(Viewed 1,753 times)

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Chicago Astronomer Star Party

Tuesday - 01 November 2011

Tuesday, the 1st of November looks like it will be a completely clear night...and I'm anxious to set up a scope to take advantage of the opportunity. I'll set up by 6:00pm...unsure when I'll call it quits for the night.

Jupiter will be making a nice early showing and if the crowds are small, I'll do some Jovian imaging.

I had thought about a Halloween night session, but perhaps not the best of night's to be setting up a scope. Hi-jinks and all.

(Note: There are also the two cosmology lectures going on during this time - and I rather spend time with the scope. But if the weather degrades...then it's the lecture and session cancelled - stay tuned.)

If free stop by and share the skies.

[patrickm]

Probably can't make it but have fun!

[magic612]

I have a prior commitment that night - hope it stays clear for you!

[barbarai]

I vote for star party!!

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

It's looks like a solid go for tonight's star party with clear skies - 1/4 Moon and Jupiter will be enjoyed.

Be there.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Winding down the the 2011 season with nice final public sessions....

I hate to end the observation session and will squeeze out star parties till the lubricants gel in my drives. This one was a nice easy gathering.

Arriving at 6:30 pm, we already had Chicago Astronomer fans about...including Christina, Kevin and their very cool son...who always helps me out in setting up. (I don't know how to spell his name...so I hope I get an email on that.. )

I started out on the quarter Moon, riding high, looking good and a group had gathered even before I could finish setting up the C11...

Chicago Astronomer Bill arrived, along with C.A.s Barbara, Mac and Maria. I did not expect a large crowd this evening, but I was pleasantly surprised with our growing number. I made new fans and saw old friends making their way down to our site...

Long time Chicago Astronomer fans Eddie, Eddie Jr came by with their friend...Eddie.

Eddie Cubed.

Oh...and Death stopped by for a look...

Says all is good...


Jupiter earlier on was a bit too close to the hot roof of the Adler Planetarium's roof line...so I waited about an hour or so till it was higher up....

Not the best shots, but the breeze picked up as I was taking these...shaking the C11's dew shield something awful.

We had a ISS pass to enjoy....

At only 28 degrees high and -1.3 in magnitude, it wasn't the brightest pass we have observed...but nice as it disappeared into the shadow cone of the Earth.

And we continue...

Micheal and Kate stopped by for a visit. Michael noticed that the C11 looked different since the last time he viewed it...noticing the new OTA paint color and additional accessories attached....

I usually keep the 40mm wide-field 2" eyepiece in the C11 for the Moon and Jupiter, but if I find that one of my visitors is really enjoying the view and into astronomy, I'll swap it out for something more powerful and kick up the magnification for them.

C.A. Barbara was doing her job well as always, bringing people in and describing the session to our visitors...

I think my collimation needs a tweak, as images were just a bit soft, and could be sharpened up a tad. Perhaps I'll do a solo session before the cold arrives. But still, we were all enjoying the views in Mac's table top Dob, Bill's Refractor, (Thanks guys for coming out! )... and the C11 beast.

At about 9:30 pm, I closed shop and packed the tools of science away. C.A. Maria now a swift partner in setting up and breaking down - making for a quicker and easier post session breakdown...

We attended to visitors who shared our recent session at Columbia College, space geeks, astronomy buffs and long time fans of the Chicago Astronomer who follow via emails, Twitter and Facebook. Nice talks about astronomy/cosmology, U.F.Os and the usual... cost of the C11.

We had a total of 32 visitors...more than I expected...

This weekend's weather looks good for yet another end of season session(s).

Let's see...stay tuned.

[patrickm]

Great pics and report, as usual.

Joe:
How did you ever do anything without Maria and Barbara?!?

Mac:
Is that table steady enough for views? How does that hold up?

Sorry I missed it, but I had a good time much closer to my house.
p