STARGAZING SESSION AT BUSO-BUSO , ANTIPOLO

December 4-5, 2004

Text and Images by Jett Aguilar

We arrived at the Touch of Glory Prayer Mountain (TGPM) at a little past 7 pm because of the moderately heavy Christmas season traffic we had to negotiate on the way to Antipolo from Katipunan ave.   On the way, Dante Cruz, Mac Libid and I   talked about the prospect of clear skies despite the recent super typhoon  “Yoyong” which has brought so much destruction in its wake.  Dante mentioned a nice web site for checking the sky conditions – the NASA Global Hydrology and Climate Center (http://weather.msfc.nasa.gov ) which has satellite global composite water vapor images.  Well, I know that Dante very meticulously studies the predicted sky conditions before joining the star parties and once he decides to go, you can really bet that the skies will be clear!

True enough, the skies were clear with excellent seeing conditions when we arrived at the TGPM and we wasted no time in eating our dinner at the canteen.   James and the rest of the guys arrived a short time later to join us for dinner.  All of us then proceeded to the observing site where we set up our equipment.

This time we had no trouble doing a polar alignment since Polaris was easily visible and with assistance from James set up my GP-DX mount for imaging.   I just acquired a T-adapter for my Canon 300D and I attached it to my Celestron 8 inch SCT.  For my imaging set-up, I attach my Canon DSLR camera to my laptop using a USB 2 cable and operate the camera with a  remote control software.  I find it easier to look at the images from the LCD screen of my computer rather than thru the camera view finder. I can also adjust the camera settings easily via the laptop.

For my first target, I decided to shoot the Andromeda galaxy (M31).  I have a 6.3 focal reducer in my SCT and was able to fit most of Andromeda in my field of view.   Yup, James was right in describing how I got very excited when the images of the galaxy appeared on my LCD screen.  Allen, our expert visual observer helped me center Andromeda on my screen and we attempted doing longer unguided exposures of up to 2 ½ minutes.  Well, I think I got a passable snapshot of Andromeda for the first time. It would be interesting what images I could get with my Stellarvue AT1010 and my MX5C CCD camera.  I think I’m about ready to try out my CCD camera for the next star party.  I would also like to try guiding using my new Celestron radial guider and EP reticle.

I also took images again of the great Orion nebula, taking both slightly longer exposures (still unguided), and a shorter exposure to view the Trapezium region.

For my last image, James again came to my aid to help me image comet Machholz.  I got a 1 minute exposure before the sky finally got covered with dense clouds.  Well, I’m still quite satisfied since this is my first comet image ever!

I would again consider this a successful, albeit short ALP star party.  We went home happy and contented but raring to go again for the next session.

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