Astronomical League Of The Philippines, Inc.

22/03/2026

by: David Eicher

14/03/2026

The Astronomical League of the Philippines is pleased to invite everyone to our ALP 2026 Astronomy Experts Speaker Series webinar on “The World of Meteorites” by none other than Mr. David J. Eicher, Editor Emeritus of the prestigious Astronomy magazine. This will be held on March 22, 2026, Sunday, at 9:30 a.m. Philippine Standard Time (March 21, Saturday, 9:30 p.m. EDT, 1:30 UT).

Abstract: Meteorite collecting offers a fascinating area of the astronomy hobby, and you can collect, handle, and study pieces of asteroids or even of the Moon and Mars, and other faraway celestial bodies. This talk will present an overview of meteorites and meteorite collecting.

Dave Eicher is Editor Emeritus of Astronomy Magazine, where he was Editor-in-Chief for 23 years and a member of the editorial staff for 43 years. He now lives in Tucson, Arizona.
Dave has 50 years of experience observing clusters, nebulae, and galaxies. He was the founder and Editor of Deep Sky Monthly and Deep Sky magazines. He is also the author of 26 books on science and history, including 17 books on astronomy. Among them: Galaxies (Random House), The New Cosmos (Cambridge University Press), Mission Moon 3-D (with coauthor Brian May; London Stereoscopic Co.), and Cosmic Clouds 3-D (with coauthor Brian May, London Stereoscopic Co.).
He is a member of the boards of the Starmus Festival, an international science festival, as well as Lowell Observatory and the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association.
Dave is also passionately interested in minerals and meteorites and has a personal collection of more than 1,500 specimens.
In 1990, the International Astronomical Union named minor planet 1984 LJ as 3617 Eicher in recognition of Dave’s service to astronomy.

Register now for this free Zoom online talk using this link – https://bit.ly/4lvsf83 or by scanning the QR code in the poster shown here using your cellphone camera. After registration, please check your registered e-mail for the Zoom meeting link. See you!

15/02/2026

To celebrate National Astronomy Week 2026, with the theme “Rising Stars: Youth Leading the Future of Philippine Astronomy”, the Astronomical League of the Philippines is hosting a free online talk on picosatellites as part of its Astronomy Expert Speaker Series. The talk will be held on February 22, 2026 (Sunday) at 9:30 a.m. Philippine Standard Time (February 21, Saturday, 8:30 p.m. EST).
“Small Satellite, Big Opportunity: University Students Develop LEOPARDSat-1” is being presented by Sam Kohls, a Mechanical Engineering Technology student (Class of 2026), and Program Director of the CubeCats program at the University of Cincinnati. Sam will talk about their CubeCats program and give a technical overview of LEOPARDSat-1. He will also talk about managing such a project, given challenges such as their members being university students, and gaining and then retaining talented and/or passionate people especially as students move on, and their partnership with the Cincinnati Astronomical Society.
Register now for this free Zoom online talk using this link – https://bit.ly/4ktJuGk or by scanning the QR code in the poster shown here using your cellphone camera. After registration, please check your registered e-mail for the Zoom meeting link. See you!

16/11/2025

Next Sunday morning, November 23, 2025 at 9:30 a.m. Philippine Standard Time (November 22, Saturday, 8:30 p.m. EST), the Astronomical League of the Philippines is inviting everyone for a webinar on "How to Shoot Nightscapes and Time Lapses Simply", to be given by the noted astronomy author and astrophotographer, Mr. Alan Dyer.

Astrophotography need not involve complex, expensive telescopes and specialized cameras. Superb images worthy of publication in calendars and magazines are possible with the camera gear you might already own, and by using easy, simple techniques at the camera. Alan will review these techniques for capturing still images of star-filled nightscapes and Milky Way portraits, as well as for creating time lapses of the Milky Way's motion across the sky.

Alan Dyer is a renowned astronomy book author, astrophotographer, and lecturer based in Alberta, Canada. He is also a Contributing Editor to Sky & Telescope magazine, and a veteran eclipse chaser, having traveled around the world to see 17 total solar eclipses.
Alan’s photos and videos have been featured on Spaceweather.com, Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD), Universe Today, Forbes, National Geographic, TIME, NBC News, and CBS News.
He is a retired planetarium producer, having created shows for many years for star theaters in Winnipeg, Edmonton, and Calgary, Canada.
In 2018, the Canadian postal service issued a stamp featuring one of his aurora images.
The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has named the Main Belt asteroid 2002 QL58 as 78434 Dyer in his honor.
You can see Alan’s spectacular galleries of astrophotos and time-lapse videos, as well as his books, workshops/talks, equipment reviews/tips, blogs, and travels at amazingsky.com. You can also follow him on X, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, and Vimeo.

Register now for this free Zoom online talk using this link – https://bit.ly/48mOqYb or by scanning the QR code in the poster shown here using your cellphone camera. After registration, please check your registered e-mail for the Zoom meeting link. See you!

17/10/2025

For all budding and veteran astrophotographers out there, the Astronomical League of the Philippines is inviting you to join us on Sunday morning, October 26, 2025 at 9:30 am Philippine standard Time (October 25 Saturday, 9:30 pm EDT), for a webinar on "Astrophotography with Regular Camera Gear" to be given by Nico Carver, an astronomy educator and astrophotographer.

Shooting the night sky can seem daunting for the beginner. The mistake many make is thinking they should immediately attach their camera to a large telescope or go buy lots of complex equipment. In this presentation, Nico Carver will discuss how to use normal photography gear that you may already have for shooting the stars. With just a tripod, a DSLR or mirrorless camera, and a fast lens, you can start taking stunning shots of many of the brighter deep-sky objects, including popular nebulae and galaxies. Nico will also give a brief overview of Siril, a powerful free software for processing astrophotos and videos.

Nico Carver has always been a camera nut. After graduating from college with a degree in filmmaking, he has traveled around the world and first fell in love with photographing the night sky while shooting the aurora borealis, or Northern Lights, in Iceland. He now works full time in astrophotography education and runs a successful YouTube channel called “Nebula Photos” (www.youtube.com/) that aims to help beginners get started with astrophotography and offer reviews of the latest astro-imaging gear as well as advanced topics. You can see examples of his images at www.nebulaphotos.com.

Register now for this free Zoom online talk using this link – https://bit.ly/497S1eo or by scanning the QR code in the poster shown here using your cellphone camera. After registration, please check your registered e-mail for the Zoom meeting link. See you!

03/09/2025

The Astronomical League of the Philippines is inviting you to join us online via Zoom on September 14, 2025 Sunday 9:30 a.m. Philippine Standard Time (September 13, Saturday, 9:30 p.m. EDT) for a very informative and instructional talk on “Advanced Comet Imaging” to be given by Chris Schur.

This presentation is about catching the comet imaging “bug.” One should get into shooting fainter comets now while waiting for the next naked-eye one to come along. Chris will cover what comets can be seen currently, what telescope, camera, and guiding are required, and how to capture images and process them using the latest techniques. He will also discuss briefly about sharing and submitting comet photos online and in print.

Chris Schur has been photographing and imaging comets for more than 50 years. He now lives in northern Arizona where he maintains two observatories dedicated to comet and deep-sky imaging. His comet images have been published in every major U.S. astronomy magazine and several professional journals during the past 45 years. After a career as an industrial engineer, he is now pursuing freelance writing for astronomy and science publications.

Register now for this free Zoom online talk using this link – https://bit.ly/4lUtUmg, or by scanning the QR code in the poster shown here using your cellphone camera. After registration, please check your registered e-mail for the Zoom meeting link. See you!

22/08/2025

September 7-8, 2025 TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE

This coming September 7 just before midnight of September 8, there will be a total lunar eclipse that will be visible in the Philippines as well as Asia, Australia, Africa and Europe. This is the 2nd total lunar eclipse for this year 2025 but the 1st one which happened on March 13-14, 2025 was not visible in the Philippines and Asia.

The eclipse will start with the Moon entering into the penumbral shadow of Earth at around 11:28pm of September 7th with the Moon situated 68 deg high above the Southern horizon. Moon will enter umbra or dark shadow of Earth at 12:27am and gradually entering fully into the Earth's shadow at totality at 01:31am . Maximum totality will occur at 02:12am with the Moon at 50 deg high in the constellation of Aquarius. Totality will last about 1 hour 22 minutes. The Moon will exit totality at 02:53am and gradually exits the umbral shadow by 03:57am with the Moon still 27 deg high above the Western horizon. Lastly, the Mon will finally exit the penumbral shadow at 04:55am with the Moon still 13 deg above the Western horizon thus ending the eclipse in its entirely.

21/06/2025

The Astronomical League of the Philippines is inviting you to join us online via Zoom on June 29, 2025 Sunday 9:30 a.m. Philippine Standard Time (June 28, Saturday, 9:30 p.m. EDT) for a very interesting talk on “Astrophotography Is EASY! Basics for Beginners” to be given by Greg Redfern, NASA JPL Solar System Ambassador

This engaging presentation will teach the audience the basics on how to photograph the night sky using smartphones and digital cameras. Real images will show the results you can obtain following “Redfern’s Rules of Astrophotography” and basic equipment. You will also learn how astropics can be taken if you are at sea.

Greg Redfern has been an adjunct professor/instructor of astronomy for five different colleges since 1984. A NASA JPL Solar System Ambassador since 2003, he has shared NASA’s missions with audiences in person as well as on television and radio in the Washington, D.C., media market. Greg has also been the space reporter for WTOP Radio since 2006. His personal daily astronomy blog, “What's Up? The Space Place.com” has had more than 3.74 million views from around the world.
As a writer, Greg has written feature articles for numerous magazines and newspapers and has authored two books — “Cruise Ship Astronomy and Astrophotography” and “Astrophotography Is Easy! Basics For Beginners” — both published by Springer Astronomy as part of its Patrick Moore Practical Astronomy Series.
Greg has been observing and photographing the sky for more than five decades and collecting meteorites for years. He has used telescopes of all kinds and visited observatories, NASA facilities, and geological sites. His astrophotos have appeared in many publications and websites.

Register now for this free Zoom online talk using this link – http://bit.ly/3ZF5HIyor by scanning the QR code in the poster shown here using your cellphone camera. After registration, please check your registered e-mail for the Zoom meeting link. See you!

06/04/2025

Astronomy Experts Speaker Series 2025 featuring “Opening the Infrared Treasure Chest with JWST” by Dr. John C. Mather can be viewed at

https://youtu.be/PH4JWVblYW0?si=sJlkTyhRW85XjVIu

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Abstract:The James Webb Space Telescope was launched on December 25, 2021, and commissioning was completed in early July 2022. With its 6.5-meter golden eye ...

26/02/2025

This coming March 16, 2025 (Sunday) at 9:30 am Philippine Standard Time (9:30 pm EDT, March 15), the ALP Astronomy Experts Speaker Series will be having a Nobel laureate (Physics, 2006) for a speaker. He is none other than Dr. John C. Mather, a NASA Astrophysicist and the former Senior Project Scientist of the James Webb Space Telescope. Dr. Mather will talk on “Opening the Infrared Treasure Chest with JWST”.

Abstract:
The James Webb Space Telescope was launched on December 25, 2021, and commissioning was completed in early July 2022. With its 6.5-meter golden eye as well as cameras and spectrometers covering wavelengths from 0.6 to 28 micrometers, Webb is already producing magnificent images and surprises about galaxies, active galactic nuclei, star-forming regions, and planets. It extends the scientific discoveries of the great Hubble Space Telescope and ties the most distant galaxies to their origin story from the fluctuations of the cosmic microwave background radiation.
Scientists are using Webb to hunt for some of the first objects that formed after the Big Bang, the first black holes (primordial or formed in galaxies), and are beginning to observe the growth of galaxies, the formation of stars and planetary systems, individual exoplanets through coronography and transit spectroscopy, and all objects in the Solar System from Mars and beyond.
Dr. Mather will show how Webb was built, why it observes in the infrared, and highlight some of Webb’s most exciting current discoveries. The JWST is a joint project of NASA with the European and Canadian space agencies.
Dr. John C. Mather is a Senior Astrophysicist and was the Senior Project Scientist for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. From 1995 to 2023, he led the JWST’s science teams.
As a postdoctoral fellow at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, Dr. Mather led the proposal efforts for the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite in 1974-76 and came to the Goddard Space Flight Center to be the Study Scientist (1976-88), Project Scientist (1988-98), and Principal Investigator for the Far IR Absolute Spectrophotometer (FIRAS) instrument on COBE.
With the COBE team, Dr. Mather showed that the cosmic microwave background radiation has a blackbody spectrum within 50 parts per million, confirming the expanding universe model to extraordinary accuracy.
Dr. Mather received the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics along with George Smoot for their work with COBE

Register now for this free Zoom online talk using this link – https://bit.ly/3DbH6Tx or by scanning the QR code in the poster shown here using your cellphone camera. After registration, please check your registered e-mail for the Zoom meeting link. See you!