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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Chicago Astronomer Star Party

Monday - 25 July 2011

There will be a great high pressure system sitting on the Chicago area region this Monday and Tuesday....and this means scope time!

Temps will be down and oppressive humidity gone...a great change from our present heat wave.

I will set up the C11 Beast at 7:00 pm by the Adler area for some last gasps of Saturn. We can pick out some DSO's at this session and see what we can tease out of Chicago skies.

If free or in the area, stop by and say hi.

[patrickm]

DSO=Deep Sky Objects: galaxies, star clusters, nebulae, planetary nebulae

[patrickm]

We'll be up in Wisconsin at Taliesen. If we get back in time and I still have the energy, we'll be down.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

All looks good for tomorrows Star Party.

The skies are cleaning as I type this and the high pressure system is easing it's way over us like a cool linen sheet.

It's gonna be a nice session.

Be there, you know you want to.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Last bump for tonight's gathering of astronomers and telescopes.

Looks great out now and tonight will be even better.

See then.

[jeremy]

Joe, I plan on coming out tonight. Am looking forward to meeting everyone!

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Jeremy,

Sweet!

It's a school night, so the whole crew won't be out, but you'll meet some of us and have a good time.

I'll either set up just west of the Adler or just north, by the Sundial.

Look for the scopes!

[patrickm]

A supremely frustrating night, likely caused by exhaustion, but so, so great to see everybody.

Onward and upward.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

A Good Dew Laden Session -

Now, how many telescopes have you ever seen with an umbrella attached?

Reasoning a bit later...

But, I arrived on-site a little before 7:00 pm to set up at my leisure and enjoy the bright day. It felt humid out, so I installed the Extended Dew Shield early, to keep the dew off the glass and retain the heat. Good thing I did, as later on during the session, dew soaked everything....but the Corrector Plate remained clear.

Chicago Support crew member Barbara arrived and assisted me in some quick solar projection....

Normally, I would not use the C11 to project the Sun's rays through, for the heat build-up would be incredible. But with the low angle Sun hitting the skyline, I felt it safe to project quickly onto the only paper I had...some lined sheets. A decent small grouping of Sunspots were visible at higher latitudes than I normally would see them.

And as usual, people started to come up to the scope, asking what was going on. Barbara was good at explaining the deal for the night, to return when it gets darker to catch Saturn. Some came up to talk astronomy and telescopes...

New Chicago Astronomer fans arrived, Ramen, Lorraine and Hector (and Pooper the dog). Regular Chicago Astronomer supporter Jerry arrived and Chicago Astronomer crew member Paulie joined the session. Later on Chicago Astronomers Steve and Patrick arrived and we had four scopes to serve the public....which totaled 75 this evening.

Chicago Astronomer regular supporter Gerry, brought Gyros, drinks and cigars for the event...

Thanks Gerry!

And of course, Saturn was the hit of the evening and all scopes shared views. Steve lent me his 13mm Televue and paired up with the C11, made for great sharp views of the planet...

I took a quick dirty pic, with no time to compose and set up properly, grabbed a quick handheld shot...

Back to that umbrella.....

Last year, I used the huge Astrobrella, with good results...

It certainly works great to block out unwanted lighting...but it's so damned heavy and awkward....and with all the other bulky equipment....a lot to lug around. I saw this simple shade umbrella at a supermarket. Meant to attach to a lawn chair of sorts with a vice-like holder, I saw it as a light shade for the C11. Light and easy to carry, I thought I would try it out for this session and see how it works...

I must say, it worked quite well and blocked out the intense street lamps causing glare on the eyepiece. Simply grabbing onto the C11's "©Speed Rails", it doesn't add much weight to the already heavily loaded set up...and will become a regular part of the Chicago Astronomer arsenal. You can see on some pics...the heavy dew on the equipment, especially the C11 Tube, but the Corrector Plate remained dry and clear.... ;D But I had forgotten my power pack from re-charging...so it was all manual all the time this session.

Steve's wife Margie joined us for this session...

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...and also participating was new Chicago Astronomer member Jeremy and his wife Heather, bringing his big binoculars...

And we continue with the session, attempting to target other objects, now that Saturn set...

I attempted to pick up other DSO's, but the heavy air, laden with humidity and high thin clouds, prevented me and difficult for others from picking things out...although I did get the E.T. Star cluster...but with the haze...looked washed out. And with M57 straight up, it was a contortion act to try and locate it....which I did not. Paulie and Jeremy walked just a few feet around to the side of the Adler, where there was some shade...and it's a remarkable difference. Without the glare of the supernova street lamp in our faces and affecting our pupils...a darker sky is clearly present. I'm thinking for a change of pace - and when there are no bright objects to show....that we set-up here, just south of the Adler, and catch better DSO's.

At about 11:30 pm we broke down the site and although not the best evening for urban astronomy, due to the heavy dew and haze...still had fun and made some new friends....some who have been following the Chicago Astronomer on-line for a long time and made their very first visit to a star party of ours. Chicago Astronomer Tom also arrived to join the crew later on in the evening.

Astronomers and supporters of the Chicago Astronomer:

C.A. Paulie, C.A. Patrick, Ramen, Jordan, Jeremy, Heather, Tim, C.A. Tom and myself.

It's a good probability that I'll do it again tomorrow evening...

[patrickm]

Left out Jordan on yer caption. A good write up and great pics as always. Your continual optimism is stunning and refreshing. Wish the scope had behaved so I could have spent more time talking and catching up. Also wish my camera batteries hadn't died after 5 mins.

I STRONGLY support moving from that spot. Eyepiece glare was just terrible.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

More processed pics of Monday's session...

Here you can see Steve's approach to keeping his objective lens clear, using chemical hand warmers secured to his dew shield. they were still alive when he left, so he gave them to me and I threw them in the Extended Dew Shield.


Here is something that the C11 Beast cannot do...

...serve the wheelchair bound.

Paulie's Dob makes for easy access to the Universe to anybody who desires a peek...

[Paulie pchris00]

I have no pictures to add to this thread, and all I really saw that night was Saturn. As I was still getting ready, though, Barbara came over and asked if I could show Saturn to a man in a wheelchair. I did, but I was too busy trying to get my CCD camera ready that I didn't pay attention to his reaction. Later, Barb asked me if I saw the smile on his face when he saw the ringed planet. I remembered excited voices as his family all had a look, but not the smile on anybody's face. I'm glad Barbara caught that moment, and if I'm going to do public star parties, I need to remember that the smiles are my reward. I shouldn't be too "busy" to not pay attention to that.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

"I need to remember that the smiles are my reward. I shouldn't be too "busy" to not pay attention to that."

This is the credo of public astronomy and why we do what we do.

[jeremy]

Joe,

It was great meeting everyone there on Monday! Heather and I had a great time, everyone there was so nice. We are looking forward to coming out again! I saw you posted a session for Saturday. We have some guests in town that day but I'm going to try to bring them out. Hopefully we'll see you there. Thanks again!

[patrickm]

Jul 27, 2011 17:03:23 GMT -6 Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe said:

"I need to remember that the smiles are my reward. I shouldn't be too "busy" to not pay attention to that."

This is the credo of public astronomy and why we do what we do.

Ding!!! Nice, both of yez.

[flycrash]

It was a pleasure to get to know the Chicago Astronomers on Monday.

I hope to come out again sometime soon!

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Hey hey....!

More pics from Chicago Astronomer supporter Gerry...

A big thanks to Gerry for bringing Gyros to this hungry Astronomer!

Thanks man!