the session at 11:00 pm. All in all, it was once again an awesome experience to share the universe with their neighbors.

 

Another beautiful hand made poster made by ALP Secretary Christopher Louie Lu for the 2nd Saturday session.

Nice view of Jupiter!

More than 180+ people get a chance to view both Jupiter and Moon that evening!

Louie's daughter Frances finally got a chance to view both Jupiter and Saturn before the conclusion of the event that evening.

 

 

 

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