(Viewed 1,074 times)

[-=CROMAN=-]

As an FYI.... We are having a star party at the Hickory Knolls Discovery Center in St. Charles Illinois this Saturday night, July 28th.

Everyone is welcome to bring a scope and share some skies. It would be nice to see some familiar...eh hem... faces. ;D

If you need directions, GPS coordinates, guilt trips, etc.... give Myself, Erik or Robb a shout.

[RobbW]

Hmm... will Joe bite?! Will he have any interest in bringing out the beast and showing suburbanites what a real man's scope looks like? Will he quash his fear of the burbs and trek to the far west? Will he stand tall and proud with his suburban astro brethren and point geekily to the sky? We must wait and see!

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

.....................giggle.

[RobbW]

Tonight's the night! Joe, quit giggling and just pack up your gear and head out!!! We would love to have the company of an astro rock star such as yourself!

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Robb...

Okays...I'll be there.

Please to provide details on the site, logistics, booze etc....

[RobbW]

Holy crap, it worked!!! Can't wait to see you there, Joe!

Okay, here is a Google Maps link of the observing site.

Not sure what route you will take to get there. So, I will just lead you the last bit of the trip from a major intersection. Get thy butt to intersection of Route 64 (Main St.) and S. Randall Rd. in Saint Charles (Illinois, that is!).

From there, take Rt. 64 west roughly one-half mile. As Rt. 64 slowly starts to curve to the right, Campton Hills Dr. will "Y" off to the left. Take a left onto Campton Hills Dr and keep heading west.

The next stoplight intersection will be Peck Rd. Keep heading left on Campton Hills Dr. About a quarter-mile past Peck Rd. will be Lynn Dr. on the left. Do not turn here. This is the fatal mistake that all first-time visitors to the Hickory Knolls observing site make.

Keep going another quarter-mile past Lynn Dr. to the next road on the left. This is an unmarked road that leads to an institutional facility. Turn left here!

Head down this unmarked road until you are almost to the entrance of the institutional facility. There is a gravel road that goes left. Take that left.

Follow this gravel road as it snakes left, then right, then left, then right again until you get to a big gravel parking lot.

Hooray, you've made it! Now, unpack your kit and get your gear set up!

No booze, unfortunately. I hope that isn't a deal breaker.

I plan to be there between 5-6pm as I want to set up for some solar observing beforehand. I think Erik Ruud is going to be there around the same time. Rich Wagner is planning to be there closer to 8pm.

[RobbW]

Site is the location of big, huge, wide-open soccer fields. Clear views in basically every direction.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

You mean people actually live out there in that wilderness?

Dang...!

But yes, I'll be there closer to 8pm myself...utilizing my trusty tablet to guide us safely to and fro. Can't stay too long, as I need to be at work early Sunday morning, but it'll be fun.

Who's the honcho leading this activity? (Thinking 'bout a pantless session here.)

See all in a bit....Yay.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

My maps say this is close to the Kane County Jail Complex/State Training School for Boys.

I have never been in a Chain Gang before.

[RobbW]

What do you think the "institutional facility" in my directions is referring to?! Not worry, Joe. It's nothing! Just don't go yelling "Jail Break!" at the top of your lungs and run towards the fence!

Seriously, though. It really is nothing to be scurred of, Joe! We're setting up on the soccer fields which are right next door. They have hundreds, if not thousands, of small children playing out on the grass right next to the facility every weekend. None of them has gone missing that I'm aware of!

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

I feel like wearing Sunglasses and a skinny tie.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

The Chicago Astronomer heads out for a star party at the Hickory Knolls Discovery Center in St. Charles Illinois

I had not planned in attending this star party as with little sleep since Friday and a long drive (for me)...and the skies were not optimal. But with Maria driving and my life schedule rather free now...let's do it. And besides, I haven't seen some of my astro pals in a long time.

Starting out later than I desired, The skies were good, painting pretty pictures, but in the west were heavy bands of clouds...bringing doubts on my excursion...

I had my map and GPS tablet set with the coordinates and headed out from the familiarity of urban astronomer for a darker site 38 miles away. I would have had a more difficult time navigating around the area, save for Robb's solid directions to the observation site. Winding through the zig-zag entry drive, I saw the welcoming red lights signaling "Astronomy in progress".... ;D

As soon as I lumbered into the observing area, (about 8:45 pm), Chicago Astronomer member Erik saw me and welcomed me to the party! At first, with my eyes still not light adjusted yet, I was unsure on who the smiling face was... I soon met up with Chicago Astronomers Robb and Bill, already attending to the visitors and deep in instruction.

I wasn't all that prepared for this session, but rushed to set-up the C11 amongst the scopes already in operation. Used to the brighter environments of Chicago star parties, I was sorta lost in the relative darkness and used the Moon's illumination to assist me in laying out my spot and assemble the beast...which many of the new visitors to the scope was calling it a monster. It took me a bit longer than usual to set-up and I kept politely telling those who wanted a peek...to come back in a few when ready...


With plenty of scopes on a great Saturn viewing, my first target was the "E.T." open star asterism. All my visitors had never seen this prior and were pleased...

Many of the people who stopped by asked if I could swing the scope toward Saturn and catch the it in the aperture of the C11. Slewing the tube around we catch Saturn...already softened up in the atmospheric muck...

Even so, popping in a 26mm 2' Eyepiece and a 2x barlow - the Cassini gap was observed and satellite Titan. Always a winning view for all.

I targeted other objects, (Alberio, Vega etc...), but it was more for me than the crowd...and as usual with the majority of our visitors, as they were just so-so about them. Only with the very few that expressed great interest in the "lesser" targets.

With a quiet moment or two, shots of our observation site...

With the crowds dying down, the observation site was left to just the astronomers and our antics. What better way to bond, than to cross laser streams...

Pic removed

- Nothing happened here...absolutely nothing -

We converge the beams onto a arbitrary spot of the heavens...

This is why the aliens hate us....

We will blind any Annuaki that messes with our backwater planet.

The crew then hopped from one fainty target to another - with expert guidance from Bill...who just points them out with a laser..."Oh M13?... that's there". I follow his laser point with the on-board laser on the C11....BAM...in the eyepiece. "M92..? Right over there." BAM...!

Robb and I spent some time alone in the "Anti-Gravity" chairs of his, just scanning the skies with binoculars and chatting. It has been a long time since I last saw Robb and was very nice. I also spent some time alone with the C11 and grazed among the stars solo...

The relatively darker skies were a nice change for me.

It was now about 11:30pm and time to pack up. But first, some shots of the astronomers present....

Erik with his assemblage of scopes.

Eric, new to the field of astronomy with with Orange Nexstar.

(The time exposure and flash of some pics, with the orange tinted background, reminds me of the Adler Planetarium's projection screen... )

How odd what the red lights do...!


I'm glad Maria and I made the trip and hope to now make suburban/rural star party trips often and regular. Again, I wasn't fully prepared for this session, forgot some items, but it did make me aware on how unprepared I am for darker sites - used to the bright lights of the city. I consider this preliminary training for our upcoming camping astro trips of the fall season. But, it was all good.

See all soon!

[-=CROMAN=-]

As my daughter say's..... "I'm Jelly!" ( jealous =) )

I'm so glad to see that everyone had a great time at HK. I sure did miss not being up there with my pals. My absence is regrettable but out of my control, sorry guys. Joe I will definitely be bringing a scope to the Northerly Event.

[RobbW]

Joe, I can't express what a pleasure it was to have you join our suburban exploits last night. It truly has been too long since we last got together. My only regrets from last night were the moon and the haze, but those are out of my control. I would have preferred you got a taste of the darker skies our "rural" locale can provide. Thanks for making the trip out anyway. I hope to see you again real soon!

[erikruud]

Joe, we were all glad you made it out there!

[erikruud]

Jul 29, 2012 9:53:00 GMT -6 -=CROMAN=- said:

As my daughter say's..... "I'm Jelly!" ( jealous =) )

I'm so glad to see that everyone had a great time at HK. I sure did miss not being up there with my pals. My absence is regrettable but out of my control, sorry guys. Joe I will definitely be bringing a scope to the Northerly Event.

Rich, the night went very well. You missed out on Joe and the home made root beer provided by my friend Chad and his brother-in-law Dave!

I spent the anfternoon at a barbecue at Chad's house enjoying burgers and brats until about 5:30. Then I said my goodbyes and headed over to Hickory Knolls with a stop at the store to get new batteries for my red dot.

The park district had made a mistake and published that the star party was from 6pm to 9pm. Robb and I both felt that someone should be out there for any one that actually showed up at 6.

When I pulled up in the parking lot, Robb and Bill were already there setting up. I got my stuff setup and we had our first customers around 6:15. We gave them views of the sun to begin with. Once the moon came out, it had been hiding in those clouds that Joe was worried about, I pointed both the Ares and the FunScope at it to give us two targets to look at.

Eric showed up around 6:30 or so. I am glad to hear that he had a great time and hope he joins us at future events. He also brought a box of chocolate cookies, which helped make up for the lack of Robb's awesome cookies.

Eventually the sun got occluded by the tree nebula and then we were all waiting for the stars to come out, when the crowds really started to show up. I spent a lot of my time at this point explaining the differences in the equipment and explaining to some of the parents why they shouldn't buy the $100 department store telescopes.

Earlier in the day, I had put together a tripod to set the FunScope on. It took me about 15 minutes. It worked very well, but I think I am going to shorten the legs another 8 inches or so to make it even more kid friendly. I am also going to make the legs fold-able, so it fits in the car better.

Once it was dark enough, spent a lot of time showing Saturn and the moon. I left the DSO's for the other guys as they aren't as impressive to the public in my smaller scopes. I did give some people views of Mizar-Alcor which most were unaware of. Robb does a better job of explaining it than I do.

As the crowds thinned out I started looking for DSO's and I want to thank Dave Fuller for his most recent video. I used his excellent advice and was able to get the Ring Nebula into view for the first time, on my own, just by finding Lyra and using my red dot finder.

I also got to see a number of DSO's that I hadn't seen before by following Bill's laser pointer. Having bill around was better than having Stellarium on my laptop!

Around 9:00 my friend Chad and his brother-in-law showed up lugging a bucket of Pepsi and the keg of home made root beer, which was welcomed by everyone that was still there.

We stayed out until almost midnight, by which time the haze in the atmosphere was really starting to obscure the lower targets.

By the way, the water tower in Joe's picture is .89 miles away from the observing site. Boy does my laser look anemic compared to some of the others.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

I....

Had a blast.

I really enjoyed the Homemade Root beer and company.

Thanks Robb for goating, er... inviting me to make the session!

[RobbW]

First, and foremost, I'd just like to say...

WTF was the root beer?!?!?!?!? I love root beer, and I had no idea someone brought a home brew! Guess that's what I get for not bringing my cookies!

Secondly, may I make a request? I had fun Saturday, and crossing the beams of our GLPs was fun..........(Nothing was requested. Nothing I say.....[JG] )

Thank you!

[erikruud]

The root beer was sitting in between my scopes and Joe's.

I told you my friends were bringing it when I asked you about the cookies.

[erikruud]

Actually, you can see the keg in front of my legs in the first group shot with the six of us in it. The guys standing on either side of you were the ones that brought it and the guy with the beard was the one that brewed it.

[RobbW]

Aw, man! I can't believe I missed that. I was so thirsty, too!!!