Impromptu Star Party Report for October 27, 2025

[Ernie Morse]

Hi all,

Four HAL members took a gamble that Alpha Ridge Park would stay just out of the range of the massive cloud band to the south, but that bet didn't pay off.  There were thin, high clouds covering most of the sky right from the start, and they gradually got thicker, especially in the southern sky.  It was a bit colder than I expected as well, getting down to 42 degrees by 9:30.

Shrikant attempted to continue his imaging of comet Lemmon with his Astro-Tech 72 mm refractor, but he was pretty much foiled by the cloud cover.  Mike and Brian also attempted comet imaging with a 122mm Svbony refractor, with similar results.  They moved on to imaging the Iris nebula in Cepheus, as the northern skies were somewhat less hopeless than the southern.

I managed to get in some limited visual observing with my 8" Celestron Starsense Explorer Dob.  I started with a quick look at comet Lemmon and then moved on to 7 double stars in the region from eastern Ophiuchus to western Capricornus, highlighted by 70 Ophiuchi and 59 Serpentis.  Double star expert Sissy Haas describes both stars in 70 Oph as being bright tangerine orange, and the 59 Ser pair as lucid yellow and royal blue.  I wish I could see that much color in doubles! I did get at least a hint of those colors, especially in the 70 Oph secondary, which seemed very orange.  I then moved on to open cluster M52 and the striking red-blue optical double STTA 254 (aka WZ Cas) in Cassiopeia.  I finished up with the Double Cluster in Perseus, and the very large open cluster Stock 2 (the Muscleman Cluster).  The latter is not in the Starsense Explorer app's database, but it was easy to locate it starting from the Double Cluster, following the directions in Stephen O'Meara's book "The Secret Deep." 

I conceded defeat to the clouds and the cold at 9:30, about a half hour after the other attendees had left.  Well, maybe not defeat exactly, as I did see some good stuff.  I'd say I fought the clouds and cold to a draw.  I locked up HALO and the park gate and departed a little after 10:00.

Ernie