The APL Astronomy Club’s Friends & Family Star Party will be held on Friday, April 15th from 8 pm to 10 pm or so, depending on sky conditions. Rain date is May 13th.  Sunset is at 7:45.  Club members will be setting up telescopes prior to that, so if you are interested in club telescopes or their setup feel free to come earlier.  Setup will likely commence by 7 pm or so.  We expect to have several types of telescopes set up, including:

1. Refractor – Stellarvue 102 mm Apochromat
2. Reflector – Orion 12″ Dobsonian
3. Schmidt-Cassegrain – Celestron NexStar 6″
4. Aplanatic (Schmidt-Cassegrain with corrector for flat field and coma-free) – Celestron EdgedHD 8″
5. Binoculars – Celestron 15 x 70 on parallelogram mount
6. Schmidt-Cassegrain with Mallincam video camera and display – Celestron 9.25″
7. 125 mm Maksutov or 6″ RV Reflector

Where: On the lawn by the Big Dish, outside the security fence, on the west side of the main campus.

Clothing: dress as if the temperatures will be 10 degrees colder than what the weather prognosticators are calling for! (standing around looking through telescopes is not the most heat-generating activity you can do at night) Hats and hoods are most helpful in keeping warm.

Star gazing (and telescope viewing) is always dependent and contingent upon the weather. Please check back to this post as the date draws near to verify whether or not the star party has been cancelled due to inclement weather (rain or significant cloud cover). We will be putting weather updates here as necessary.

APLers and their friends and families are all invited to attend. Club members will have several telescopes out for your viewing pleasure, but feel free to bring your own optics if you have them – the more, the merrier!

PLEASE: NO FLASHLIGHTS! (red light or red cellophane covered flashlights would be perfectly fine, though) Also, turn the screen brightness *down* on personal electronics.
Sunset: 7:45 pm EDT

End civil twilight: 8:13 pm EDT

Moonset: ~3:30 am EDT April 16

Moon phase: First Quarter (~50% illuminated)