hey Joe, I'm really hoping to get out to one of our star parties in the near future. I'm not sure if I'll make it tonight, though. In either case, and for future reference, where are we parking now? Is the new security officer from last year still keeping us off the old sidewalk parking?

Is it still coin meters or do they have those fancy schmancy pay boxes now? I don't usually have many quarters laying around.

Unless something changed, it is expensive and in effect at night.

How did it go?

We saw the ISS go over.

I got out on my driveway with both scopes tonight. The sky was very clear with only occassional bands of thin clouds passing through. I observed Saturn, Arcturas, Spica, and the Bee Hive Cluster. Itried for M92 and the Hercules Cluster, but they were too low and lost in the trees and haze.

Erik,

Many pics coming up and full story,

...but here is a taste...



A beautiful time with the crew.

Wow, I thought I had light problems on my driveway.

I did notice some light intrusion while looking at the Bee Hive. At that angle the nearest streetlight was hitting the top inch or so of the inside of the OTA.

Hey all. I had a great time last night, too, in spite of the chilly weather, the crappy traffic, and the light bombs evident in Joe's pics. It was my first time out with my scope since last November, and it was great to see everyone again and meet new crew! I would like to apologize for my utter lack of preparedness last night. It was a very last minute decision to trek downtown for the party, and I really didn't have everything ready to go. I just kind of threw all my space junk into the new FatMax storage devices and headed out.

I was very disappointed in two of my new technologies that I have been waiting months to get out and try: wi-fi telescope control via iPod Touch and a Solar System Color Imager vidcam. I dropped the ball on both accounts and wasted too much time last night trying to get them up and running. Instead of spending so much time looking down at my iPod and laptop, I should have just deep-sixed them and spent more time looking up at the cosmos. I promise to install, learn, and fully test my new toys before my next time out with the crew.

However, at least one new toy worked properly for me last night. I broke out my new William Optics binoviewers and spent some time with our friend Saturn. Now that I think about it, last night was actually the very first time I have seen Saturn with my new-to-me C8 scope. I remember thinking to myself, "Dang, that is the clearest, brightest, and most-detailed view of Saturn I've ever seen in my scope!" I just chalked it up to exceptionally transparent skies even though we had some wispy clouds in the area. But it turns out it was due to the better light-gathering capabilities of my new scope. Sweet! And viewing Saturn with the binoviewers was even sweeter. It was almost a 3D experience, and it was so much easier on my eyes to view with both of them instead of constantly squinting with one eye closed. That always gives me a headache after a couple hours.

Anyway, thanks for the fun last night everyone. I can't wait for my next night out!

You never know what's going to happen at a star party and who you gonna meet. Sometimes it's just you and the telescope, (which really ain't too bad), and other times it's one visitor after another talking astronomy all night, (which also...ain't bad.)

This session we had old friends who we haven't seen in awhile and two new Chicago Astronomers join the regular crew...



Chicago Astronomers Steve & Bill arrived on-site, as well as Patrick and Robb...bringing equipment and setting up. Very cool.

We also met two new Chicago Astronomers. Tom Lee, who posts on the forum and will be taking a astrophotography class soon...



And Croman....aka Rich..



Who brought along his brand new 10" Zhumell Dob for his first star party and has been wanting to do this for years.

And.....

Fred, who works with me at the Adler running scopes, stopped by with his wife Joyce...




In total, we had three SCTs, two Dobs and a refractor to enjoy this session.

The day was a bright and sunny one, but by 5:00 pm, the skies threatened to cloud over and hamper the gathering. Looking up, I saw "X"s in the sky....



Chemtrails or contrails, that's a discussion for another thread...

Arriving on-site by the Adler, Chicago Astronomers Paulie, Hillary and Rich were already there and ready to go before kick off....



We start to assemble our scopes and I look over Rich's 10" dob..and amazed at the size of the Telrad Zero-mag finder he has! I bring out my Rigel to compare...



This session was to have a bright flyover of the ISS at magnitude -3.6 and at 83 degrees high. Setting my Smartphone to alarm two minutes ahead of time, at 8:30 pm, the space station was spotted and made a great viewing from the WNW...



My crummy stand by tripod cannot do 90 high, so I missed the arc, but...it was a nice added attraction.



The razor thin crescent Moon was low to the horizon and we took advantage of it and the dusk to view and share it with folks who came to our site...



I also passed out Astronomy Magazine's Moon maps, beginning Astronomy and other literature, including the Chicago Astronomer flyer throughout the evening...



The lunar maps will come in especially useful as the Moon waxes and we can point out various lunar artifact. Should be a hit.

Our attentions turned to Saturn, making a nice showing of rings now and at least three Satellites if not four were visable..




Saturn always looks good in any type of telescope, but I think Saturn was best in C.A. Patrick's 9.25 SCT and C.A. Steve's 13mm Nagler combo. Crisp transit of the rings against the planet was observed...



And so we continue with jumping around to various celestial objects, some by go-to and others by nudge...







C.A. Robb had brought along his William Optics Binoviwers and viewing Saturn with both eyes was dramatic...



He had intended for some video display, but sometimes things just don't go as planned and a software failure was at fault.

Also, staying with Robb....



We both got the Stanley FatMax 4 in 1 Workstation to house and transport our telescopic equipment. He digs it, I just don't have enough room in there for all my gear. But, it is a handy tote about and i think I may keep it for our sessions.

And we continue the session, but it got rather cold for a spring evening....



I didn't do much observing myself, instead attending to visitors, chatting with new astronomers and enjoying the evening. No rush this time...we will just call this a shake-out session, as some with new scopes and others were reacquainting with their old ones.

This was a good session with brand new members and old astro buddies. As the nights get warmer, we will be out more often and attend to hundreds if not thousands of visitors before the observation season is over in the fall.

I anticipate the action.... ;D




Our crew for the evening:


Bil, Patrick, Steve, Rich, Robb, Tom and myself.

And of course...

...Paulie and Hillary.

We should do the Chicago Astronomer crew photo op while everyone is on site and before we lose them to the time.

Make it so.