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[starbux]

Well Joe, what would you call taking pictures of the "sky" at a planetarium show? I suppose you've already tried/done this at Adler, but I was at the Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland, California with some friends. We saw a couple of planetarium shows with the facility's wonderful Zeiss projector. I took these with my Canon Digial Rebel Xt, handheld, at 1 second exposure. Iso 1600. I forgot to use noise reduction though.


first show begins


upcoming celestial events


This representation of Saturn had a 3d quality. You could almost reach out and touch it.


Beginning of second show


show title


Jupiter in Scorpius, Moon just below "horizon".


Big dipper. I shook a little


Virgo, Libra, Scorpius, Sag


lights brighten for q&a


Last look at the constellations


Planetarium show ends, showing Zeiss projector. Facing "south"


time to exit

My only beef is that for all the state-of-the-art equipment, the presentation was pretty shallow as to what could be seen. After the focus on the big dipper and Leo it might have been nice if some binocular highlights were mentioned such as the readily visible (to me at least) Coma Bernices Cluster. When you do your presentations don't forget that an appreciable fraction of the audience probably owns a pair of binoculars of one sort or another.

[starbux]

Chabot also featured 3 massive telescopes for public viewing with, two of them antique refractors.


The 8" Alvin Clark refractor very good views


20" Brashear (sp?) refractor. Considerable chromatic aberration. I actually found the views through the 8" Clark more satisfying.


Some miscellaneous scopes in the 20" refractor building. Some commercial, some homemade (Chabot hosts a telescope making class for those in the area) including a solar dobsonian and a 6" rft newt in a bowling-ball mount.


Outside the domes of the 8" and 20" refractors.


36" Cassegrain telescope. This one is modern.


The housing of the 36" Cassegrain. A run-off-roof observatory

[Chicago Astronomer Joe]

Malcolm,

I feel like I have been there via your report!... ;D

I Love It!

I never took shots of the skyshow at the Adler, too busy running around that I haven't even seen the latest show! An excellent display on the Chabot skyshow.

The scopes there are remarkable. I would like to get my hands on that 36" SCT. It appears to be a large campus of domes and main building. Considering it was daytime, what did they focus on thru the 20" and 8" refractors? The Alvin Clark is a beautiful hunk of scope.

The area where the scopes are roped off, I assume are the ones for public viewing sessions? The bowling ball scope is just too much! But I am intrigued with that yellow solar scope and the monster black reflector on the EQ mount.

How are the admission prices there?

Malcolm,

The long wait for your return was well worth it.

Thank you so much for bringing the Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland, California to The Chicago Astronomer!... ;D

[starbux]

The scopes there are remarkable. I would like to get my hands on that 36" SCT. It appears to be a large campus of domes and main building. Considering it was daytime, what did they focus on thru the 20" and 8" refractors?

Actually a 36" classical Cassegrain (no corrector plate, so it's not an sct). There was alas no viewing that day. A double whammy of closing off the observatories to the public later that day for a private party (a prom!). But they got nothing out of it, because thick fog came in so no one got to use the telescopes. Two years ago I was there and I DID get to look through the telescopes. The 8" was aimed at the moon, the 20" at Jupiter (should have been the other way around since the moon is more forgiving of false color). Seeing wasn't all that great. A little later when it was darker, the 36" Cassegrain was focused on M13 with very nice resolution. Needless to say, the lines for this scope was very long that day.