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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Earth Hour Observation and a On-the-spot radio commentary from the Chicago Astronomer
Saturday - 27 March 2010

I have been asked if I could be on stand-by and provide a first hand observation of Chicago's "Earth Hour" recognition activities along the lakefront by WGN radio for the "Nick Digilios" show listeners.

If at all, the radio bit will be after 8:45pm.

I will set up around 8:00pm and north of the Sundial closer to the shore....

I have a small observation party joining me to watch the Skyline shut down their lights and might even bring a small telescope to view the skyline, as conditions are quite cloudy.

If around, see you there.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

A good Observation of Earth Hour 2010 -

I set up at 8:00 pm and fellow Chicago Astronomer joined me soon after. I had the smaller C5 scope to pan the skyline with.

Using the Canon Powershot S3, I took a panoramic...

About 200 people were out near the Adler with cameras to shoot the event, as was I...

Here is before:

...and after:

Not a great difference in the intense lighting of the area, but key buildings have snuffed their big lights, including the John Hanthingy Center, The Sears Tower, (yes..still the Sears here), the Aon Bldg and the 311 Wacker building - which I like to call the Crown bldg.

The big reflections on the Lake Michigan waters are absent with the lights out.

And...

Two cool and fun friends joined us before the lights went out - Fellow Yelpers Cynthia & Gary...

We waited until the lights came on, but by that time...it got quite cold and windy.

And....I did the live on-air interview on WGN 720am radio on the action by the lake front...a good five minutes in discussion with the hosts.

Earth Hour: A nice subtle symbolic gesture in building green awareness.

[Paulie pchris00]

From the look of the glare on the Lake, it looks like 311 S. Wacker (I call it the White Castle building, since that's what it looks like coming up the Ryan) and the Hancock Center have the brightest lights. I found it interesting reading an article in May's Sky & Telescope that they featured a picture of Chicago at night from the International Space Station. The same article also showed the cover of November 2008's National Geographic, which had a picture of the orange glow over Chicago. I quickly browsed through their website jsut now, looking for a link, but I didn't find one.

Here's the National Geographic cover and story.

www.coverbrowser.com/image/bestselling-magazines-2008/495-5.jpg

ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/11/light-pollution/klinkenborg-text

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Paulie,

I recall that story.

Audrey Fischer from the Chicago Astronomical Society, has been a great activist and promoter of the dark skies movement.

A lot of light pollution is from waste and ignorant lighting and simple solutions like baffles and downward pointing fixtures would improve the situation.

The new fad of those ghastly L.E.D fixtures are bad too...messing with the bodies rhythms and studies have suggested the cause of ailments.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Now, this is cool...

I received a nice note from a Chicago Astronomer fan...

"Mary says, "Hi Joe! I've posted on the Chicago Astronomer site a few times in the past. Heard you on Nick D's radio show last night-- which made me think, hey, I wonder if the Chicago Astronomer has a FB fan page? Answer's no... but here you are!".

Hey Mary.....!

Great that you caught the short radio bit and made me smile to get your FB note.

And...

I have been contemplating an exclusive "Chicago Astronomer" Face Book site. This has got me to thinking about it seriously again.

Thank you for the nudge.