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[patrickm]

Hi Friends, Neighbors, Friends of Neighbors, and Neighbors of Friends,

I can't believe it's been over a year since we last did public astronomy at our little Sunken Gardens Park!

We all know our warm evenings are numbered, so even thought it's a school night, tonight seems like a great time to get together and look at the cosmos. Even though it's a school night, the sun's going down awfully early, leaving plenty of time for kids to see the first quarter Moon, Jupiter, the Pleiades, and even the Andromeda Galaxy, our closest galactic companion, and still get their homework done before a good night's sleep!

Since both street lights are working, it might be a bit of a challenge, but nothing we can't overcome.

The Moon will be visible just after sunset. Jupiter should peak over Jeff and Bill's lovely home between 6:30 and 7pm. Andromeda Galaxy will be visible as soon as it gets dark enough, probably around 7pm, and The Pleiades should pop up over the home horizon at about 7:30. We should also be able to find the Double Cluster, the Owl Cluster, and who know what else we may see?

We will have a bonus flyover of the International Space Station to the north from 6:20-6:26. Binoculars would help a lot there, too!

I'll start setting up around six and stay out until we all get tired, so bring the kids and your binoculars if you have them.

I'm REALLY bad with names, so please (re)introduce yourself.

Sorry for the late notice, but the day got away from me. Hope to see you this evening!

[Paulie pchris00]

How did it go?

[patrickm]

We had a really good time! Beautiful weather. Beautiful Moon!

I caught the ISS pass by myself as I was setting up. A pretty good one, I thought. Nearly five minutes. I don't think they saw me.

I was way late pulling the trigger on the email, so only got one neighborhood high schooler who seemed only moderately interested. A few friends dropped by. Offered our neighborhood cops a view of Jupiter after I got set up, but they got a call just as I did and went off to serve and protect.

I did end up meeting many neighbors who were out for walks, a few of whom stuck around for over an hour and talked scopes, astronomy, the horrors of intro college astronomy weed out courses, cosmology, dark matter, galaxies, planets, and light pollution. Another neighbor suggested that space be allocated during park renovations for telescope area. I suggested that the grass was just fine but that the four street lights needed to be culled. Not holding my breath.

The Moon was the early favorite, but I lost it behind trees much too soon. After that, we hopped around, but kept coming back to Jupiter. Even though seeing was so so, Jupiter did not let us down and looked progressively better through the evening. Everybody split about 9:45 and I decided to pack up. Was in bed by 10:30. ;D There's the upside for staying close to home.

I got email addresses for three visitors who want to be kept up to date on neighborhood viewing, and two different people who expressed interest in perhaps buying new scopes. I offered to help where I could, and of course steered them to Chicago Astronomer for further advice and public viewings.

I had a really great time and for once I was not the biggest geek in the park. It was quite a fun night and I feel like we made the most of one of our last super warm evenings.

Sorry no pics, but I was solo and way too busy. Caine and Julia did come visit and bring me tea around 9pm. They stuck around for a bit and chatted.

Moon
(Moon of Earth in Aquarius)
Observed: Nov 1, 2011 18:45:06
"Fantastic views. Wish it had skirted the trees longer!"

C/2009 P1 (Garradd)
(Comet in Hercules)
Observed: Nov 1, 2011 19:15:52
"Tried to tackle this before people showed up. No luck. Street light super nova obstruction. :-("

Ring Nebula - Messier 57
(Planetary Nebula in Lyra)
Observed: Nov 1, 2011 19:25:52
"Surpsingly good considering the local LP. Good transparency!! Everybody was able to catch it."

Double Double - Epsilon1 Lyrae
(Double Star in Lyra)
Observed: Nov 1, 2011 21:00:59
"Looked good. Everybody able to see 4 stars."

Double Cluster - NGC 869
(Open Cluster in Perseus)
Observed: Nov 1, 2011 21:05:39
"A hit, as always. Many oohs and ahs."

Neptune
(Planet in Aquarius)
Observed: Nov 1, 2011 20:25:03
"Flinty blue but visible. Always a hit when distance & size are explained."

Uranus
(Planet in Pisces)
Observed: Nov 1, 2011 20:15:09
"Very pretty pastel tonight!"

Andromeda Galaxy - Messier 31
(Spiral Galaxy in Andromeda)
Observed: Nov 1, 2011 19:45:48
"Looked good. M32 also visible."

Jupiter
(Planet in Aries)
Observed: Nov 1, 2011 19:39:28
"+4"

Pleiades - Messier 45
(Open Cluster in Taurus)
Observed: Nov 1, 2011 21:25:08
"Good through finder"

Starfish Cluster - Messier 38
(Open Cluster in Auriga)
Observed: Nov 1, 2011 21:25:13
"Worst view ever. Way too low."

[Paulie pchris00]

Good report.

Pictures are nice, but not necessary. It's tough to get pictures running solo. (I also have the benefit of knowing the observation site, and can well picture the scene in my mind).

Out of curiosity, who was the biggest geek in the park if it wasn't you?

[patrickm]

Musician astronomy enthusiasts going back to school types. At the very worst, I was tied.

Felt guilty packing up without photos. The Force is strong.

[peetyg]

Patrick hope all is well. As i am still a beginner. i also have a celestron cpc edge hd. Are you using any light pollution filters on you eye pieces. The moon and Jupiter look great. But i seem to struggle on everything else.

thanks

Peetyg

[patrickm]

Hi Peety,

Not really. I find that most just dim the objects I'm looking at. I use filters on the Moon and even Jupiter, but most other stuff I leave alone. What are you trying to see? Some things don't lend themselves to urban viewing, like nebulae and most galaxies, while others hold up quite well, like planetary nebulae, open clusters & most globular clusters. Even these can be quite variable depending upon atmospheric conditions & location. Sometimes it's just a matter of learning how to look at the faint fuzzies that makes all the difference. Averted vision is an essential tool. Letting your eyes adjust and extra patience help a ton as well. If possible, saving the Moon to the end of the session helps preserve your night vision.

Joining more experienced observers helped me tremendously. Joe & the rest of the CA crew were and are FANTASTIC about this. I still learn something almost every time I go out with them. You are welcome to bring your scope and join us as a group or me individually next time and we can share views.

What have you tried to track down and maybe we can help?

You'll get there!
p

[peetyg]

Patrick you have always been very supportive. The other area that I would love to learn is astro photography. It seems that there is very little opportunity for class room education. Except in Indiana. Would love to find experience people to learn from. I look forward to meet you at some point. Thank you again for all your help.

Peety G

[peetyg]

patrick have you been able to view with the malincam. I am very intrested in this technology. The idea of seeing realtime color viewing is very intresting. Do you know anybody in chicago who has one. Have they been happy with this technology?

Peetyg

[patrickm]

Peety,
It all rolls downhill, I think. I've gotten so much help from kindhearted CA folk that it seems criminal not to share what they have patiently taught and the small bits I've learned the hard way. But thanks.

A pity there are not more chances to learn astrophoto in Chicago. I am ready to jump on the next Calumet Astro class that is offered.

I purposely put it off until I was better at visual observing. Too many things at once clog my brain. I think I'm getting close though...

p

[patrickm]

Nov 5, 2011 22:33:28 GMT -6 peetyg said:

patrick have you been able to view with the malincam. I am very intrested in this technology. The idea of seeing realtime color viewing is very intresting. Do you know anybody in chicago who has one. Have they been happy with this technology?

Peetyg

I have not. Me, too! I do not.

[patrickm]

A gift from Mt. Olympus! The large street light in Sunken Gardens is out again! And yet the clouds, a curse. Oh, the fickle Gods.

[Paulie pchris00]

I'm afraid I'm to blame this time.

astronomer.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=Equipment&thread=3468&page=1

[patrickm]

Bastard!

[magic612]

Not just you Paulie - I bought a 6" f-3.5 mirror and received it on Friday, so it's a delayed response from the Cloud Gods.