Impromptu Star Party Report for June 3, 2026

[Ernie Morse]

Hi all,

Wednesday's impromptu star party at Alpha Ridge park was a great night for visual observing and imaging of some of the showpiece objects of galaxy season.  Five HAL members were present to enjoy the clear skies, pleasant temperatures and the company of fellow astronomy enthusiasts.

Transparency was better than average (SQM-L reading of 19.28 mpas at 11:15 PM, 20 minutes before moonrise).  I was working on evaluating seeing via a highly-magnified star image on the 5-point Environment Canada scale, and I'd say that the seeing rated a III.  This page shows an animated GIF of the 5 levels:

http://handprint.com/ASTRO/seeing2.html#EC

José U. imaged M51 (Whirlpool Galaxy) with his Carbonstar 150 Newtonian, while José G. Imaged M101 (Pinwheel Galaxy) with a Seestar S50 and Shrikant imaged M104 (Sombrero Galaxy) with his 72mm AstroTech refractor and a DSLR camera.

Dick was working with a new 127mm Explore Scientific refractor on a Sky-Watcher equatorial mount.  He achieved a good polar alignment and viewed the great globular cluster M13 in Hercules.

I started out observing four challenging double stars in Lynx and Leo with my 8" Celestron Starsense Explorer Dobsonian.  I moved on to a trio of galaxies after the end of astronomical twilight.  One of them was NGC 4414, which Stephen O'Meara claimed was bright enough to be a good target for small telescopes in suburban skies in his guide to the Herschel 400.  Unfortunately, I found it to just be on the threshold of visibility.  Ditto for NGC 5363, but M64 (Black Eye Galaxy) was a little better.  I moved on to fine globular clusters M3 and M5 and finished with the striking yellow-orange and blue double star 24 Comae Berenices after moonrise.  I simultaneously imaged NGC 4565 (Needle Galaxy) for an hour with my Vespera II EAA scope.

I locked up HALO, verified all doors of the restroom building were locked, turned on the park lights, locked the park gate and departed at 12:40 AM.

Ernie