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[atomant]

Enjoy the company of several hundred other Starnuts on September 8, 9 and 10 at Astrofest 2005.

Registration ends Aug 25th.

www.chicagoastro.org

No astronomical equipment required. Just healthy eyes and a whole lotta friendly starnut enthusiasm.



Here's a picture of Milky Way from Astrofest observing site in Vana's Farm.

[stargazer]

Adamant are you going this year. We are going. Lets get together and observe together. Let me know what you think.

Becky

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

I didn't know Yoda was making an appearance...

[stargazer]

Who's all going from the forum. I'll be there. Just look for the blue cannon. I would love to meet any members from here.

Becky

[atomant]

Hi Becky,

I plan on attending Astrofest. Last year to max my chances of clear skies, I went on a Thursday.
I set camp in the little off shoot I think called Mars Alley.
It would be great to have a Chicago Astronomers group.

fyi I'm also thinking of attending Prairie Skies for first time. The old Astrofest site.

[stargazer]

Hey Bill

Look me up at Astrofest. Ill be somewhere near the Observatory. Im the one with the blue scope. If you look through here youll find pics of the scope. cant miss us.

Becky

[atomant]

Hey Becky,

That's cool, if I remember, I think the Observatory is right where the Mars Square Observing Field starts.

This will be the first time I will "cheat" with a GOTO mount. I will also bring my Dob for some good ole starhopping.

I would love to find Pluto.

Look forward to seeing you there!

[tim]

Hi
do I have to register to just visit astrofest?

Tim

[atomant]

Hello Tim,

Astrofest, being one of the largest star parties in the Midwest, requires registration.

The on-line registration is closed but you can still register on-site. You save more money pre-registering though.

If you miss this year's Astrofest, don't forget there is Prairie Skies Star Party at the end of the month.

[stargazer]

Well guys Im getting ready to go to Astrofest this weekend. So I will not be on the puter until Mon morning. Were leaving thur morning. If anyone want to find me just look for the blue scope and the tent with a white easy up in front of it. I also have a green van. Im going to go to a couple of the presentations one on Fri for Cj and one sat for schools. Hope to see you all there.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

I wonder.....

I wonder how our Chicago Astronomer members attending the 2005 Astrofest are enjoying their experience right about now.

Hope to know soon!

[Al Degutis]

admin said:

I wonder how our Chicago Astronomer members attending the 2005 Astrofest are enjoying their experience right about now.

Hope to know soon!

Hmmm... no word yet. Strange.

Did anyone make it back?

I did get some info from my neighbor Dave who attended AstroFest. This was his first visit to the new location (the old location is where Prairie Skies will be held). He said the light levels, shade levels (i.e. trees to shade the tents for sleeping) and food weren't as good as at the old AstroFest site. He was so disappointed that he's going to go to Prairie Skies to make up for it.

The only redeeming point was that he got to see a 14" Tscope in person. He ordered (and paid for) an 18" Dobsonian Tscope about six months ago. Apparently Ed, the manufacturer of the Tscopes, takes a long time to build the scope (I've heard the typical turnaround is one year ) but everyone raves about them and the high quality.

[atomant]

Hi Fellow Starnuts,

Unfortunately for me, I was a little under the weather at Astrofest.

I missed a few things this year:
- checking out the flea market
- checking out the talks [maybe next year for radio telescopes]
- checking out 20/20 Telescopes' entertainment [maybe rock n roll like Tainai Star Party next year]
- checking out the cool equipment and fellow starnuts.

With temps reaching the 90's [ever try broiling in a tent]
and crops of ragweed dominating the corn field, I was a walking zombie during the day.

I arrived late Thursday afternoon and settled in the Mar's Observing alley. The forecast was for clear but hazy skies for the next two nights.

I brought along the following:
- Orion 15 x 70 binos on Sky Window
- Orion 6" reflector on Vixen GOTO mount
- Vixen 8" cassegrain on Tak GOTO mount

Early Friday morning around 3am, the skies finally cleared. Mars and the Winter stars were taking over.
I did a quick view with my binos as a thick fog quickly settled onto the field. It was eerily cool!

Friday afternoon, Arvind and former co-worker of mine, Mitch joined me at Mar's Alley. Arvind brought along his Meade 5" GOTO reflector. Mitch took control of the Sphinx GOTO I tried my hand at controlling a scope with a laptop aka GOTO. Having attended Astrofest since 98, this was the most high tech I've ever been. Starhopping has always been my m.o. However, I must say I was glad to have GOTO capabilities at this year's Astrofest.

As twilight hit, everyone started targeting at the beautiful moon and setting Venus. However, the heat had done its toll, the usually discreet light domes grew tall and wide tonight. My favorite spot, the steam from the Teapot was washed out. The haze made starhopping difficult. With GOTO, we were able to enjoy observing our favorites and find a few obscure objects. Halfway through the night, we took a break from our equipment and went light bucket hunting.
Size does matter! Good dosage of DSOs. Note: the night was very dry, not a sign of dew. Rate: 7/10

Saturday, Arvind had to head back into civilization.
Here's a shot of him with his dream scope.


At the Saturday night buffet dinner, I ran into fellow C.A. Mohommed Sarwat. He had just come for one night. Sarwat brought along his roof prizm binos. I remember at Adler, his binos were able to place Venus, Mercury and Saturn in same view.
The skies were clear but very hazy. We decided to do more light bucket hunting tonight. Memorable images tonight: very comfortable view of Hercules Cluster through Vixen binocular telescope and fantastic view of highly magnified Ring Nebula through JMI scope.
Rate: 6/10

Can't wait til next year!