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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Chicago Astronomers catch the April "Pink" Full Moon rise and the ISS
28 April 2010

A bright Wednesday lead to a fairly clear sky for this Full "Pink" Moon session of the Chicago Astronomers. Running a bit late, I was rushed into setting up the C11 beast, welcoming our guests and prepped for the lunar pics. Using time off my cell phone, the scheduled time of Moonrise was supposed to be at 8:31 pm, but it arrived a couple of minutes earlier....

Heads will roll.

But this late April session would not be a warm one. I and others bundled up - and glad we did.

I saw the lunar limb peeking over the horizon first and we all marveled at the red orb quickly making it's way up...

Clouds near the horizon made for some good images as the Moon rose close to two distant towers and the angle of rise can be discerned...

I attempted to attach a 60mm finder scope to the Canon Powershot S3, but it was a no-go and too windy for steady shots, so it was straight camera alone. I like this camera...

It was a well attended crew this session, with old friends and new participants. Chicago Astronomer Paulie brought along his 6" Dob & 4.5" motorized Newt and friends, I lugged the C11 beast and cart full of equipment...and Dave, (A new Chicago Astronomer), brought along his new 10" Dob - and we were well equipped to enjoy the evenings targets. Fellow Chicago Astronomers Steve & Jude were present, as well as Spencer from the Medill School of Journalism and fellow Adler Telescope Operator Gary.

Erin enjoying a good view of Saturn

I enjoyed watching the Moon bubble from atmospheric turbulence thru the C11 and a 40mm eyepiece.

I also had my good Yelp friends stop by - Heidi, Erin & Robert.

Heidi & Joe

Erin & Joe

Both Erin and Robert brought their dogs to the session - making fast freinds with me and others...

Joe, Heidi, Erin, (with Ryno & Payton) & Robert (with Romeo)

In a great stroke of luck, the International Space Station was scheduled to make a 74 high degree pass at magnitude -3.1. I had Paulie countdown to ISS acquirement - coming from the SouthWest and nearly arcing over head. At around 9:21 pm, the station shown bright & steady and unmistakable. I grabbed two shots of the pass....

Grabbing a low angle, I position the camera to grab the C11 beast along with the ISS arcing from it - in a 15 second exposure...

...and as it arced overhead - passing the bend in the Big Dippers's handle...

The camera needs as many seconds to write the image to the SD card as the exposure time, I lost some good opportunities. I tried to get it as it disappeared into the Earth's shadow cone...but just missed...

You can see my Green laser making a snake-like trail on the OTA.

I made quick friends with our four legged visitors, and Robert gave me a treat to give to his dog Romeo.

I dig Dave's new 10" Orion Dob with a 9x50mm finder scope. He intends to get some 2" eyepieces eventually and it will make the views spectacular when he does.

Paulie and his crew had to leave, but we take a parting group shot.

This is such a cool shot...we do it twice...

This was an exceptionally fun observation session, with new & old friends and passer byers who took an interest in what we doing.

We will be out here next month for the May Full Moon Rise - with warmer temps and good astro friends.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

ISS pic on SpaceWeather.com

spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Chicago-Astronomer-Joe-027_filtered_1272605111.jpg

[Paulie pchris00]

I finally got around to writing about this yesterday. I'll edit in my pics when I have get a chance, but they can be found at these two pages:


www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=5334145&id=560297958#!/notes/paulie-christman/chicago-astronomers-april-full-moon-session/397535662276


pchris00pnc.blogspot.com/2010/05/chicago-astronomers-april-full-moon.html


Wednesday night, April 28, I was planning on joining the Chicago Astronomers for their full Moon session. I was planning on taking my friend Hillary (for our first date, how romantic), and my old neighbor Chris. It was good to bring along some company, but figuring out how to fit my two telescopes and two passengers into my little PT Cruiser wasn’t much fun. Once I figured out that situation it was time to pick up my friends, gas up, and hit the road for the big city.


We got to the Adler about 7:15, way early, but I figured I’d walk around a little with the rookies. We carried the telescopes past the spiral stones of America’s Courtyard and set up.





My little PT Cruiser, which was cramped with 3 people & 2 telescopes.





Chris was highly amused that a pigeon was standing on Copernicus’s head.


The wind off Lake Michigan made great views of waves coming in, but I was afraid to set down my coffee cup for fear that it would blow over.





After that we went over by the Doane Observatory, and I told them what it was like inside, and how the view of the Lake was great on the ramp up to the telescope.





Hillary by the Doane Observatory





Chris by the galaxy sculpture.


We started back towards my telescopes and had to chase off some kids who were running wild, and had their sights on running up to the scopes.


There was still a lot of time to kill, but pretty soon a guy named Dave showed up with a 10” Dob, and after talking to him for a few minutes, we realized that we had chatted on a Chicago Astronomer discussion thread, which was cool. Journalism student Spencer Rinker arrived soon after Dave, and started getting some pictures of our growing crowd and asking about our telescopes. The last half hour before Moon rise went by quickly, but I remember Joe put me in charge of counting down for an International Space Station flyover, and from the information he handed me, it was bound to be a good one.


At 8:29, two minutes earlier than expected, a red sliver of Moonlight appeared beyond the Lake (way beyond).








That sliver quickly grew, though. As it climbed up and to the right, our Moon looked disturbing, not as the usual disk people think of, but as a highly distorted orangish-red blob.


It’s very cool when you know beforehand what to expect, but I think the newcomers were surprised. As soon as I caught sight of the Moon over the water, I had my telescopes pointed at it, to let people have a close-up look. For the first 20 minutes after Moonrise, I was busy with my camera, clicking away picture after picture. I was also putting the camera against the telescope eyepieces getting more pictures.








This isn’t the recommended method for astrophotography, but it works okay for the Moon. Not great images, but not bad, either.


A little before 9 PM, the excitement was fading, and Joe rounded up everybody (we had a rather large crowd on hand, and even a few furry friends) for group pictures before the ISS pass. After the pictures, attention turned mostly to Saturn, although I was keeping a close watch on the time. My friends Hillary and Chris had never seen Station, and like me, would have a chance to see it at their very first star party. I didn’t want them to miss it.


ISS was to come out of the southwest at 9:19, and even though I was scanning that part of the sky, I didn’t immediately spot it. A street light was giving me some problems, so I walked in front of it, and saw something moving through the sky. Yes! ISS wasn’t very bright yet, but I pointed it out for everybody. Pretty soon it was nearly overhead and very bright. Even though I hadn’t spotted it right away, we still had at least a two minute sighting of ISS, longer than most I’ve seen.


Once ISS drifted into Earth’s shadow, it was time for me to go. After spending the hour after nightfall in a cold wind gusting off the Lake, it wasn’t too hard to say goodbye to my city friends, already talking about the probability that May’s full Moon session would be more pleasant.





One last shot of the Moon.





Leaving the city.


The Moon wouldn’t have my attention as it did when it first rose above the Lake, but for most of the trip back to Indiana it was in my sight, and I was glad to have it there. I wished the weather had been better for my friends’ first time out, but they both seemed happy with the experience. A full Moon, city lights, humid air from the big Lake, and strong winds aren’t ideal conditions for any astronomer, but I always leave Chicago with a good feeling. I think for us, it’s more about getting together with friends than serious astronomy.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Paulie,

I dig your account of a fine evening of fun astronomy and laughs.

Must do more together soon.