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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Chicago Astronomer Star Party

Wednesday 24 July 2013

It's going to be a beautiful couple of days this coming week...and a wonderful opportunity for the Chicago Astronomer crew to set-up Telescopes and enjoy the high pressure that will wash over us and clear the skies.

I will set-up scopes at 8pm at either our usual spot - just west of the Adler Building...or just north....right by the Sundial. Eitherway...look for the scopes.

No ISS passes, but we will have a great bright Iridium flare (-7.1) at 10:20 pm....always a crowd pleaser.

Saturn of course will be the highlight of the evening and we'll get some of the the Moon (Rise at 9:18 pm), , but it's meeting new lovers of the night sky and discussing astronomy with Chicago Astronomer fans that is what it's all about.

And...as always - Chicago Astronomer Star Parties are alway free and open to all.

Be there.....

[newbie]

I'm going if I get out of work on time! Thanks.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Very coolest.

It should be a great night, as the high pressure system coming down from the northwest pushes the gunk from our region.

Session ends at 10:30 pm...so get there before!

(Also....for those who would like to get on our Chicago Astronomer Email Notification list - send me your email, and I'll include you in the notices and activities...

[e-mail] )

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

UPDATE:

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

Temps will be chilly, but beats the sweltering conditions just last week. We should have some great deep clear skies.

Be there.....

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

A busy non-stop session....

Arriving on-site at 8pm...Chicago Astronomers John, Paulie and Support Crew member Barbara were already set-up...

As we were preparing for our visitors, Paulie noticed a good "Band of Venus" in the east. The temps were refreshingly cool and the skies were wonderful. Crisp and deep....all night's should be this transparent!

Set up a scope...and they will come......

Paulie and John were attending to large crowds of their own, picking out Venus and Saturn early on. I targeted Venus first myself...but Saturn was the highlight of the session and we all were on it eventulally...

There was a constant buzz of activity all around, stories of folklore, cosmology chat and telescope appreciation from our fans....

Chicago Astronomer Steve joined us later on with his refractor on the new....

We had a fireworks show to add to the excitement....

New Chicago Astronomer Forum member Javier stopped by to join the crew and say hi...

He has quite an armada of instruments and hope he joins us soon on our sessions.

Chicago Astronomer Mac arrived with his uber-portable Dob - making four scopes for our fans and really was the best for our smaller space fans to reach...

Lending John my laser, he was pointing out various summertime points of interests...

And we were all having a great time with our regular friends and new guests that saw scope and wondered what was going on...

The new addition of the iPad Mini to the C11 assembly is a useful tool in demonstration of the object I have targeted....

...but many have to ask if that is what is actually the image that we are seeing. Simple manipulation of the image explains the characteristics of the object at hand.

And the people kept arriving...

At 10:20 pm, I announced the Iriduim Flare event for the evening. It will be 30 degrees high from the ENE...and at a remarkable -7. in magnitude....!

I set-up the camera in the general area, but had to slew it in mid- exposure to catch it. Paulie saw it first and alerted me to it...

At 10:30, I gave the call to start and break down the site, still attending to our last guests....

Support Crew member Maria arrived earlier to join in and take the pics while I attended to our fans...

By 11:00 pm, we were all packed up and ready to leave. We attended to 120 visitors for this session and made new friends.

The Chicago Astronomer Crew for this session:
Paulie, Mac, Steve, Margie, John, Myself and Barbara & Maria in Support Crew.

Onward to our next Observation session....

[Paulie pchris00]

Wednesday night is the reason I don’t mind at all giving up a little darker sky out here in the Hoosier state for the bright city lights. I saw some friends I haven’t seen in quite awhile, and most likely made some new ones.

Arriving well before sunset, I was able to set up in time to see and enjoy two of my favorite sights in the evening sky: a belt of Venus, and that few minutes after sunset when the Sun lights the clouds from below, turning them pink.






Clouds hanging over the city. The rest of the sky was clear.










A few minutes of pink clouds...






...and then they were back to gray.


On the other side of the sky was a nice Belt of Venus.







With a late summer sunset, lingering twilight, and of course, the city lights to contend with, it was nice to have two planets to target early. Venus, of course, isn't so much to see in a telescope, but is nothing short of spectacular as it angled across the skyline. Saturn, on the other hand, isn't so much to see naked eye, but always amazes those seeing it in a telescope for the first time. I targeted both, but had to give up on Venus when it dipped too low into the thick, turbulent atmosphere.




Venus above the condo tower at 8:42:49...




... and to the right of the condo tower just ten minutes later, at 8:52:52. Even novice sky watchers noticed Earth's rotation through this apparent motion.


Just about anybody with a telescope can target an object, step back and say, “That’s (whatever object is being targeted),” and leave it at that. When I get a chance to see and hear Chicago Astronomers in action, we all seem to be able to give good descriptions of the object being observed, but also share significant science about it. John and I had a chance to help explain orbital mechanics (the basics, at least), by describing how small moons help keep Saturn’s ring particles in place. I also had some chances to use Albireo, Arcturus, and the Summer Triangle stars of Vega, Deneb, and Altair to explain star colors, temperatures, distances, and absolute magnitudes (though I didn't explain it in the scientific jargon). And with Joe’s Ipad mini mounted on the C11, he has a great tool to graphically explain many things. I think that sharing the science knowledge is more important than sharing the view; the view at the eyepiece is just the vehicle to get people to be interested and asking questions.

We had quite a few new fans, some who had seen the update or received an email, some who seemed to just happen upon us, but all hanging around for a long time, soaking up the night with us. That said, I see people in Joe’s pictures that never came by to talk to me or see what I was targeting. That’s okay, I guess; astronomy ain’t for everybody. But it seems such a shame that anybody would pass up a chance see things- for free- that they may never see again. Joe said in his post, “Set up a scope… and they will come.” I can say that isn't always the case. I've been doing a lot of public observing in Valpo at the park this year, and have had nights where not a single person bothers to walk a few feet out of their way to find out what is going on. It ain't for everybody, but hey, we do what we can to make astronomy accessible to anybody who cares enough to follow their curiosity.






Before we got busy.










I really like the use of the Ipad mini here.


I didn't have high hopes for seeing Luna during this session, but once I saw her shining through Adler’s solarium, I moved my Dob to get an unobstructed look. I was also hoping that I might have a chance before breaking down to do some serious lunar observing for myself, but it didn't happen. One lady was trying her best to get a picture at the eyepiece with her phone, and I was more than willing to oblige. If I’m going to bother to come out for a public star party, then I have to accommodate the visitors. I could have done my lunar observing when I got home, after all.




Fireworks at Navy Pier.






Quick shots of Luna.


As for the Iridium flare, it was a good one, but I can’t say I saw it first. I called out that I saw it, but I was fooled by one of the stars in Cassiopeia. I’m not sure if anybody else saw or heard me, but just after the Iridium satellite disappeared going south, I caught what looked to be another satellite heading north, almost exactly where the Iridium had come from.

With so many people in the park for the Navy Pier fireworks, the Chicago Police were chasing everybody out at closing time, and no exceptions for astronomers. Oh well. I was packed and ready to go, and it had already been a long week for me, so it was best that I get home and sleep. But it was a great night, with lots of old friends, on the ground and in the sky, and maybe quite a few new friends.

[Paulie pchris00]

"Get out of the way, little girl! It's MY turn to look!"

Actually no, although that's what it looks like. I want to make clear that I was checking that Saturn was still in view before she looked.