Impromptu Star Party Report for January 20, 2026
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Wayne Baggett
Jan 21, 2026, 4:24:42 PM (11 days ago) Jan 21
to howardastro
Hi,
In what was possibly the coldest star party ever run by HAL -- the
temperature started the night at about 23 degrees Fahrenheit (-5C) and
ended at about 5 degrees (-15C); see the attached plot of temperature
(red line) from a data logging device I use -- seven intrepid HAL
members came to Alpha Ridge Park for last night's impromptu star party.
There were some clouds early on, after a beautifully clear day. I
suspect that the clouds were mostly airplane contrails blown in by the
jet stream, but I cannot be certain of that. They cleared out by about
8:30pm, though, and the rest of the night was clear. Transparency was
about average after the clouds left, and the seeing was not very good.
Everyone was imaging tonight; there were no visual observers except a
family of apparently former HAL members who dropped by for a few minutes
to see the nonexistent auroras. They unsuccessfully tried to capture
the auroras with a cell phone and were thus imaging, too. Bill used his
ZWO Seestar S50 to image the Orion Nebula (M42) and the Pleiades (M45),
but the clouds thwarted his efforts to a large degree. Ruth and her
husband, Eric, used a ZWO Seestar S30 to image the Pleiades, also. Todd
imaged the Orion Nebula with his William Optics 91mm refractor, and Jose
imaged Bode's Galaxy (M81) and the Cigar Galaxy (M82) with an Apertura
8-inch Carbonstar RC telescope. I spent the entire night imaging the
Crab Nebula (M1) with my 8-inch RC scope; I have attached the Pixinsight
Livestack image of the R-filter after cropping and applying a separate
stretch to the data. Gary left as I was talking to everyone and I
didn't find out what he was doing, but it was good to see him.
I finished my imaging at about 2:00am, then collected by flats and
packed up. I locked the park gate at 3:35am.
It was nice to see all the members who came out for the night; hopefully
we can get together again soon, hopefully under warmer conditions.
Wayne B.
In what was possibly the coldest star party ever run by HAL -- the
temperature started the night at about 23 degrees Fahrenheit (-5C) and
ended at about 5 degrees (-15C); see the attached plot of temperature
(red line) from a data logging device I use -- seven intrepid HAL
members came to Alpha Ridge Park for last night's impromptu star party.
There were some clouds early on, after a beautifully clear day. I
suspect that the clouds were mostly airplane contrails blown in by the
jet stream, but I cannot be certain of that. They cleared out by about
8:30pm, though, and the rest of the night was clear. Transparency was
about average after the clouds left, and the seeing was not very good.
Everyone was imaging tonight; there were no visual observers except a
family of apparently former HAL members who dropped by for a few minutes
to see the nonexistent auroras. They unsuccessfully tried to capture
the auroras with a cell phone and were thus imaging, too. Bill used his
ZWO Seestar S50 to image the Orion Nebula (M42) and the Pleiades (M45),
but the clouds thwarted his efforts to a large degree. Ruth and her
husband, Eric, used a ZWO Seestar S30 to image the Pleiades, also. Todd
imaged the Orion Nebula with his William Optics 91mm refractor, and Jose
imaged Bode's Galaxy (M81) and the Cigar Galaxy (M82) with an Apertura
8-inch Carbonstar RC telescope. I spent the entire night imaging the
Crab Nebula (M1) with my 8-inch RC scope; I have attached the Pixinsight
Livestack image of the R-filter after cropping and applying a separate
stretch to the data. Gary left as I was talking to everyone and I
didn't find out what he was doing, but it was good to see him.
I finished my imaging at about 2:00am, then collected by flats and
packed up. I locked the park gate at 3:35am.
It was nice to see all the members who came out for the night; hopefully
we can get together again soon, hopefully under warmer conditions.
Wayne B.
A. Michael Phipps
Jan 21, 2026, 5:56:18 PM (11 days ago) Jan 21
to Wayne Baggett, howardastro
Hello Wayne,
Nice report. Sorry i wimped out. Hopefully i will make the next one.
Mike.
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