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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Full Moon Rise Observation Gathering
30 March 2010

The Chicago Astronomers will assemble for a mini Full Moon Rise Observation session - Tuesday the 30th of March 2010.

Moon rise is at 8:27 PM, and we will set up equipment at the South Lawn of the Adler Planetarium - next to the Stone Galaxy...

I will set-up about 8:00pm and bring the smaller C5 Telescope, and image the slightly past Full Moon rise over the Lake Michigan waters.

It will be warmer and sunny Tuesday.

If in the area, please do stop by, say hi and take a pic.

I think it will make for a good session.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

A successful Full Moon Rise Session -

The weather was getting iffy, as clouds started to form late in the afternoon, but I was committed and ventured to the observation site by 8:00pm for the 8:27pm Moon rise.

Temps were cool at the start, but by the end of the session an hour later...it was cold. By the time I arrived, Chicago Astronomer Linda & Husband Alfred and Paulie....new to the Chicago Astronomer crew - with Steve D joining us soon after. (We also had Spencer Rinkus joining us, as he will be writing about astronomy as a student at the Medill School of Journalism.)

I brought along the smaller-more manageable C5 SCT for the event - (No need for large aperture this evening.) And this was the first use of a new Eyepiece turret device I recently got...

(More on this later in the Equipment section.)

We were uncertain exactly where the Moon would rise, but used the recent equinox as a point of an educated guess...and we were pretty close. I wasn't prepared in shooting the event and it caught me off guard - More setting up and less talking...

Linda was first to spot the lunar limb peeking over the horizon...

This was a good atmospheric distortion viewing, as horns, blobs and dimples were evident and....quite cool! Taken strictly via my Canon Powershot S3 on a tripod, 'cause again....I was caught off guard. The camera does a great job with 12x Optical zoom and Image stabilizer.

The distant eastern clouds were making for good photogenic images..better than a clear sky..

Views thru the C5 were good and sharp...not so much in the smaller 63.5mm finder scope...something got misaligned...(something to work on soon).

The cloud bank seemed to suck up the raising Moon...kinda like a Close Encounters of the Third Kind scene.

Paulie, an Amateur Astronomer from around the Valparaiso Indiana area, made the long drive to join us for this Lunar event and brought along his 6" Dob & 4.5 goto Newt...

People walking by, curious on what we were doing, paused by our scopes and we shared the Moon, Saturn & Mars with them...

Here, Paulie eagerly shares views with expert commentary on the observed objects to our visitors. (He makes for a good addition to the Chicago Astronomer crew... )


As it neared 9:30 pm, we had been observing for over an hour and time for a group shot before packing it up:

Shown: Myself, Alfred, Linda, Spencer, Steve D, Nice visitors and Paulie

After parking the car in the garage, I noticed that the Moon had a nice circular Moonbow around it and looking a bit like Centaurus A...

Well, it would have if I took the shot in time.

A good first Full Moon Rise for the 2010 warm observing season.

[Paulie pchris00]

Great pictures of the Moonrise, and thanks for the kind words. I have just one image to share, since I was first on the scene last night. Venus was blazing brilliantly when I arrived at Adler, and fighting some gathering clouds, I briefly saw Mercury, although it didn't show up in any of my pictures.



Venus, aound 7:40 PM, setting over the city.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Paulie,

I see nada....

[Paulie pchris00]

That's weird. I tried pasting a couple of different images, and neither one showed up.

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