Post by Paulie pchris00 on Jul 14, 2010 18:19:59 GMT -6
As I found out a few weeks ago when I tried to have sidewalk astronomy, Valparaiso Parks Dept. hosts “Movie Under the Stars” on Tuesday nights at their new downtown park. Perfect! They provide the movie and snacks, I provide the stars. Well, I encourage the viewing of the stars, anyway.
Hillary and I were going to see this week’s feature, “Jaws,” last night, but earlier in the day I had some serious collimation issues to sort out. The secondary mirror in my 4.5” Meade go-to Newt came loose a couple months ago, and I’ve had issues with it ever since. I really miss the nice sharp views I had before all this started. I made progress during the day, mostly finding out just how bad things were. Also, last Friday night in Michigan I discovered a knob holding the primary mirror in place on my 6” Dobsonian had come loose and was lost. I have no idea when or where it might have happened. It was time to pick up Hillary, so I gave up my fix it project, ready to try some naked eye and binocular astronomy at the movie if need be.
We got downtown just before 7 o'clock, according to the courthouse clock.
Hillary, ready for a "Movie Under the Stars."
Looking over the downtown park.
Park workers beginning preparations.
Getting there early to snag the perfect spot.
We got to the park almost two hours before the movie began so I could find the best spot to set up, and to be noticed by the early movie goers. I brought both telescopes out to attract attention, but I still wasn’t sure if I’d be able to use either one. The telescopes attracted attention, alright, because a photographer for Valpolife.com came over and started asking what I was up to, so I told him that I’ve been doing sidewalk astronomy in town, and this seemed like a perfect setting to try again, but that I wasn’t sure if I was going to use the scopes or not. He gave me a card, and continued finding people with stories. I sat down to collimate the go-to scope, and while it wasn't dead-on perfect, it was good enough to get away with showing the Moon to novices.
Back to the Cruiser to bring out the telescopes.
Aligning the secondary mirror. Fun.
The trouble with the primary mirror on the Dob really worried me though. I need to find a way to hold the primary mirror in place, but in the meantime, it gave an okay view as long as I didn’t rattle the tube around. A permanent fix is needed, and soon.
Once the Sun disappeared below the buildings, I tried to spot Mercury with binoculars. No luck.
Hey! Where did the movie screen come from?!?
The young sliver Moon showed up rather late, but made a beautiful entrance... if you happened to be facing away from the movie screen...
Hillary was ready for the movie to start, but...
...I persuaded her to see if the lunar views were acceptable.
Venus & Luna made a nice pairing, but...
...but it didn't last long.
I really expected the Moon, planets, and stars to go over really well last night. There were around 200 people in the park, most of them were there early, and I was in a good location. However, not too many came by to have a look. Only about a dozen people stopped to have looks at various sights, including the Moon, Venus, Mars, Saturn, M13, and M57.
At 9:05 we had an ISS pass of over five minutes, the last good one we’ll have for the next week. The movie had already started, but I was still watching the sky, though I’d lost track of the time. I remembered the ISS pass, and anxiously checked the time, thinking I might have missed it. My phone said 9:04. Whew. Hillary and I waited for it, and a couple walking by saw me looking and waving, so I told them it was Station. The guy said, “Oh wow. Really?” but didn’t miss a step as they continued on.
About halfway through the movie, a pair of high school girls noticed the telescopes while walking by, and had a look at the evening planets. They really showed a lot of interest, and I wish they would have stopped by earlier to see the sliver Moon. They also saw M13 and M57, and I explained each one to them. They even brought their friends over to sit near us, so I could let them know when I was looking at new targets. The one girl really wanted to know about black holes, so I found the area where Cygnus X-1 is, and told she could look. When she found out that she wouldn’t see the black hole, she decided to stay put and watch the movie instead. I was glad the girls came by, because it gave me a chance to show some deep sky stuff, instead of the usual Moon and planets, and they seemed to appreciate the views.
Hillary was enjoying the movie, but I mostly had my eyes looking up. She did come to see the Ring Nebula and the Great Cluster when I showed them to the girls, though. Believe it or not, this was only the second time I’ve seen “Jaws,” so as the film was building toward the climax I started paying attention. I think Hillary was ready to go as soon as the credits rolled, but I wanted to wait for a few minutes, expecting somebody might want to come over and have a look with the scopes. I guess everybody was as anxious to get home as Hillary, because nobody came over.
Shark attack.
They needed a bigger boat.
No more sharkie.
I’m going to try it again next week, weather permitting, and maybe it will go over better, maybe it won’t. I think the waxing gibbous Moon will help me attract attention, so we’ll see what happens. Even though I didn’t have a great turnout with the telescopes, it was still a fun night out for Hillary and me. She got to hang out with me, watch a movie, eat some free candy and popcorn, and see some things she’d never seen before. I got to do all of the same, but also had a chance to share some astronomy, and maybe even pick up a little publicity thanks to Valpolife.com. it will be interesting to see how next Tuesday turns out.
Hillary and I were going to see this week’s feature, “Jaws,” last night, but earlier in the day I had some serious collimation issues to sort out. The secondary mirror in my 4.5” Meade go-to Newt came loose a couple months ago, and I’ve had issues with it ever since. I really miss the nice sharp views I had before all this started. I made progress during the day, mostly finding out just how bad things were. Also, last Friday night in Michigan I discovered a knob holding the primary mirror in place on my 6” Dobsonian had come loose and was lost. I have no idea when or where it might have happened. It was time to pick up Hillary, so I gave up my fix it project, ready to try some naked eye and binocular astronomy at the movie if need be.
We got downtown just before 7 o'clock, according to the courthouse clock.
Hillary, ready for a "Movie Under the Stars."
Looking over the downtown park.
Park workers beginning preparations.
Getting there early to snag the perfect spot.
We got to the park almost two hours before the movie began so I could find the best spot to set up, and to be noticed by the early movie goers. I brought both telescopes out to attract attention, but I still wasn’t sure if I’d be able to use either one. The telescopes attracted attention, alright, because a photographer for Valpolife.com came over and started asking what I was up to, so I told him that I’ve been doing sidewalk astronomy in town, and this seemed like a perfect setting to try again, but that I wasn’t sure if I was going to use the scopes or not. He gave me a card, and continued finding people with stories. I sat down to collimate the go-to scope, and while it wasn't dead-on perfect, it was good enough to get away with showing the Moon to novices.
Back to the Cruiser to bring out the telescopes.
Aligning the secondary mirror. Fun.
The trouble with the primary mirror on the Dob really worried me though. I need to find a way to hold the primary mirror in place, but in the meantime, it gave an okay view as long as I didn’t rattle the tube around. A permanent fix is needed, and soon.
Once the Sun disappeared below the buildings, I tried to spot Mercury with binoculars. No luck.
Hey! Where did the movie screen come from?!?
The young sliver Moon showed up rather late, but made a beautiful entrance... if you happened to be facing away from the movie screen...
Hillary was ready for the movie to start, but...
...I persuaded her to see if the lunar views were acceptable.
Venus & Luna made a nice pairing, but...
...but it didn't last long.
I really expected the Moon, planets, and stars to go over really well last night. There were around 200 people in the park, most of them were there early, and I was in a good location. However, not too many came by to have a look. Only about a dozen people stopped to have looks at various sights, including the Moon, Venus, Mars, Saturn, M13, and M57.
At 9:05 we had an ISS pass of over five minutes, the last good one we’ll have for the next week. The movie had already started, but I was still watching the sky, though I’d lost track of the time. I remembered the ISS pass, and anxiously checked the time, thinking I might have missed it. My phone said 9:04. Whew. Hillary and I waited for it, and a couple walking by saw me looking and waving, so I told them it was Station. The guy said, “Oh wow. Really?” but didn’t miss a step as they continued on.
About halfway through the movie, a pair of high school girls noticed the telescopes while walking by, and had a look at the evening planets. They really showed a lot of interest, and I wish they would have stopped by earlier to see the sliver Moon. They also saw M13 and M57, and I explained each one to them. They even brought their friends over to sit near us, so I could let them know when I was looking at new targets. The one girl really wanted to know about black holes, so I found the area where Cygnus X-1 is, and told she could look. When she found out that she wouldn’t see the black hole, she decided to stay put and watch the movie instead. I was glad the girls came by, because it gave me a chance to show some deep sky stuff, instead of the usual Moon and planets, and they seemed to appreciate the views.
Hillary was enjoying the movie, but I mostly had my eyes looking up. She did come to see the Ring Nebula and the Great Cluster when I showed them to the girls, though. Believe it or not, this was only the second time I’ve seen “Jaws,” so as the film was building toward the climax I started paying attention. I think Hillary was ready to go as soon as the credits rolled, but I wanted to wait for a few minutes, expecting somebody might want to come over and have a look with the scopes. I guess everybody was as anxious to get home as Hillary, because nobody came over.
Shark attack.
They needed a bigger boat.
No more sharkie.
I’m going to try it again next week, weather permitting, and maybe it will go over better, maybe it won’t. I think the waxing gibbous Moon will help me attract attention, so we’ll see what happens. Even though I didn’t have a great turnout with the telescopes, it was still a fun night out for Hillary and me. She got to hang out with me, watch a movie, eat some free candy and popcorn, and see some things she’d never seen before. I got to do all of the same, but also had a chance to share some astronomy, and maybe even pick up a little publicity thanks to Valpolife.com. it will be interesting to see how next Tuesday turns out.
