Impromptu Star Party Report for April 27, 2026

[Ernie Morse]

Hi all,

Sky conditions were not great for last night's impromptu star party, with a persistent layer of thin clouds and bright moonlight.  It was a nice night for double star observing and troubleshooting equipment, though.

Ian stopped by to pick up the camera that he won in the HAL auction a few months ago.  He stayed for a while to keep me company while I was setting up and we had a nice conversation about remote astrophotography and general visual observing.

Richard was working on controlling an Orion EQ-26 mount via an ASIAIR controller, with a 4.5-inch Orion Starblast Newtonain reflector as the payload.  Unfortunately,  it didn't go very well and he left around 10:00.  His previous attempt was partially successful, so hopefully this was just a temporary setback.

I was working with my Orion Eon 80mm ED refractor and was very pleased with the result of the firmware update that I performed on the Sky-Watcher AZ-GTi mount over the weekend.  I did a 3-star alignment with Capella, Procyon and Spica and then pointed to the double star Cor Caroli as my first target.  Go-to performance and tracking were both great.  I hibernated the pointing model and parked the scope in home position when I went out to put the chain around the gate, and it still worked well when I returned.  I was able to split Izar at 112X (10mm EP with 2X Powermate) and was able to achieve a well-focused image at 153X (18.2mm EP with 5X Powermate).  I also observed doubles Castor and Porrima and saw the two stages of the Atlas rocket launched from Florida moving northward between my telescopic observations.

It started to get windy and cloudier around 10:45, so I started packing up.  I locked up HALO and verified that all of the other doors were locked.  I found the door for the utility room with the switches for the parking lot lights and bollards unlocked, so I locked it.  I locked up the park gate and departed at 11:20 PM.

Ernie