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[RobbW]

Rich, I'm in with only the caveats that I emailed to you already. This is very exciting. I'm trying to get something going with the City of Elgin, too.

[-=CROMAN=-]

The StarParty at the Hickory Knolls Discovery Center in St. Charles, Il has the green light! We have 3-4 scopes available so far and was hoping for a few more volunteers for the evening.

Here's the list that we'll be covering

The Moon

Jupiter and its moons

Constellations such as Lyra, Cassiopeia, Hercules, Sagittarius, and Ursa Major (aka Big Dipper)

Brights Stars Vega, Mizar, Polaris, Arcturus, and Altair

Deep Sky Objects like the ET Star Cluster, Andromeda Galaxy, M13 Hercules Globular Cluster, the Double Cluster, and the Ring Nebula

If conditions allow, we'll even hunt for Comets and view the Draconids Meteor Shower

[Paulie pchris00]

Draconids are expected to put on a show this year, but the Moon will be almost full.

[erikruud]

Sept 22, 2011 6:51:22 GMT -6 Paulie pchris00 said:

Draconids are expected to put on a show this year, but the Moon will be almost full.

Yes, that is true.

We are hopeful that some will be visible in spite of the moon.

I am planning on being there with my scopes.

I should point out that the St. Charles Scarecrow Festival is that weekend as well, so I would avoid driving through downtown St. Charles if you can, as the traffic can be pretty heavy.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

It's gonna be a scope buggy orgy!

Very cool on this session in the area and pro-active C.A. astronomers are the best.

I expect pics and good stories.

[RobbW]

Rich would be well-advised to keep his buggy off my ATV. It's a pure-bred, and I'd like to keep it that way!

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Buggy love cannot be denied and nobody puts buggy in the corner.

[RobbW]

Sept 22, 2011 13:47:42 GMT -6 Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe said:

Buggy love cannot be denied and nobody puts buggy in the corner.

Thank you, Johnny Castle! I'm stealing your line for the next time I have to bust in and rescue a buggy from an overprotective amateur astronomer!

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

There is nothing about Chicago Astronomers that is amateur.

Now for other groups.....

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Ha...I had to look up who Johnny Castle was.

Heh.

[Centaur]

Sept 22, 2011 14:08:27 GMT -6 Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe said:

Ha...I had to look up who Johnny Castle was.

Heh.

I'm back to let you know I can really shake 'em down.

[RobbW]

So Joe, no chance we can cajole you into lugging The Beast out for this event in Saint Charles? So far, we are getting a good response for the star party. Now we are just wondering if we will have enough scopes to meet demand. This invitation goes out to any other CA crew who would be available this Friday night. It would be nice to meet you all out on our turf for once!

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Robb...

Oy...no astronomy for me this Friday evening.

I have a dinner date with friends that evening...but the skies will be beautiful for you!

[Paulie pchris00]

I'm committed to the Conway open house, but if these are going to be seasonal events, maybe I can catch the next one. I enjoy getting out of my own neck of the woods (or corn fields).

[patrickm]

I don't see a date. Is this tomorrow? Is forecast still for wind?

[RobbW]

Yes, Friday, Oct. 7 at 7:00pm at the Hickory Knolls Discovery Center in Saint Charles, IL. Current hourly forecast for tomorrow evening is showing clear skies through to about 3:00am. Temps should be at 68 at the 7pm start time and drop to about 58 by 11pm. Winds are forecast at 5-6 mph.

So far, it's looking pretty good. I was a little freaked yesterday when the forecasts were suddenly calling for mostly cloudy skies tomorrow night, but it has improved over the past 12 hours or so.

[patrickm]

Got an art opening and band playing at saki tomorrow so no can do. Have fun though and good luck. Looks like more continued autumn awesomeness from Mr. Skilling!

[erikruud]

I'll let Rich post the official counts, but it went really well last night.

I saw The Moon, Jupiter and 4 moons, M13, The Andromeda Galaxy(M31) + M32, Subaru/Pleiades(M45), The Ring Nebula(M57), The Double Cluster (NGC869 & NGC884).

I will never look at the moon through a 23" Dob again! I am still seeing spots. ;D

[-=CROMAN=-]

Official numbers at last count were roughly 100-105 folks. The lines for the scopes were pretty long up until 9:15pm or so. Lots of families came around for their first ever views, some even brought scopes with!

Unfortunately without Joe and his machine gun like picture taking skills we haven't many pics. =(

Robb took some at night but we were so busy with the crowds that it was impossible at time to break away from the scopes.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Aw man...no pics?

Then it didn't happen.

No really...very cool and a good number to have attended to...sharing first time memorable views. A detailed narrative is anticipated.

If you still got the scope itch for tonight, you know where to find us.

[erikruud]

Rob's got the pictures.

I want to make sure I thank Rob for his generous donation to my collection of astronomical gear.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Spill...what you get?

[erikruud]

Digital Inclinometer. It's back lit, so it will be a lot easier to use than the analog one I was using. The analog one has a red pointer, which is nearly invisible when using a red flash light.

[RobbW]

Hey all, I had a great time Friday night with the St. Charles star party. Sorry you couldn't make it with your camera, Joe! I'll try to get some pics up soon. I have to run them through some processing though to try and lighten them up a bit. Not having the light-bombs outside Adler makes for some great viewing opportunities, but it sucks for non-flash photography. I only had my point & shoot digicam Friday night, not my "big gun". So I couldn't do any real good long-exposure shots of the crowds. All my pics are pretty dark, and I didn't have a chance to run back to my car to get the camera until the crowds started to thin a bit anyway.

Turns out I got to pull a double this weekend, too. I was tired and lazy after getting home from Friday night's event. So I just left my scope equipment in my car. On Saturday, I took my daughter to her two cousins' combined birthday parties. Later in the evening, I was wandering around outside and noticed the sky was perfectly clear. The moon was bright, and we had great views of most of the north, east, and south skies. I went to the host and told her I still had my scope in the car and wondered if she thought the kids would like to have a look at the moon. I barely got the whole question out of my mouth and she was going nuts about how the kids and everyone else would love that. The party was only supposed to be from 4pm-6pm, but once I got my scope set up, everyone had a great time taking peeks at the moon, Jupiter, Andromeda, ET Cluster, Double Cluster, Pleiades, Mizar, Vega, M13, and Dziban. Party guests were still lining up to get a look at different objects until I finally broke down the site around 11pm.

Hmm, maybe I can start a side business doing birthday parties and bat mitzvahs!

[RobbW]

Joe, I just read the recap for your International Observe the Moon Night event. Very impressive! The 220 visitor count at the Adler crowd certainly blows our 105+ count out of the water. However, I don't feel it's a fair comparison. On one hand (Joe's), you have a Chicago astronomy rock star celebrity with his own dedicated following. Scopes get set up in Downtown Chicago just outside a tourism icon and within walking distance of other well-known Chicago tourist landmarks. There is a heavily-traveled walking/bike path that goes right past the site. The site is heavily lit, and anyone walking past can see gobs of cool-looking astro equipment and feel compelled to walk over and take a peek. Joe and the crew get a lot of people who see his posts and make a point to stop by, but many of the visitors are passersby who are attracted to the cool, sparkly equipment like moths to the flame!

On the other hand (St. Charles), this was our very first event with the St. Charles park district. We did out best to advertise on our individual websites and Facebook pages and also in the local edition of the Tribune. But I know my site is new and a relatively unknown commodity. So I have no idea how much good my efforts did. The venue was a relatively dark location on the very far west side of town. The long, winding gravel road that leads to the viewing location was not marked by any signage advertising the star party that I could see. So the people who showed up were the die-hards who intentionally made a point of figuring out how to get to the location and came there specifically for the event (not mere passersby). In fact, given the location of the star party, attracting mere passersby was a virtual impossibility! Given everything we had going against us, we still had a great turnout for our first event. Actually, it was a heck of a lot more people than I imagined we'd get!

[Paulie pchris00]

For a first time event, 100+ is a great turnout. In four events for the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Audrey, Larry, and I didn't manage 100 TOTAL for the sessions. Labor Day weekend we pulled in 20 or so, but that was one of the best nights we had. Congrats, and you'll do even better next time.

[patrickm]

D00d! TO ME, amateur astronomy is not competitive. Your group is phenomenal, but if it had been 2 people and it touched their lives, then TO ME, that would be as valuable as 200+ people, many of whom looked for 5 seconds, said thanks, and walked off.

100+ is HUGE! I feel proud for what y'all did and the work put into it! Big ups, as they say in Jamaica!

[RobbW]

Oct 10, 2011 10:46:35 GMT -6 Paulie pchris00 said:

For a first time event, 100+ is a great turnout. In four events for the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Audrey, Larry, and I didn't manage 100 TOTAL for the sessions. Labor Day weekend we pulled in 20 or so, but that was one of the best nights we had. Congrats, and you'll do even better next time.

Sorry, Paulie. I should clarify that I'm not really trying to make this a competition. I guess what I'm trying to do more than anything is stroke our egos and give props for an outstanding event. I'm very excited that a couple of CAers were able to draw such a large crowd without the benefit of Joe's prime real estate and his astronomy celebrity status. I'm hoping this will merely add to the turnout of future events and the CA fan base in general. It would be awesome if we could plan an event out here in slightly darker skies where Joe, himself, would be able to attend with the beast and bring along his throng of followers. Could you imagine the party that would be?!?!

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Listen...

I dig that members of the Chicago Astronomer crew not only travel to our star parties from a bit aways, but also setting up star parties in their own areas - opening the skies to those who normally would not have access to telescopes and astronomers.

It's never a competition....nor should anyone consider it one.

Hell, the Universe is big enough for everybody and I get a kick out of these curmudgeoned territorial insecure simps with scopes - that feel superior to others and try to impress with NGC designations, in your face factoids and know-it-all self importance tone in their voice.

I stay away from these sad souls, which unfortunately are plentiful out there. I like our C.A. crew and is the reason we are together enjoying & sharing the skies while building our fan base. The uncool can go elsewhere and be superior.

For me...I'm honored that we have groupies and fans who come out for some time with the stars and me. Smiling and having fun just as much as I am.

Ain't astronomy fun?

[-=CROMAN=-]

i think we all need to go out for pizza and beer!