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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

The Chicago Astronomer "Observe the Moon" night Moon Party

08 October 2011

observethemoonnight.org/

The sole Chicago recognition of the "International Observe the Moon" event will fall with the Chicago Astronomer crew...and we are at the ready...

I will set up scopes Saturday, the 8th of October at 6:30 pm...just west of the Adler Planetarium building. The C11 of Course will be on hand...but I'm thinking about the 8" sewer Pipe Dob scope. It really needs to come out more often, but I need a Chicago Astronomer to handle that ungainly beast...!

We will explore the lunar features, point out some highlights and enjoy a well placed lunar orb for this session.

And of course....since Jupiter is making a good showing earlier and earlier, we will slew the mighty C11 beast over east for some Jovian fun.

Stop by and enjoy this rare great stretch of weather for much appreciated clear skies and telescope time with the Chicago Astronomers.

[Centaur]

I could have come up there today (Friday). Train schedules are meager on weekends. I wish everyone well with the Saturday Moon party at the Adler and around the world! I'll be viewing from Arlington Heights. Let's hope Indian Summer continues.

BTW, perhaps in future such announcements could be emblazoned with dates in the international date format, ISO 8601, actually used by astronomers, e.g. 2011 OCT 08 (or less clearly 2011-10-08). Both the American and European/US Military (the type often seen here) formats are chaotic. Only the international date format rationally begins with the most significant digit on the left and ends with the least significant digit on the right. That greatly aids in sorting dates with a computer. Astronomers are pretty smart.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

I do apologize well in advance for this...



But it is Lunar themed and sent to me by a Chicago Astronomer.

Sorry...

[Centaur]

Well, Joe, I'm a romantic; I like the Moon too. Will those two characters be performing at your Moon party on Saturday?

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

If so Curt, I would have to laser 'em.

For the good of the session.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

We could also catch some nice Draconid meteors this evening as well.

Look to the skies.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

220 Chicago Astronomer Visitors attended to...

The 2011 "International Observe the Moon Night" was a complete success...and probably the most attended star party we have ever conducted.

I arrived on-scene at 6:30 pm...and already, we had fans looking for us and new a participant to the Chicago Astronomer crew. Tom, a fellow Adler Planetarium Telescope Facilitator joined us for this session, bringing his 8" Meade SCT...

We had 3 SCTs and 2 refractors this evening...and fortunate that we had many scopes on-site...as I would have been swamped without. The lines started early and we all start on the Moon....

Chicago Astronomer Support Crew member and new crew photographer Maria, has taken on the primary responsibility of documenting our sessions, leaving me free to attend to our guests. With Tom and I starting out early, Chicago Astronomers Patrick, Linda and Steve joined in as the evening progressed...with the refractors grouped together away from the SCTs...something that just happened...

It was a very busy session...with one eager visitor after another to our scopes and discussing astronomy, telescopes and lunar features. I had the Sky & Telescope lunar map up and it was handy to reference what they were observing in the eyepiece. I switched back and forth between low and high powered views for our guests upon request and interest...

Jupiter soon peeked over the Adler building and so different scopes stayed on the Moon, some on Jupiter and I picked out other objects such as binaries and the E.T Cluster...so did Patrick. My on-board targeting laser always seems to thrill our visitors...and even I dig it bunches...

Old familiar faces make a return and have become regular Chicago Astronomer fans..and my Twitter, Facebook and email notification requests have jumped up steadily.

And we continue...

I tried to visit the C.A. crew members throughout the session, but sometimes it was just impossible to get away from the scope. Fortunately Tom, Patrick and I were within shouting range of each other, checking on what we were targeting and guiding our visitors to all the scopes...including to the exclusive refractor alley section...

Sometimes, there would be a brief break from the lines and crowds and I evaluate... but soon enough we would get another wave of eager sky lovers, some who saw our scopes and parked - and we begin again...

A short Firework break...

I rarely wear printed shirts, but this evening I wore a light pollution t-shirt this session, for dark sky awareness...

Here, we examine the intense concentration of light pollution around the Chicago/Indiana/Wisconsin area on my t-shirt, (a gift from a fan).

And...

A return visit from Astronomy student and new Chicago Astronomer fan Angel...bringing her Mom all the way from Northwestern Indiana. I showed her first Binary system, (Alcor/Mizar) and open star cluster, (E.T.). They both were entranced. Here, Patrick is showing the Andromeda Galaxy.

It was now 9:30 pm and we still were going strong...

Long time Chicago Astronomer fan Hiram and good pal came in from the distant suburbs to join us this evening...

He has a great Old-School Classic Orange 8" Celestron that should be taken out more frequently.

I kept asking Maria if she was taking count with our counter...and she was...already past 150 visitors!

Back to astronomy...

By 10:00 pm, I asked around if we were set to break down the site and with the crowd thinned out, agreed. We started to tear down, but of course a group shot first...

Our Chicago Astronomer crew for this night: Patrick, Linda, Myself, Maria, Steve and Tom.

Solid!

But, not over yet....

Patrick was the last scope up and still servicing our visitors as all others were put away and long gone...

We wait for Patrick to conclude and it was now close to 11:00 pm and park closing time. With the police chasing everybody out, (not us of course), we keep him company, with Chicago Astronomer TomLee making a last minute showing.

This session was non-stop high energy and barely time for a break. With the Adler closed, we were the only game in town...to the great appreciation of our visitors. Many were new to the Chicago Astronomer, but quite a few follow the announcements of our events and star parties.

I always say that anytime with the scope is good, be it solo or with hundreds...each with it's own pros and cons...but it's all good. All smiles, laughs and hugs for this session and a great shout out to my fellow Chicago Astronomers who came out and made for a great time sharing urban skies together.

Final count for this Observe the Moon session...220.

Sweet!

It only can get bigger and better!

[patrickm]

Holee smokes! Six scopes, no waiting. OK, some waiting. We had over 200 people look through our scopes tonight! A record for my scope for sure. Am sure Joe will bust the full narrative, but am pretty sure a good time was had by all. Once again, my main regret was not getting to hang with the cool refractor kids. Someday...

Observed Moon to great delight, Pleiades, Jupiter+4 to even greater delight, Double Cluster, Owl Cluster, & spent time with Andromeda.

Like all faint fuzzies, Andromeda viewing was challenging. I enjoyed sharing it with those who were up for the challenge. For viewers with some patience, I just ask, explaining how to see it in the eyepiece as well as how huge & distant it is does lead to greater appreciation of such an ephemeral public viewing object. I think faint DSOs are not for everybody in a highly public setting like this, but for astronomers & viewers who have a little bit of patience, I found the experience highly rewarding for us.

Another highlight for me was showing the Moon to an elementary school teacher who had just started a Moon section in her class. This occurred during group photo time and was more my priority than the photo by far. They were illegally parked & really torn but could not afford a ticket on a teacher's salary. I know I made y'all wait. Sorry, gang, but I haul this stuff down there way more for interested viewers than group photos. They felt pushed away by the photo, and I struggled to tell them it was OK to stay. "But that guy wants us to leave!" It was awkward for all parties. I guess if a similar situation occurs in the future, I would feel much more comfortable just being excluded from the photo and being allowed to attend to the visitors or just having my corner be an action shot. Running off a school teacher made me feel icky. x2

This was a minor blip on a really terrific night. So many people saw so many cool things for the first time. Never been more happy about attending a public astronomy session!

On return home, I ran into a possum--a real one.

Attachments:

[patrickm]

Wow! Nice write up, Joe, but nicer photos, Maria! Kudos!!!

Attachments:

[patrickm]

In other news, while struggling to break down, I caught my telescope/OTA in midair as it rolled off the dovetail mount. I do not know why it happened or how I caught it, but I did.

Also, one of my clutch locks is locked! Since I could not disengage it, I couldn't get it into its case. Joe kindly carried it to the car for me. Will have to take apart. May be stripped. :-(

Thanks to Joe, Maria, & Tom for hanging out with me while I fumbled around & for helping get my stuff to the car! You rock.

[magic612]

What a great session! 220 people - holy cow. That beats even the 170+ session when I first started. I like the pictures Maria took too - those shots that are somewhat from above (I'm assuming from Adler's steps) get a much better sense of how many people are really there at times.

I was at Little Red Schoolhouse last night - brought a scope, but there were so many already in the parking lot when I got there, I became more of a laser-pointer / night sky facilitator than anything. We had more scopes (12 or so), but fewer people (I'm guessing 75 or so observers) - Joe, you had more people but fewer scopes! Guess I should have headed northeast instead of northwest, but it was their last session for this year.

Next one will be with Joe at Adler!!

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

The "above the crowd" pics were taken on the grassy knoll. I ran up the incline - hoping not to slip - in a slight lull at my scope and snapped a couple, while Maria was using the auxiliary camera at another group. Narratives are good, but a pic tells more.

And on the pic matter...

A star party got to end sometime...and after five solid hours and over 200 people...I/we cannot attend to the last minute stragglers who arrive near park closing/scope tear down and/or illegally parked visitors. I even turn down Chicago Police while tearing down the site quite often. It's a shame, but some are always excluded at the end of all Chicago Astronomer events...and with the potential of future opportunities of bookings and gigs - we will serve more urban sky lovers with teamwork than independent efforts . I feel the final Astronomer working crew shot at the end of a session is worth it - and took all of one minute...and she still got views.

Too bad that the teacher felt put out, but a card with encouragement to contact any of us or attend a future Chicago Astronomer Star Party Adler site/Horner Park would have been good. A legal parking spot would have been even better, then she could have stayed till the end...like the small group did.

But...

Nobody is forced to participate in any activity - Chicago Astronomer crew member or visitor. A simple no thanks is sufficient for pics or anything else. And...It's all cool.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Some nice emails that came in today.....

Bigs up to @astronomerjoe for showing me The Moon & Jupiter through the telescopes outside of the planetarium on this gorgeous night!

Bridget Marie

Hi Joe,

Thank you for showing me and my girlfriend the Moon with the powerful lenses and seeing the craters. Jupiter was good too!

I will come again.

Jose and Sofia

Joe
Thanks for letting me look thru your telescope. I had a great time and add me to the list.

Andres

Joe,

I never knew you could see things from the city. I could see the rings on Jupiter clearly and the moons too. Thanks and hugs.

Cassandra

LUNAR PARTY!

Hi Joe,
Wish we could have spent longer, but I'm glad we went all the same.

Best,
Becky

[RobbW]

Sweet gig (and visitor count), fellow CAers! Too bad I had to miss out on such an epic event. But, I was busy with my own crowd at a birthday party Saturday night. I just happened to still have my scope in my car following Friday night's star party in St. Charles. The host was ecstatic when I offered to set it up for the party guests.

[Paulie pchris00]

A few thoughts. The first thing I noticed was the T-shirt... and I like it.

Astronomers were in high demand everywhere Saturday. I was asked to work at three different sites for InOMN, including with Chicago Astronomers, but had to turn them all down. I wanted to do a hometown session, which I will get to shortly. Calumet Astronomical Society had a Girl Scout event in Country Club Hills, and in the west or near-northwest suburbs (I've forgotten exactly where). Indeed, people like us were in high demand all over the planet for InOMN 2011.

I feel bad for the teacher, but the line has to be drawn somewhere. It's unfortunate, but we do what we can. I could have easily been out until 11 PM or later Saturday, but I had to start packing up to go to work around 9:30. Sorry, but sometimes that's just how it goes.

I love that laminated S&T Moon map. I used mine often this week, as much for m own benefit as the hundreds of visitors I attended to this week. It's a great resource to have on hand, even though most of us have some sort of digital app that can go into even greater detail.

The pictures tell it all, really, but narrative gives the subtle details. 220 is impressive. Over this summer, I have seen Chicago Astronomer grow, well, astronomically. I'm proud to be a part of it, and thanks to Joe and every crew member and fan for making this such a great group.

Joe, Northwest Indiana is those lights that can be seen just across the Lake from Adler. It's not a foreign country, and for most of us, only about an hour's drive. Most of us NWI Hoosiers strongly identify with Chicago. Most of us don't mind driving "all the way from Indiana." Still, if you could pass along my email to Angel, maybe I can set up an observing session that's closer for her to get to. [e-mail]

Now, for a little taste of the Valpo InOMN 2011 session before I link to the full story on my blog.

Since the date of InOMN 2011 was announced a few months ago, I'd planned to do a session at Valpo's new Central Park Plaza, sometimes referred to as Valpo's Millennium Park. The lighting in the area make it hostile for astronomy, but it's central location in the city makes for decent foot traffic. I spent four nights there from October 1st through the 6th, getting familiar with both the location and our Moon.

I invited my friends through Facebook, my atheist Meet-up group, and asked for any interested astronomers to join me on the private CASX boards, but otherwise didn't promote it. I had a few people interested, and Calumet Astronomical Society member Jeff offered to bring out an extra scope. Hillary came along as photographer and astronomer, giving us a total of three crew members, and four telescopes.

Hillary and I had pizza at Greek's Pizza, just on the other side of the park, then walked over at 6 PM to set up. Jeff arrived as we were hauling out our gear.






Hillary and Jeff.




Already starting to attract attention.












Hillary and Jeff stayed with the Moon all night, but once Jupiter appeared over the rooftops on Lincolnway, I positioned my Dob to show it as well. Nobody counted, but the three of us easily attended to over one hundred visitors before calling it quits just before 10 PM. . Between all the telescopes, red lights blinking everywhere, and me flashing my green laser around the park, we drew in a crowd larger than I think I could handle on my own. Thanks to Hillary and Jeff for helping out, and making it a fantastic night for all.






Parting group shot.


Full story and pics here: pchris00pnc.blogspot.com/2011/10/inomn-valpo-oct-8-2011.html

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Joe, Northwest Indiana is those lights that can be seen just across the Lake from Adler. It's not a foreign country,

They are in some strange time zone vortex.

I'm ascarded...

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

More emails from Chicago Astronomer fans...

Joe this is Gerardo Moran I met you on saturday night at the planetarium and I just wanted to know of other viewings that you guys might have in the future so I could take my kids again.

Thank you!

Sent from Yahoo! Mail on Android

Hi Joe,

My name is Joe too and I met you last Saturday by the lake.

I want to get a telescope and do what you do. I had fun during the Moon viewing and would like to know about your next gathering. How often is that?

Joe

Joe

I would like to take pictures of the planets, like you explained to me that you do. I was thrilled at seeing the Moon and Jupiter through your big telescope and want to capture this. Maybe during the next time you are out there you can show me how.

Thanks!

Allison

Hey Joe,

Put me on the list please, I want to join you all again.

Pam

Mr. Guzman

I want to thank you for letting me look through your wonderful telescope and explaining what I was looking at. I never saw these objects before. They were very beautiful and I will remember that evening for a very long time.

Thank you.

Kim

Hi Joe.
Saw you at the Planetarium Saturday night as you were putting your telescope together.
Enjoyed looking at the moon. I'm a beginner and was asking questions such as were do I find a telescope that I can
pictures of the moon.
I was reffered to the Calumet Astronomical Society. There they teach astrophotography to beginners.
Anyway, do you have a membership? If so, how much?
Please let me know.
Thanks.
Dante

[patrickm]

Joe, I spoke w/Dante at length. Please forward me his address. Thanks!

[patrickm]

In response to my Tweet:
"Bummed @adlerskywatch does almost no nighttime outreach, even during public events like Int'l Observe the Moon Night. What a curious waste."

@adlerskywatch replied via Twiiter:
"@pkmonaghan Just a note: We did have outreach events going on that evening with local groups, including the Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago."

and

"@pkmonaghan Looks like an amazing event! We originally had a private event scheduled that night, so apologies for our building being closed."

So in the interest of fairness, they had something going on somewhere. From my side, I can only get asked by pedestrians so many times if we work with Adler and why isn't Adler out there before saying, "I don't know and I wish they were." But if they were doing stuff with Girl Scouts, good on 'em. Had I seen that pop up on my Twitter feed, I would certainly have RT'd that and probably passed that info along on Sat night.

I love Adler & am a member, but wish they did more stuff about stars, you know, when you could actually see them!!

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Unfortunately, the Adler, like most other museums, is hit by the budget crunch. Keeping the building open means staff, heat/electricity and building engineers = $.

The Chicago Astronomer is happy to take up the slack. I recall before I became a Adler Telescope facilitator and just on my own solo...I had my trusty
4.5" reflector out by the Copernicus statue for the Mars mania event of a few years past. I literally attended to thousands during those couple of nights - lines stretching for a block. Later, after joining the Adler, staff asked me if I was the one working the scope. They were caught unprepared for the masses that arrived by the hype, and appreciated the extra help by siphoning off the crowds.

But, for proper identification in the future, I'm considering C.A. placards hanging on each scope to help our visitors better relate with our C.A. crew and source of the outreach activities.

[patrickm]

Sticking a couple of employees out front with telescopes on an international astronomy night and a couple back at Doane. Drop in the bucket. I'd bet a call for volunteers from Adler crew would net enough. Keep the building closed.

Just sad. That's all.

I, too, was happy to pick up slack. It was probably my most enjoyable CA star party night!

[erikruud]

Oct 12, 2011 13:53:21 GMT -6 Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe said:

But, for proper identification in the future, I'm considering C.A. placards hanging on each scope to help our visitors better relate with our C.A. crew and source of the outreach activities.

Will they have red blinky lights? ;D

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Every scope at a public star party should have red blinky lights....for awareness, safety and because we can.

[erikruud]

Agreed!

We had red blinky lights and green glow sticks at the Saint Charles event. Rob even had a red LED rope light to help guide the visitors across the field.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

I wish there were pics of your St. Charles session.

[RobbW]

Sorry, Joe. My fault. I've been busy trying to prepare for our upcoming cruise. Haven't had much time for checking the boards or posting anything. I'm hemming and hawing about whether to try and post the pics anyway. I didn't take many pics and you can't see much of anything anyway. It was dark. I refused to use a flash (Besides Gomer would have yelled at me if I had. Apparently he yelled at the St. Charles Park District coordinator who was taking pics of the event using a flash!). And my P&S digicam doesn't do well in low-light conditions. I was kicking myself for not bringing my "big" camera, but I didn't have any charged batteries or a spare tripod that could hold it. In the end, I wouldn't have had time to take that many pics anyway.

If it will make you happy, I'll try to get a couple of pics up this weekend. But I'm giving you fair warning, you can't see much in them.

[erikruud]

Maybe we can get the pics from the park district rep.

I noticed the flash a few times, but i was never looking towards the camera when they took them.

Gomer was blinding people with the view of the moon in the 23" dob, the flash couldn't have been worse.

[-=CROMAN=-]

Erik.. There are pics posted on iskywatch.

elenin.paranomalo.us/2011/10/hickory-knolls-discovery-center-star-party/

Only a few snaps that I made prior to it getting dark and a couple from the park district folks. Robb still has to process his images. Hopefully I'll have a brand spankin' new dslr by the next northwest burbs event. In the city Joe is the camera god. What we should do is lure him into a van with a cardboard cutout of vanna white or somebody and abduct him to our NW burbs location. There he will be forced to take pictures for the evening.

[erikruud]

Cool! My scope and I are in the 12th photo.

I think gyros, pizza or donuts would work as well to lure Joe.

[patrickm]

Oct 14, 2011 12:49:32 GMT -6 -=CROMAN=- said:

What we should do is lure him into a van with a cardboard cutout of vanna white...

Oct 14, 2011 13:21:17 GMT -6 erikruud said:

I think gyros, pizza or donuts would work as well to lure Joe.

I am on Day 6 of project "home sick in bed" and needed a laugh.

Perhaps a life sized cut out of Vanna with muffins and RC?

Joe certainly has the no flash astro people photo thing nailed.