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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Enjoy Chicago's only Perseid Meteor Shower event with
the Chicago Astronomer and the Chicago Park District

Wednesday, the 13th of August 2014

8:30 pm to 2:00 am

www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/events/Perseid-Meteor-Shower-at-Northerly-Island/

For our next joint urban astronomy session, the Chicago Astronomer and the Chicago Park District will host a public Perseid Meteor Shower party at Chicago's front lawn, catching planets and discussing all things astronomical with our visitors on Wednesday, the 13th of August at Northerly Island.


Also known as "The Tears of Saint Lawrence" - (who was martyred around the same date on August 10th, 258 A.D
), this year's shower will be hampered by the Moon, as it will be at waning gibbous during the Perseid peak and just two days past full lunar illumination
.  This will make for tough spotting of the fainter meteor streaks, but brighter ones will easily punch through the glare. For those who wish to photograph and try to capture meteor streaks, exposure times will have to be shortened. 


We will gather at Northerly Island at 8:30 pm and remain till midnight - but the area will be open to visitors till 2 am with Chicago Park District personnel till closing....

We are working on the final details, including the exact spot, but there is the possibility that camping will be allowed at least till 2am.  (Confirmations and updates as they are known and will be posted here.)


Telescopes will be set-up and we will have guided tours of the summer cosmos, including Saturn, Mars and other highlights of the current urban skies, while keeping an eye for meteors.  (At a Chicago Astronomer private event a few years ago, the C.A. crew spotted 40+ meteors right from this spot.) The Perseids radiate high from the Northeast, but in actuality, the meteor streaks can appear just about anywhere in the sky.  For those who cannot join us for this session, grab a blanket, mosquito repellent and face north...but keep a peripheral eye open for those that sneak by.  Composition and speed reflect the color of the meteor observed. Meteors made of sodium produce orange/yellow light, iron will produce yellow, magnesium creates bluish/green, calcium makes violet and silicate meteors produce fiery red colors.
 See what different colors you can spot!


Join the Chicago Astronomers as the Chicago Park District hosts this free public viewing of the remnants of Comet 109P Swift-Tuttle as the Earth plows thru it's debris stream.


 It's close, it's free, it's the only meteor party in town.....and you know you want to be there....

[Centaur]

A fine idea, Joe. I wish you well.

However, I hope you realize that the party will commence about 24 hours after the predicted global peak of the shower at 20 hr CDT on August 12 (01 hr UT Aug 13): www.CurtRenz.com/asteroids

Each night the show will not really begin until Perseus rises around 21 hr CDT. Of course Perseus is the direction in which meteor tails will point; they will be seen all over the sky. The most meteors will likely be spotted after local midnight, which is near 01:00 due to daylight savings time.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Curt,

Last year, the peak was off by a day I believe.

Either Way, it's an opportunity to get under the stars and look up.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

UPDATE:

It is a solid go for this year's Perseids at Northerly Island...!

The extended weather forecast is calling for clear skies for our gathering of sky lovers and space debris. If you have a telescope, bring it along and although no telescopes are needed to view meteor showers....there will be other celestial objects to target and enjoy during our session.

Bring a blanket, lawn chairs and share the summer skies with the Chicago Astronomers and ionizing grains of comet debris.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

LAST UPDATE:

We are a solid go for tonight's Perseid Meteor Shower Party at Northerly Island.

Weather is decent with partly cloudy skies that promise to clear up after sundown.

Moonrise is around 9:30 pm and we will have some nice views of Saturn and bring in other celestial delights of summer......and even a Iridium Flare and low ISS pass.

It'll be a great time with scopes, Astronomers and meteors...

[Skyhound]

Early evening viewing will get fewer but longer trails due to the angle viewing of the meteor direction. The shower is on going and does not stop or start at any given hour. Before midnight expect to see long trail meteors few but much longer trails and this is when most smokers are seen.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Meteors, Fireworks, Iridiums and planets for this Perseid Observation session....

Meteor showers are notorious for being very fickle.  Sometimes, you get a lot, sometimes a scant few...but our Northerly Island Perseid seekers were treated to a host of celestial delights for this joint Chicago Astronomer/Chicago Park District session.

 I arrive at dusk with Chicago Astronomer Support Crew member Maria and Fellow Adler Planetarium telescope Facilitator Tom...ready to share urban skies with our park guests...

As is always the case, we had eager sky lovers waiting to catch a glimpse of the cosmos through Chicago's largest mobile public telescope.  The skies cleared prior to our arrival and offered nice views of Saturn as dusk settled in.  I popped in a 8mm eyepiece, providing a 350x magnification of the ringed planet, but sky conditions were not optimal and I backed down to a 32mm/87.5 x view...which was satisfactory....

The Park had a small open pit in a different part of the area and a live band playing during our session....

The Adler Planetarium had a scope there too.

Tom and I slew around the night sky, picking out binaries and other summertime targets throughout the session...

Chicago Astronomer Bill arrived with his Vixen reflector and now we had three scopes to attend to our visitors....

We had a nice Iridium Flare to amaze our park guests, with a very bright -8.1 event...




A very nice capture....and one can see the glow of my laser pointing it out for our visitors.

And....


We had a great Moonrise over the lake to share...

Chicago Astronomer fans and friends stop by and grab a pic with me...

Reach high above to catch the wonders in the Summer Triangle area....

Fireworks add to the excitement of this astro session....

After 11:00 pm...the crowd starts to thin out, but as the park will remain open to the public till 2am...many brought their chairs and sleeping bags to catch the continuing meteor shower.  We did catch a few meteor streaks while slewing scopes here and there throughout the evening's session - making it a solid time under urban stars.

Astronomers for this fine evening under urban stars...

C.A. Bill....

and Tom...





...and our solid Chicago Park District Coordinator, Kathleen - who digs astronomy very much and organizes exciting park activities for our guests...