I was ready for a long drive to Arlington Heights last Friday, and even with an hour stuck on the Kennedy, it was longer than I expected. I wrote down directions form Google Maps before I left, but I forgot them at home! Doh! Oh well, even just writing them down had the way stuck in my brain, since it was almost entirely highways.

I was impressed with the size of the library: it's at least as big as the Valpo, Portage, and Chesterton libraries combined! We found the lecture hall, and it was nearly empty. Not long after we sat down, a man came in and started talking with NASA lecturer Jim Kovac. I was pretty sure, but I had to go over and ask. Chicago Astronomer Curt present and accounted for!




Centaur and pchris00! I'm so proud!


Curt came and sat with Hillary and me while waiting for the presentation. We talked a little astronomy, but mostly old-time Chicago baseball. Just before the presentation began, the room filled, and empty seats became valued real estate.

I was impressed with the exoplanet presentation, and I actually learned a few things. It may have been somewhat advanced for somebody with no background knowledge of exoplanet discoveries. I tried to keep Hillary in the loop when I thought Jim was talking about things she might not understand, or what I found particularly interesting.

Hillary and I cut out a little early so I could find the astronomers outside and get set up before the rest of the crowd came down. There were about a half dozen telescopes set up, mostly pointed at Jupiter and the Moon. At least two dozen people were already waiting for viewing. I found out later that once the lecture hall was full, organizers sent everybody else outside to the astronomers.

I took up a spot at the end of telescope row, nearest to the library, and subsequently the first stop for most of the people who had attended the lecture. I tried showing the star Fomalhaut first, because it is an easy to find star with a known exoplanet. Curt suggested showing Jupiter or the Moon, and of course he was right. Fomalhaut wasn't getting the "oh wow" reaction that I love to hear. Chalk up my bad decision to being to much of an exoplanet geek.

Thanks to Curt's graphic of the Galilean Moons, I could tell the visitors which moons were which. Few asked, but I was ready for those who did. There was quite a line for about half an hour. By the time everybody had gone down the line of telescopes and were about to head home, I turned my telescope to Uranus, and offered views of the distant ice giant. Other than the laughs at my pronunciation of "Uranus" (which didn't at all sound dirty), the seventh planet was quite a hit. The last few visitors to leave were treated to the Andromeda Galaxy, too. Even under a street light, our neighbor galaxy was well admired by viewers.







A few of the local astronomers introduced themselves, and thanked us for coming all the way from Valparaiso. They even invited us out for pizza, but I wanted to join Joe down at the Adler, so I graciously declined.

It was a nice outing, with an interesting presentation, good weather for viewing, and nice folks out with their telescopes. The Arlington Heights library should be commended for having an astronomy night, and involving their local astronomy club. An estimated 250 people learned about new discoveries, and got well acquainted with our solar system and beyond.