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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Star Party Observation Session

13 June 2011

8:00 pm - 11:00 pm

An actual clear night is forecast...

I will set up the C11 Scope Monday, the 13th of June at 8:00 p.m. by the Adler area area to catch Saturn, the Moon and maybe some other astro treats....including two passes of the International Space Station at magnitude -.2.3.

A clear and comfortable evening is rare....come out and say hi and share the skies with us.

[Paulie pchris00]

I'm torn about where to be tonight. If it's clear, I will probably be at Adler, but the forecast keeps being downgraded. Tonight is also the CAS general meeting, and is being held at the Calumet Astronomy Center (basically the Conway Observatory site). I think the point of having the meeting at CAC is because we are giving public tours of all three facilities, including Purdue Calumet's NIRO observatory. I've been in it once, just before it opened, and would love to go in there again to take pictures. If it's clear this evening, I have a decision to make. Heads, Adler; Tails, CAC. Sound fair?

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Paulie,

We gonna have cupcakes.

[Paulie pchris00]

Sold.

I can't argue against cupcakes. ;D

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Righteous!

(Now...I really hope they arrive...! )

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

UPDATE:

Radar shows that there are storm clouds to our west...heading east.

But...it's a small patch and should pass thru. On the other side of the mass are clear skies.

I'm confident that we will have decent skies this evening...party cloudy is good...but clear would be better.

[Paulie pchris00]

I've been watching that too. It seems to be growing, and where it looked earlier like it would stay north of the Wisconsin state line, it looks like it's mass is growing southward. I wasn't much concerned about it before, but it's not acting like I want it to.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Well, unless it's down pouring by 7:30 pm....I'm committed.

Your long drive is always appreciated, but if it looks iffy....your call.

[patrickm]

Baseball for me tonight. Have fun!

[Paulie pchris00]

Jun 13, 2011 11:50:13 GMT -6 patrickm said:

Baseball for me tonight. Have fun!

If that's what you call it...

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

I say the cloud mass to our west....

...will skirt us.

We may get some back lash....but partly cloudy for the session.

Yep...that's what I say.

[patrickm]

Jun 13, 2011 11:56:37 GMT -6 Paulie pchris00 said:

Jun 13, 2011 11:50:13 GMT -6 patrickm said:

Baseball for me tonight. Have fun!

If that's what you call it...

Somebody will be playing baseball at Wrigley.

[patrickm]

Five extremely bright ISS passes tonight! First pass starts at 9:05 pm in the South. twisst.nl/38339

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Partly cloudy skies mean more time to make new fans of the Chicago Astronomer....and Red Velvet Cupcakes/Scones

The evening did not develop as we hoped, with mostly high clouds obscuring our targets early on...but indeed later, the haze thinned enough to catch some pretty good Saturn views. But, I had people coming out and I was committed.....I have never been disappointed setting up a telescope.

My new M.0. is that when skies are visually poor for a regular observation session, that I will set up here, by the Sundial - just north of the Adler. It's the best view of the skyline anywhere...and I can take great pics with my friends, visitors and fans. For exposure, this is the spot. Great foot traffic, fellow photographers and a wonderful backdrop.

Dig the differences of the two pics here. About a half hour apart, the first mostly have the lights turned off on the skyline, but the second, the lighting is starting to pop on.

I arrived little early than 8:00 pm to set up and work the finder scopes, (they work very well, but I think I need to relocate them on the OTA...I think... ).

Early on, visitors arrived to investigate what was going in the sky tonight...."anything special going on?" The C11 impresses, in height, size and it's just a massive piece of astronomical equipment.

I met Bill, a radio announcer who was my first friendly visitor...

The Moon was just starting come out from behind the Adler dome and American flag, but still a bit too hazy.

I met up with two new visitors who arrived with telescopes to have me assist in setting up and usage. I wish I took a few pics of them, but I was a bit too busy between setting up the beast and attending to the visitors. The skies did not look promising, and they left early after some basic primers on the best use and a successful lesson... A 4.5" reflector and a 60mm refractor were the instruments.

About 8:30 pm, the Moon made it's way passed the Adler dome and I slewed over to catch it. Hazy and softened by the high cloud haze, it was much better than just 20 minutes before and still made good impressions along the terminator...and popping in a variable polarizer, brought out much needed contrast. But, every once in awhile, the skies allowed clear views of the lunar surface...and our visitors were amazed at the texture, shadows and ripples on the surface.

At times, a long lined formed at the scope...

A fun group of young people stopped by to peek, chat and discuss mysteries of the cosmos...

When the clouds were thick in front of the Moon, I swung the scope around to the skyline and counted the rivets on the Sears Tower Antennae. Here, the Main tube, the 90mm and the 60mm all were utilized peeking at the skyline. This evening, each scope was bringing a good view of the Moon at different magnifications and I was able to share the views with more than one person at a time.

The young crew would like to come out often and join us for future Chicago Astronomer sessions and to just talk cosmology and related topics. I hope they do too.

001st Dist. Chicago Police made a good presence - and we always enjoy sharing views of the heavens with detail/District personnel...

Lovely Cate came by with Red Velvet cupcakes with creme cheese frosting...

Oh man...they are delicious!!! Having one now as I compose this post...

Talking astronomy with visitors is always great fun....

By this time, Saturn popped out...and even though it was still hazy...a remarkable view of the planet was had. With the new collimation and cleaned optics, Saturn was sharp and detailed. My power pack ran out of juice, as I wanted grab a shot and needed the tracking. Next time.

(It can only get better with final collimation...it's still a bit off, but I would like the assistance of a fellow Chicago Astronomer for this.)

Titan of course was visible, but other satellites were about the planet. The ring transit was remarkably clear...and on a lousy atmospheric condition evening too!


Chicago Astronomer fan from the start in 2004, Brian and Clair stopped by to see what Joe was up to...and brought some scones for me - (I like it when tributes are offered to the Chicago Astronomer... ;D )...

I had the phone alert me to the ISS flyovers...but we saw...none. The horizon hugging clouds prevented any sightings and as the elevations were not especially high, we missed out.

At 11:00 pm, after a full evening on this great location on a below desirable sky...time to break down the site. We made a lot friends this evening and hope they join us in future sessions of the Chicago Astronomer...

Now...for some breakfast scones....!


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Update:

Bill sent me his shot of me focusing on the Moon....

Very cool...Thanks Bill!