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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Clear night Chicago Astronomer Star Party

Friday - 26 August 2011

This is a great stretch of beautifully clear weather we are experiencing now...and I got the itch to set up a scope by the Adler area tonight.

Not a lot to look at now, but I will squeeze the last bits of Saturn for the early visitors and some DSO's for the later ones.

I'll set up the C11 beast at 7:30pm by the west side of the Adler building and most likely remain till 11:00 pm.

This is a last minute decision, but if any Chicago Astronomer is free from family obligations, another scope would be great.

And...I think that Sunday evening will be a good evening as well to set up scopes.....think about it.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

And...

M101 has a brand new Supernova blazing.

I don't know if I can identify it through the Chicago muck, but we are gonna try.

And...

We will enjoy two ISS passes and a very bright -9 Iridium flare.

[patrickm]

Without easy, bright targets, what you gonna show?!?

IF I do make it out tonight, my body will keep me closer to home. Seems like a good night for semi-private urban DSO hunting to me.

HAVE FUN and Clear Skies!
p

[patrickm]

My understanding is that the supernova won't hit amateur scope magnitude for a while, so good luck!

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

We are still a go for tonite...even with the clouds hanging about.

Weather maps shoe the front moving over us soon...and with it, clear skies.

Chicago Astronomer supporter Hector will be joining us and bringing his new telescope.

Nice.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

A solid evening of public star gazing...

I met a great many new friends at this session...and fans of the Chicago Astronomer made a special trip to come out and join us.

I arrived a bit late, about 8pm. I don't like like to set-up in the dark, as mentally, I feel that I'm late. Odd thing. The weather was overcast when I left, but forecast called for clearing skies..and indeed it did. Not the best seeing, but good enough for simple targeting.

But I did manage to grasp the last few minutes of Saturn and shared with people who already gathered around. C.A. Tom was on scene too and attempted to take some Saturn shots, but we were not set-up for imaging and people were waiting. I recommended to Tom that on Sunday, when we are back out, that he should take the Saturn pics right away as soon as I finish setting up.

Joining the fun this session, was new Chicago Astronomer member Hector...

...bringing his new 4.5" shorty Newtonian.

And C.A. John arrived later in the evening with his 5" Nextar SCT...

Saturn early on is still good, but quickly sets in the muck...

And even not as razor sharp as she can be, our visitors were still amazed and wanted more. But this is the awkward time in between the setting ringed planet and the rise of mighty Jupiter. But, there is still enough DSO's to pick out in the meantime. I split Mizar/Alcor and the Alberio systems, the E.T Cluster, Vega and Arcturus for our visitors throughout the session, as did John and Hector.

I set up the Astro-brella for some much needed shade and shared it with my fellow Astronomers...

And we spent the evening meeting some pretty nice people, discussing astronomy, end times, the new Supervova in M101 and the new discovery of the jet black Carbon planet.

And we take shots with our new friends...

We also had two ISS passes and a bright Iridium Flare for our session. I managed to capture the last pass of the ISS of the evening...

It made a low pass over the city and disappeared in the shadow of the Earth.

And we continue...

Every single targeted object was enjoyed and spurred on questions about what we were observing. The Alberio system looks mighty nice in the C11, kicking up the magnification with the 26mm for a 107x view. But mostly, I kept the power limited for this session, using the 40mm for 70x views of our targets. Star lore and mythology was shared, as cosmology thrown in.

Many of our guests were just in awe at viewing, first hand - the diamond of Vega, the whimsical E.T. cluster, the ancient eye test of Mizar/Alcor, the bloat of Arcturus and the color differential of the Alberio system. I did not target M57, The Ring Nebula, as for the average visitor, it's not what they expect. For astronomy geeks like Chicago Astronomers, it's always a treat. But I did get a special request from Chicago Astronomer fan Yvonne...

...if we could pick out a nebula. Weather did not permit good viewing of the smoke ring, but I promised her if she came back out on Sunday, that I would show her it...as well as Saturn and a neat crescent Moon.


I had a very good time, unsure what to expect on this last minute decision to hold a public star party. I counted about 50 visitors for this session and I did get requests to set-up via email and Astro phone...and very glad I did.

Our crew for the session...

Myself, Hector and John.

Thanks for coming out and sharing your scopes with Chicago Astronomer fans...