Impromptu Star Party Report for April 19, 2026

[Ernie Morse]

Hi all,

Four HAL members attended the impromptu star party of April 19^th at Alpha Ridge Park.  The weather forecast was pretty accurate, as skies were clear until midnight and the temperature was 39 degrees by that point.  Transparency was very good (19.29 on the SQM-L, the best reading since 19.40 on August 30^th of last year).

José was imaging galaxies M81 and M82 in Ursa Major with his Apertura Carbon Star 200 Newtonian.

Bianca was imaging the Leo Triplet, also with a Carbon Star 200.  Unfortunately, the mount started making a disturbing amount of noise after a meridian flip, and she stopped imaging in order to begin the troubleshooting process.

Shrikant was also imaging the Leo Triplet with his AstroTech 72mm and Canon DSLR camera.  The live-stacked image on his laptop looked really sharp and clear and I was impressed with the visibility of the dark lane in NGC 3628.

I observed some very southerly double stars (UZ Pyxidis and zeta1 Antliae), the globular cluster M3 in Canes Venatici and the Ghost of Jupiter planetary nebula (NGC 3242, Caldwell 59) in Hydra with my 8" Celestron Starsense Explorer Dob while imaging M101, the Pinwheel Galaxy, in Ursa Major with my Vespera II EAA scope.

I locked up HALO at midnight, just as clouds were rolling in.  I closed and locked the gate with help from Shrikant, who graciously stayed a few minutes later to assist, at 12:05 AM.

Ernie