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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Chicago Astronomer Star Party

Saturday 13 July 2013 8pm

We are having a great string of clear and warm weather and this enables us to schedule a Chicago Astronomer Star Party for this coming Saturday, the 13th of July at 8pm.

(Although Friday evening will be clear as well, there is a Bon Jovi concert in the area and parking restricted...ugh.) Here is the link to last night's excellent Chicago Astronomer session:
astronomer.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=StarParty&thread=4357&page=1

I would like to set-up scopes just north of the Adler Planetarium building, next to the Sundial this time, but if I can't, then we will be at our usual site - just west of the building. I will arrive at 8pm and maintain the observation site till 10:30 pm.

We will have a great gibbous Moon. Venus and Saturn to share with our fans and friends. Come and share the skies with Astronomers and Chicago's largest mobile laser guided Telescope.

The skies are free...and so are the views.

Be there.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

We are a solid go for tonight's Chicago Astronomer Star Party.

Weather looks good and temps warm.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

An incredible evening of scopes, fans and the cosmos...



A bright warm day brought absolutely clear skies and lovers of the cosmos out to our observation site. Arriving a 8pm, the Sun was still out as I set-up the C11 and other Astronomers soon joined in with their scopes...

Eyes on the Sky Dave brought his reflector on the home built base and ready to go fast...

Crew Support Barbara was on-scene and started attending to our visitors as soon as she arrived.

C.A. John set-up his Nexstar and brought along his Son Michael...

C.A. Mac arrived and bringing his trusty low to the ground Dobsonian reflector...

We start off easy, with visitors walking up to our scopes and asking what's up. We start off with the Moon..

A new addition to the Chicago Astronomer experience...is attaching the iPad mini to the C11 and using it to display apps and animation on what we are viewing and expect at the eyepiece...

This enables me to instruct our visitors on what is to be expected when stepping up to the eyepiece and displaying highlighted features. With the Moon, I like to point out the Apollo 11 Landing site and favorite lunar features. This new tool worked very well staying on the scope and I carry the Android Tablet around with me.

The number of visitors grew steadily and the discussions were lively and smiles all around...

Friends and fans stopped by to share in the cosmic fun...

Chicago Astronomer fan Janet, stopped by....

janet M

...and - I put Janet to work taking pics of the session, leaving me free to concentrate on attending to our visitors, which was growing as the night progressed.

Thanks Janet!!

I stayed on the Moon while others targeted Saturn in their scopes. I followed the Moon till I was asked to slew to Saturn...which I did - and David then slewing to the Moon.

The handy dandy Astronomer's laser always works to impress and instruct...

Mac, John and David were answering questions and providing great views throughout the session...



Near the end of our session, we had Navy Pier fireworks to enjoy...

I gave the 10pm notice to the crew to start winding down and we took our leisurely time breaking down, instead of our session two night's ago when we had to rush and leave the park by 11pm.

We had a total of 155 visitors, with my fellow Adler Planetarium buds joining in and assisting in attending to our guests - discussing astronomy, telescopes and guiding my C11. This one was a busy and hectic session...but in a good way. One after the other and then another...all desired a rare peek at the heavens and to discuss the skies. I didn't have any time to chat with my crew much, as the time was spent on our guests...but I think we all had a blast!

Fun times...

Our Chicago Astronomer crew for this session:

Myself, Mac, David, Michael and John...(And Barbara who left earlier.)

[magic612]

Joe, did you plan this shot, or what? Way cool!

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Dave...yes I did.

I was trying to catch the higher exploding ones...over your head, but this one was the best of the lot.

Fun night, eh?

[magic612]

Definitely!! Always glad to come up to Adler and share the night sky when you are. Never a dull moment, whether we have a large crowd or just a few people stop by. Thanks for letting me join you last night.