I'll be there Joe!

I heard about the Passing of Neil Armstrong's death late Saturday afternoon...and it really affected me. I recall as a kid, watching the Apollo 11 mission on black & white television with my parents. My less than science interested friends all wanted to play softball, than to watch the historic landing.

Idiots.

It was an exciting handful of days and nights during this mission. Dad even took some Polaroid shots of the screen....wish I still had them.

In some way, it was comforting to know that Neil was around, even though he rarely spoke about his experiences - we had an actual American hero among us. and a living reminder of what what the American space program can be.

His passing really disturbs me.

I hastily organized a last-minute Lunar Observation session by the lakefront, as I knew people would come out and want to talk about Armstrong and the mission.

Arriving by 7:30 pm, our visitors started to gather before I had set-up the scope and was not prepared. Regular Chicago Astronomer fans came down to join us...and a great surprise to have Chicago Astronomer Dave set-up his reflector and attend to the crowds - and with the assistance of Chicago Astronomer support crew members Maria & Barbara...we were set...



I had expected a good showing of sky lovers for this session, but we had a very good solid number of people arriving to catch a glimpse of the Armstrong moon.



Only having slept four hours the night before, I was not my usual cheerful self and quite annoyed at those, (Adults & children), who insisted on grabbing the scope, pushing it off target and ruining it for those behind them who are waiting. I just leave it where they pushed it...disregarding the "Oh...I can't see anything" ...having them walking away confused. Only then till the next person steps up do I correct the targeting. The people who witness this always tell their children sternly not to touch the scope...which is good.

But anyways...

People did in fact bring up the death of Armstrong and appreciated a telescope to view the Moon. I used the Tablet to bring up my HD Lunar Map and since it has the Apollo Landing sites - it was easy to show them where Armstrong took his first steps and then transfer the image to what they were observing in the eyepiece...



The weather was a gamble, as a large cloud mass was teasing us from the west, but the skies mostly held and we enjoyed scope time on the Moon...



Lunar questions answered by Chicago Astronomers throughout the evening's session...and identifying the landing of the Eagle crew for our visitors was an easy one. We chatted about the machines that took the astronauts to the Moon..and how Buzz paused at the foot of the ladder to fill up his urine bag...



We were thanked time and time again for doing this, as some came to the Adler for some activity regarding Armstrong, but saw none. And as it happens, we had cars parked illegally along the new "James Lovell Drive" that passes by the Adler. (When this happened is unknown.)

Here, I capture a couple of quick handheld shots of the Apollo 11 Landing site:



And the curious kept coming....



As an added bonus the session, we had a nice high & bright International Space Station pass...



At 67 degrees high, it lasted for quite a while...to the amusement of our guests.

And we continue, already at 9:30 pm....



There were brief pauses in between waves of visitors, where I got the chance to chat with C.A. Dave...





We sense a disturbance in the force....



Occasionally, clouds would interfere with our observations and C.A Dave would target other objects. I kept it tracking on the Moon and as the night progressed, the skies cleared nicely...



We could have gone on sharing views of the Moon for hours more, but I called it at 10:00 pm-ish...with still others wanted a peek.

Next time kids...

I am planning a "Full Blue Moonrise" on the 31st of August....as we are to experience two full Moons this month. If the skies behave, then we will dedicate that session to Neil Armstrong.

Time to close up shop with a stogy....



Dave, Barbara, Maria and I attended to 168 visitors for this last-minute organized Lunar Observation session. Thanks to the crew for making this a very successful public outreach event for the Chicago Astronomer.