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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Clear skies for a Chicago Astronomer Mini Star party
Wednesday, 19 May 2010

Ok astro kids....

Wednesday evening, it will be clear & crisp - with a high pressure system over our heads...which means The Chicago Astronomers will set up telescopes for an evening of observation - a great way to spend an evening.

The Moon, Venus, Mars & Saturn will be out for our enjoyment...and maybe some deep space objects (DSO's), as well.

We will set up by the Adler's parking lot at 8:00 pm...

...and stay till the park closes at 11:00pm.

There will be a minor ISS/Shuttle pass during this time:

8:11 pm and reaching only a altitude of 27 degrees in the SW

I will bring the C11 beast and share views with guests and visitors. Considering I cancelled the last session...I kinda feel like I owe a session to my friends.

And there is a cigar waiting for me...

[patrickm]

Joe,

Awesome! But can't make it.

I'll be in Texas for the next week taking my mom to appointments. I'll see what I can see through the swampy skies of Houston, which, combined with the hideously sprawling LP, has to be one of the worst places to try to use a telescope in North America. From that perspective, a strange place to stick NASA, that's for sure. I would have thought deserts would be better, but they chose swamps near the ocean.

I don't think you owe anybody anything. You put yourself out there when you can, and from the looks of the past exploits, that's more than plenty.

Have a ton of fun at whatever you get to do. Finally warming up enough to be pleasant.

Peace,
Patrick
-you have me dreaming of a place for a POD now. Of course, I'd need a new scope, too.
A boy can dream, can't he? :-)

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Patrick,

It will be a great cool and crisp evening tonight for some astronomy.

But, there will be plenty more Chicago Astronomer sessions to enjoy when you get back from swampy sky Houston.

[Paulie pchris00]

I was looking forward to coming out again, but a guy at work asked when I was going to be out with my telescopes again, so I told him I'd come out tonight before work. Probably just as well to stay local on a work night, but I know Hillary wanted to come out to Chicago again. She's disappointed, but we'll be back for the full Moon.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Paulie,

We will miss you, but it will be a great night regardless on where one sets up a scope.

Onward to the Full Moon Rise celebration!

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

The Chicago Astronomers enjoy an evening of shared viewing

I arrived at the Chicago Astronomer Observing site #1 a bit early - around 7:00 pm...in order to take my time to set-up and enjoy the great bright day. Parked at my usual spot, it's just a matter of unloading the C11 beast a few feet away and with the Adler as our backdrop...

People watched me set-up and asked what I was doing. I invited them to come back in a bit and I'll show them the heavens. I think the beast is quite photogenic and I included a couple of accessories recently...

Starting from the left top of the SCT is the 60mm finder scope with right angle directional and interchangeable eyepieces - and keeping a cross-hair 25mm one most of the time. I enjoy this refractor much as it allows me to attach the camera and take low powered and wide field shots. Next is the 50 mW Green laser, w/ the laser holder attached to the 60mm OTA...(Which was once a small finder scope holder). Continuing is the zero-mag Rigel finder - which is very useful and finally, the straight through 9x50 stock finder...which I relocated at this position. With a finder at each side of the C11 SCT, there is one available at all time - even when the OTA is at awkward angles.

With the set-up complete, I took a moment to grab a couple of pics of the waxing Moon before the visitors arrived and with the sky still bright and contrast low...

But, as usual...when people see a telescope, it's a magnet and they approach - asking questions, talking astronomy and desiring views. And is this not a serious imaging session, so it's cool.

And we begin.

One of my expected visitors, Tom from Yelp was one of the first people I met and brought along his cute daughter, Morgan...who is studying the planets in school - with a special interest in Saturn...which is making a great early evening object...

Morgan will be the envy of her class when she tells them she saw the Moon, Mars, Venus..and especially Saturn's rings in a big telescope. Great to have met Tom and his daughter and I hope they come out often.

We had individuals arrive throughout the session and I tried to take pics of all...

Michael P from Yelp, (on the far left), arrived to share in the views and snag some shots and always fun to chat with - but it seems that every time he wanted to see an object - it drifted out of the field....!

Here are Michael's pics of the evening...








Thanks Micheal for sharing your pics! It's always nice to see the events from another perspective.

And Eddie and his son Eddie Jr have made many observational sessions and always great to see them. (Eddie Jr was a great promoter for the Chicago Astronomer this evening. He was encouraging every one he saw in the area to come and take a peek at the planets and handing out my business cards....

Chicago Astronomer crew member Bill, (the blurred image), brought along his 4" William Optics refraction with razor sharp views.

A regular participant now, Kyle (on the left), trekked to our site on his bike. (I dig his glasses). And new comer cyclist Steve enjoyed sharing in the views.

Fellow Yelper Gerry, made his first visit to our sessions, and enjoyed himself greatly, joked together nicely... and he presented me with a astro cigar from Sumatra - (sweet... )...

Shown are : Gerry and two associates of Patrick, a new member of the Chicago Astronomer, who he recommended they stop by this evening.

Here are some of Gerry's pics of the evening, some of which were taken with a small Canon pocket camera simply held up to the eyepiece and snapped:







I dig them..especially the laser from my belly one...!




The Adler Planetarium Women's Board had an event at the museum and afterwards some of the group made their way to our scopes and were fascinated with Saturn's rings...

Here, two members from the Women's Board pose with the Chicago Astronomers...(should have taken more pics.) Fellow Chicago Astronomer crew member John, arrived (center), and brought along his motorized go-to C5 SCT for quick location of objects.

And now we had three scopes...no waiting.

The evening was progressing nicely, but the skies were not as clear as forecast, with some haze and high spattering of clouds. It did not hamper the observations at all, with great views of Saturn. Mars and Venus were...ho-hum, but people wanted to view them anyway. In lulls of showing people celestial targets, I snagged a few pics of the planet...

The pics came out nice, but doesn't compare with the actual views.

Here, Morgan, Eddie Jr and Tom examine my Lunar map...

This map is "reversed" - left to right, showing the lunar features as they appear in the telescope. Takes some getting used to, but it's eventually easier to locate and identify objects.

This was the first use of the green laser attached to the C11 SCT, and it worked nicely...

The only problems with green lasers, is that they don't like cool temps, and if the ambient temps are cool enough, (as it was last night), it dims, as it did. But a quick warm up of my insane 50Mw laser in my pocket brought it back to full raw Chinese power.

I also had ambient "Space" tunes flowing throughout the evening, which adds a nice dimension to the experience - with many positive comments. I'm working on an enhanced speaker system to make our sessions even better.

This was a great Chicago Astronomer session, with Saturn taking the show, despite the less than ideal skies. It was very nice seeing old friends, making new ones and sharing views with all.

I'm thinking about conducting another one this coming Sunday, May 23rd 2010, as the weather forecast shows clear skies and temps in the 80's...!.

...And some of the Chicago Astronomer fans are thinking about doing a cookout fir this Sunday session...

More on this later.

[TommyT]

Thank you so much Joe. Great night!

[Paulie pchris00]

So cool. I may have to come out Sunday night if you're out. I had a pretty decent night of my own last, doing some sidewalk astronomy with Hillary. I should have a story or two to post about it tomorrow.

And I must say that Hillary is becoming a nice accomplice to bring along.

[Paulie pchris00]

Here's a little of what I was up to last night out here in the Hoosier state.

pchris00pnc.blogspot.com/2010/05/sidewalk-astronomy-at-town-country-5-19.html

[Paulie pchris00]

Mars and Venus were...ho-hum, but people wanted to view them anyway.

Joe, we know what to expect from these little planets, but most people do not. I'm also surprised by the number of people who request Mars & Venus, but these are things people have heard of. I always try to point them out when they're visible, and explain that they're not much to look at, but will happily point my Dob at them if a visitor really wants to get a look. I think we should be more worried when people aren't asking to see the planets, because that may imply a total ignorance of them.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Some of the great feedback I have received on our obsrvation session:

Hey Joe,

What a fantastic night you showed us last night. We were talking about it on the ride home (until Morgan zonked out). Then when she woke up she was talking about it even more. You really made her day. Mine too!

It was seriously a night to remember for us.

Next time you do anything like that let me know. I’ll be there in a heartbeat.

Anyway, it was great meeting you, and I have a unbelievable new appreciation for all those lights in the sky. And if I know my daughter, this is just the beginning for us.

I’d like to join the Planetarium as member of some sort if there’s anything like that. I’ll check it out later and look at the website. Please let me know if there’s any other program or class or anything that Morgan and myself might be able to enjoy together, or even just something for her. She’s very interested in science of all kinds, and this really opened her eyes to a whole new world (no pun intended ;-) ).

Thanks again Joe,

You the man!

TT

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Joe!

Holy crap I had no idea I would be that amazed.

You really showed us a fantastic night. My daughter can't stop talking about Saturn and either can I!

It was great to meet you, and I can't wait to attend another viewing.

Michael, I can bring a little grill and a small cooler as well. That's a great idea.

If everything's a go with Joe, I'm there for sure Sunday. I'll be in Indy for most of the day, but on my way home I'll scoop up the little one and head over.

I'd really like to do this as much as possible.

Just let me know if you'll be out there Joe and we'll be there.

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I'll be home Sunday, so I should be able to make it there by 6.

I'll bring a grill, and a cooler with some cold beverages. I'll just grill some burgers and maybe some taters. It'll be a regular grill, so anyone can throw some stuff on there as well.

I can bring a few chairs and a little table as well. Also, a frisbee, and maybe a kite! :-)

If there's anything else I can bring let me know.

Morgan brought the pictures Joe and Mike took for her class to see at Show-n-Tell. She was super stoked to see them herself.

We really can't wait to do it again this Sunday.

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No extra charge for Mars....