Post by Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe on Aug 17, 2008 23:43:24 GMT -6
Day After Full Moon Rise Party
17 August 2008
17 August 2008
Full Moon was August 16th, but schedules wouldn't permit a group viewing, so as we have done before, a "Day Late" session was scheduled.
Our usual site by the Adler Planetarium's south lawn was out, as construction in the area and related lack of parking prohibits any star party there. It was recommended that we travel north to the Montrose Beach area and set-up along the lakefront.
I met fellow Astronomers Steve, Rob, Carmen and Fred and we set up shop. I brought along my trusty kick-about 4.5" reflector and Steve his Ultra portable Mak.
Moon rise was scheduled at 8:08, but clouds and muck near the horizon obscured the actual rise by a few minutes. I spotted it first twice, once when it was peeking over the horizon and then covered, and again when it finally crested the cloud cover...which looked like a intense spotlight behind cloud cover.
The evening was very nice and warm and we all chatted amongst ourselves in all things astronomical and other subjects. I attached the Canon Powershot S3 to the finderscope and took decent shots of the day after full moon..
Jupiter was out and displayed good band and Satellite position. Two stars in the field made it appear that Jupiter had six visible Moons tonight.
It is always exciting to catch an aircraft transit the face of the Moon and I observed one just entering the frame. I hurried to snap a pic...and just caught the high flying craft and it's heavy exhaust...
;D
And with that, another observation session was over, but Rob and I stayed behind for awhile enjoying the warm summer night.
We will conduct another Full Moon Rise Session in September and prepare for the very favorite Harvest Moon. Hunters Moon in October...both quite cool.