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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

First Mini Star Party of the Chicago Astronomers
19 April 2007

The day held promise of a clear night for a good start to the Chicago Astronomer observing season. By 5:00 pm, it was a certainty of good skies and both time and motivation were good. I called fellow Chicago Astronomer Steve Cosgrove to see if he was game for a session this evening. He was and it was on.

We met by Chicago Astronomer site #1, right by the Copernicus Statue next to the Adler Planetarium. I like it there as I can park right next to the set up site, and a good place to interact with the public. Steve brought out his portable refractor and I with my trusty reflector.

The day was warm while the Sun was out, but by dusk, the winds picked up and a cold north wind buffeted us. But we stayed regardless as twilight brought out fantastic colors and a good Lunar and Venus conjunction lay before us.

The evening shades of dusk offered many good opportunities to photograph the pair with ever changing background hues within a very short period of time.

All images in this narrative was taken with my Canon Powershot S3, and the close up of the conjunction with 12x magnification.

Views of the crescent moon were crisp and clear this evening, but the gusty winds made prolonged viewing impossible.

The horrendous lighting around the Adler Planetarium casts a ghastly greenish glow around us and our telescopes.

I had to don on two jackets and my CPD cap to keep warm, as I did not dress for the cold weather. Steve was well prepared and looked like the Grim Reaper!...

People came up to us and wondered what we were looking at. Gladly we showed them Saturn, Venus and the Moon. Steve did more showing than I on this session, as I was really more interested in photographing the event.

Steve's refractor shown silhouetted against the Chicago sky and focused on Saturn, also proved a good scope for catching the sinking Orion Nebula in the muck. We could only make out three of the four stars in the trapezium. The nebula itself was quite faint and diffused, not at all as great is it is at zenith.

Here one can catch the red glow of the concentric targeting rings of the Mighty Rigel Star finder. I don't know how I ever got along without it. Far superior to the heavy and bulky Telrad finder or feeble red dot systems.

By 9:00 pm, Steve had called it quits and packed up his gear. I had noticed that the Lunar/Venus conjunction just might make it to the Sears Tower and I decided to stick around and see if I could capture the encounter.

I always enjoy Moon shots, and especially crescent ones. The light play over the limb and the ghostly Earthshine on the dark side is quite haunting. I look forward to it each month and like to set up the telescope between the crescent and full Moon for public viewing.

It looks like the ecliptic will pass right behind the Sears tower after all and even tho it was quite cold now, I prepared for the frame shot of Moon, Planet and Earth bound building. Here the Adler Planetarium's Sundial makes a nice anchor.

Success!... ;D