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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

The Chicago Astronomer and the Chicago Park District
1st Public Star Party of the year

"An Evening with Jupiter and the Hunter"

Wednesday 19 March 2014 - 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm

The Chicago Astronomer and the Chicago Park District kicks off our 2014 Public Star Party season in Chicago's Near west side at Douglas Park - ( 1401 S Sacramento Dr.)

Starting at 7:00pm and ending at 10:00pm, we will share the urban skies with park visitors and offer fantastic views of the highlights of the evening....Jupiter and the Orion Nebula.  Utilizing Chicago's largest mobile public telescope, our guests will marvel at the Moons of Jupiter and enjoy the planetary bands first hand.  Then, view the Orion nebula, where new stars are born in the ghostly remnants of a long past exploded star.

There will be other winter sky targets to enjoy from under Chicago skies, such as Sirius - the brightest star in the nightime sky, Betelgeuse - a super Red Giant ...and even a few star clusters.

We will set-up Telescope off the Douglas Park Pavillion with a nice south view...

Ample parking is close and a short walk to the outside terrace.

Confirmation as the date approaches...you know, clouds/rain and stuff....


( Fellow Astronomers:  Contact me prior if interested in participating with scopes.)

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

UPDATE:

As of this posting, Monday night, the 17th of March, we are still a go for the Douglas Park Star Party for the 19th.

The weather forecast for Wednesday evening is iffy though....calling for rain/snow in the morning.  Hopefully, the weather system will pass by nightfall and we can share in some nice urban astronomy with our park visitors and fans.

If cloudy, we will have a cloudy night activity session, but if it's rainy/snowy - we will reschedule.

Stay tuned for confirmations and updates......

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

UPDATE:

We are still a solid go...despite the clouds at the writing of this post (3:00 pm)....and we will have a "Cloudy Session" - discussing astronomy and all things related...with certain activities to help demonstrate optics and other lessons.

We have planned for such under a cloud filled sky, but the weather forecast states that it may clear up some by 7pm.

Let's just see...but either way, The Chicago Astronomer will be there tonight.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

A Cloudy Night Contingency Session

Sometimes you get clear skies, sometimes not...but smart Astronomers have contingency plans...and with our new Chicago Park District coordinator Kathleen, we are prepared for clear skies or not.  She had indoor activities and demonstrations at the ready for our visitors. 

Setting up on the terrace of the Douglas Park Field House, we had a nice view of the distant Sears and Trump towers...making for good targets in demonstrating the properties of telescopic optics...

Setting up the C11 Beast always brings awe to our visitors and most at this session had never peered through a telescope before.  I focus on the antenna array of the Sears tower, demonstrating various magnitudes of power and the mechanics and properties of both reflecting and refracting telescopes...




The targeting laser is always a hit as we locate The Trump Tower, and hearing the perpetual question..."Why is it upside down?"  The young adults shout with delight in the views of far away buildings...up close and detailed...




We had some hints that the clouds would be breaking up on this chilly evening, but they closed up and we were left with a solid sky of star blocking clouds....





Around the corner of the observing site, we had a small fire going on, for some warmth and smores...





We continue to show views of distant buildings, bringing in the rivets on the antenna...




As the session progressed, we stopped to discuss all things astronomical, including black holes, why Pluto is not a planet anymore, time travel, meteor characteristics and a host more of fascinating topics...





Using the iPad mini is a great education tool in demonstrating orbital mechanics and celestial wonders.





We had this nice family arrive from Ogden International school.  The Coronado family heard about our Chicago Astronomer/Chicago Park District from a science teacher from the school and made the trip out to see us...




And....we always grab a pic of our new friends and fans at our sessions....



We attended to about 35 visitors for our first joint session with the parks and it was good to set-up the beast and prep for the coming observational season.

[mojocvh]

Great going Joe, despite the overcast the kids got to look through a telescope AND THATS WHAT COUNTS!