As was announced at the Virtual AL-Con, we have a new Observing Challenge Special Award.  In cooperation with NASA’s International Observe the Moon Night, we are presenting this new challenge.  The target night for your observations is October 16, 2021.  For complete details, visit our website by clicking here. 

There is also a downloadable certificate for all who participate in the Internation Observe the Moon Night.  Click here.

HOW TO WATCH ALCON ’21 VIRTUAL

Sessions start at 3 pm and 8 pm on August 19, 20, and 21.

FACEBOOK

https://www.facebook.com/Astronomical.League/

EXPLORE SCIENTIFIC

https://explorescientific.com/pages/explore-alliance-live

YOUTUBE

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtvCHdJ1vOx0Tt4vR0g2taA

The Observing Program Division has provided another tool to help you find resources from the Astronomical League that will help you with your pursuit of an Observing Program Certification.  It is a quick-cross-reference set up by Observing Program with links to the AL Store page for specific manuals and guides.

As new guides or manuals are developed this page will also be updated.

Although not as close as the Grand Conjunction, and admitedly not as grand, on August 18, 2021, we will be treated to a pretty cool conjunction of Mars and Mercury.  They will be under 8 arcminutes apart, but may be a bit of a challenge.  At sunset, they will be at 10 degrees (one fist-width above the horizon) and 273 degrees azimuth (basically west).  They should fit in one field of view for most telescopes at modest power.

Although not part of any of the Astronomical League Observing Programs or Awards, well worth the effort to see this jewel.

An error has been found in the manual.  If you have one of the recent manuals, please check the last item in the table on page 51 (the Brightest Objects in M51 Galaxy Group.).  It should be: UGC 8683.

If you are, then please read this announcement.

When you submit your logs to the Observing Program Coordinator, please ONLY submit observations related to that specific Observing Program.  Extra observations from other Observing Programs may confuse the Coordinators, and may result in the submission being returned to you. 

Thanks.

– The Observing Program Directors

If you are working on one of the Astronomical League’s Observing Programs, it is important for you to understand the specific definitions that will help you meet the requirements of the various Observing Programs.  These web pages will help guide you:

• https://test.astroleague.org//observing.html
• https://test.astroleague.org/terms-common-usage-observing

They discuss what we mean by Seeing and Transparency.  It discusses Manual Observations vs. Go-To Telescopes vs. Remote Telescopes.

Happy Observing.