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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Chicago Astronomer Star Party

Friday 24 May 2013

Friday looks all clear of the heavy rains we have been experiencing lately and I'm itching for some scope time with fans and friends. I'll be setting up at 8:30 pm, after sitting in on a Black Hole lecture at the Adler....and sharing views till about 10pm.

We will have a great conjunction trio this evening - with Venus, Jupiter and Mercury making a nice triangular shape just after sundown. The Moon and Saturn will be out and this session will be chock full of targets to enjoy and share!...

You can squeeze all three planets within most binocular field of views at only a 5 degrees. Also, most people have never noticed little Mercury and this is your chance to view the 1st planet from the Sun. (The 26th will be the tightest gathering of the three planets, but weather forecast says we will be cloudy and rainy.)

So, this is the night to come out and share special skies with Chicago Astronomers...!

Be there.

[Centaur]

The Full Moon during Friday evening will be the brightest of 2013. That evening the Moon will occult magnitude +2.6 Beta Scorpii for Chicagolanders. Late in the evening there will be an imperceptible penumbral eclipse.

For my graphics and data related to all of these lunar happenings, see my lunar webpage at www.CurtRenz.com/moon

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

The skies cleared late this afternoon and I caught the Venus, Mercury & Jupiter conjunction...

Jupiter is just out of the frame....dang!

And...

The day before full Moon was putting on a good show...

Friday's Chicago Astronomer Star Party will be a memorable one for Astronomers and fans alike.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

The Chicago Astronomer Star Party is solid go for tonight.

It will be chilly, so dress appropriately, but it is absolutely clear.

See all later at 8:30 pm.

[barbarai]

Hey Joe! Sorry, I cannot make it this evening.

[Centaur]

May 24, 2013 16:15:38 GMT -6 Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe said:

See all later at 8:30 pm.

Moonrise over the lake commences at 19:53. The occultation begins at 20:39:22. For all of you civilians and non-astronomers that's 7:53 pm and 8:39:22 pm.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Full narrative tomorrow...

Just two pics for now....

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Full Flower Moon Chicago Astronomer Star Party

24 May 2013

I nice clear day brought cool temps and decent skies for this session with the Chicago Astronomer crew. A full Moon, four planets and fellow Astronomers made for a fun, but busy evening. I was "on" pretty much for the entire two hours (8:30 pm - 10:30 pm), and did not have the opportunity to chat with the crew, (C.A.'s Steve, John, Jason, Bill & Linda - each bringing their own scopes and equipment...and C.A Support crew member Maria...

For this session, we had a three planet conjunction to share. Mercury, Venus & Jupiter forming an obtuse triangle in the west. With the Full Moon rising at our backs, we slewed scopes to try and catch the three planets. We had some low hanging clouds near the horizon and Venus was not visible, but we did catch Mercury and Jupiter in between the sucker holes. ..

All our visitors have never observed Mercury naked eye, let alone in a telescope...and were thrilled to mark off the tiny planet in their bucket list. Jupiter was really too turbulent for any decent peeks, but banding and satellites were visible. Losing the western planets to the skyline, we slewed to the rising Moon and Saturn and remained with them for the rest of the session...

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Saturn was putting on a good show, with nice surface banding, sharp cassini gap and several satellites...at least in the C11.

Below...I have installed an "8 Ball" on my Dec. Axis Slo-mo control knob. It's sassy and provides a superior full palm control over the Two-finger twist action, as I'm doing on the R.A. control knob here. Tough when using gloved hands and/or when the clutch is engaged. I had a "9" ball on the R.A. knob, but the clearances were not enough to allow full range of motion. A flex-cable slo-mo will be incorporated here soon...

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Back to the Moon, I did not get the chance to observe the occultation that C.A. Curt gave the head's up on, but I did manage to see the multiple star system Acrab in Scorpio just off the lunar limb...

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With attending to our visitors, I had not the proper time to capture decent images, so they are so-so. But visually, both the Moon and Saturn were impressing our visitors.

And the crew continued to share views...

Here is displayed the three newer mods to the C11/Mount...

(1) -The C.A.Rick Marzac - nifty and cool - proper mount bases for the 90mm/102mm Refractor cradle rings/stems...

(2) - The 8 Ball control knob...

(3) - The mount to tripod Blue anodized bolts

Also, dig the clean and clear optics of my glass. The corrector plate performing excellent after the difficult time it gave me a month ago when it was solidly stuck on the the OTA. The velcro padding is working nicely too. The 102mm refractor is also providing razor sharp views and people dig the reticle on the 32mm Rini eyepiece that I use for this finder scope.

We had a great time discussing astronomy and related topics with our guests, fans and friends...

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And of course, a group shot with crew and fans...

We attended to 42 visitors for this session on a cool late spring evening...and had a blast sharing the urban skies with our friends. A big shout out to our Chicago Astronomer crew who brought our telescope count to six instruments of science and sharing their skills as Astronomers.

Solid! ;D

Stay tuned for our next Public Observation session.

[patrickm]

Six scopes? Wow! I don't feel bad at all about feeling bad and not making it. Of course, everyone knows that seven scopes would have been unlucky.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

If there were 7 scopes set-up...then there would have been pie.

[patrickm]

Everybody knows you can't cut a pie seven ways.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

More for me then....

[dayzedankonfused]

Joe. The binary star formation that was seen while also viewing the moon was the icing on the cake for the night...enough about this pie talk. Now I want a french silk from Bakers Square LOL

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Wasn't that a nice chance opportunity Jason?

Maybe we should do a "Binary Night" session, hopping from one star system to another.

Hmmm.....

[dayzedankonfused]

i love that idea. I am always down for deep space observing sessions Perhaps when the next New Moon happens??