(Viewed 1,744 times)

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Chicago Astronomer Star Party

Friday - 11 May 2012

It looks like Chicago will experience a couple of clear nights and relatively warm...and the Chicago Astronomers will be out to share some scope time.

We will set up telescopes just west of the Adler Planetarium by 7:30 pm - 10:00 pm to catch some great crescent Venus, Mars and Saturn views to enjoy and share with our fans, friends and visitors.

If in the area, stop by and say hi.

You know you want to.

[magic612]

I'm planning in being there Joe. I think I'll bring my 6" f/5 reflector.

[Paulie pchris00]

Haven't had any more problems with my car since Saturday. If that trend continues, I might be there.

[patrickm]

Will do my best.

[patrickm]

Except for surprise action from the Acme Sword of Damocles that usually hovers close by, I will be there. My hope is to be there early enough to get set up and do some solar observing. I'll shoot for 6:45-7pm in the usual spot.

Cannot remember the last time I set up the C9.25. Been many moons. Plenty of rust. Plenty of sunspots.



(I'm not slow. I'm deliberate.)

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Patrick...



See there!

[erikruud]

Well played Joe!

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

We are still a solid go for tonight's Star Party.

It'll be warmer and should provide for a fun night of looking up.

[erikruud]

May 11, 2012 10:39:26 GMT -6 Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe said:

It'll be warmer and should provide for a fun night of looking up.

I thought they had removed the Marilyn Monroe statue. ;D

[patrickm]

Clouds looking ickier by the hour on the forecast....

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

We are there either way and enjoy the night.

[Paulie pchris00]

I have to sit this one out. Have a good time, and clear skies.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

I'm getting reports from C.A.s that clouds are moving in.

But...too late to cancel and I will be there - clear skies or not.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

A resounding success....

With the threat of clouds early on, the skies cleared and the Chicago Astronomers attended to 269 visitors on a very busy session...

Full narrative and rest of the pics laters.

[patrickm]

Holy smokes. We watched "Tinker, Tailor, Soldeir, Spy" instead, but doesn't sound nearly as exciting. Sorry I missed it. Glad you had fun.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

A very busy session for the Chicago Astronomers...

Planned days in advance, I was receiving reports that a massive cloud mass was heading our way, and that the Northwestern section of the city was already cloud covered. Normally, I would have cancelled a last moment star party, but this one was anticipated by many and too late to alter plans.

Clouds or clear sky...I'm there.

The skies indeed were thickening to the west as I assembled the C11....but, weather forecasters have been wrong in the past and we cancelled an otherwise clear night of observation. Even if overcast, we could discuss astronomy with our visitors and showcase the Chicago skyline.

Fellow Chicago Astronomers Dave and Bill were on-scene early on...and I was happy to see them. Dave brought along his 6" reflector and a very cool foldable mount/stand. I wish I took some pics while he was setting up...as it's almost Transformer-like....

I also brought along the "Delite" screen fabric sheets for Dave to look over - expressing interest in using such for solar...

We agree that the thinner "DV" sample could be the best for our projection needs.

No sooner that we set-up, we greet the curious and attend to the crowds that were arriving/leaving the Adler for a members night only preview of the new skyshow...

It was still too early to scan the skies...but to the west, I observed some brightening of the skies....perhaps we get lucky this evening. In the meantime, I spent some time aligning my finder scopes to the C11 - using the Sears Tower as my focus. Our early visitors enjoyed examining the rivets on the antennae array and we chat about optics.

But...the skies did start to clear - and great bright Venus popped out...and we all slewed to the crescent planet...

Many were confused on why Venus demonstrated a phase and some thought that we were observing the Moon. A simple explanation and with help of my tablet....all was better understood. Venus did display a beautiful crescent in the eyepiece...and well on it's way "down"...with an encounter with the Sun for our June 5th Transit event.

C.A. Bill, seeing that we were about to get swamped with eager visitors, brought out his neat Vixen reflector scope and we now had three scopes - with lines forming at all of them....

I look around and see that we had a lot more than I expected for this session. The skies remained mostly clear - the cloud patches. Glad we set-up!... ;D...

Chicago Astronomer fans, receiving notices of our session, stopped by to say hi and share in the skies. New visitors were exciting at the possibility in viewing through telescopes and three planets for this night - Venus, Mars and Saturn...

A new experimental tool was utilized this evening. Normally, I use a two-level step stool to assist our guests in reaching the eyepiece. I felt that perhaps a three-level ladder would be better - primarily for the hand hold rail at the top. It proved to be a great success and kept most hands off of the scope...most.

I was being pulled in several directions, working questions from different guests at the same time. We were fortunate to have Chicago Astronomer Support Crew Member Barbara on-site to make the preliminary greet and prep prior to their peeks through the scopes...taking head counts all the time...

Fellow Astronomer Robb, who was in town briefly, stopped by with his classic GTO. I had only a few scant minutes to share the new acquisition with him, but had to go back and attend to my line. We will meet next month for some quality time.

Sweet ride.

I slewed between Mars and Saturn, but it was Saturn that was the star of the evening - displaying great clarity this evening - with planet banding, Cassini Division and more than one Satellite...

Chicago Astronomer John joined in and brought along his 5" Nexstar...and now we had four scopes...

The skies still were clear, mocking the weather forecast that called for cloudy skies for ths evening. But, I did spot a heavy mass of clouds to the west. Checking my Smartphone, indeed our skies were about to degrade. Still, we had some time before we were forced to conclude...

I met a great couple this session, who were enthralled with Saturn and the whole experience...

I had noticed, that after viewing Saturn and totally enjoying the sight, they went back to the end of the line for another peek. I approached them and offered to share a more magnified view of Saturn, (Using a 26mm throughout this session). I asked them to wait until the crowds died down some and then, I would allow them to take their time and enjoy the ringed planet with a 2x barlow. They did and were grateful at the chance. They will join the Chicago Astronomer crew in future sessions and most welcomed...

It was now nearing 10:00 pm, the crowds thinned and it was a nice quiet time now with fellow Astronomers and we took our time packing away our gear...

Our Chicago Astronomer Crew for the session:

John, Dave, Bill and Myself.

(Dig John's chortle... ;D )

Thanks for making a good session a great one guys!

[magic612]

I had a great time Joe - the crowd was totally into the planets we had the scopes trained on, asked lots of great questions, and the time literally felt like it flew by. 8:00 to 10:00 felt like 20 minutes.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Dave,

I am glad that you were there with me and worked the crowd with great enthusiasm.

This is what we do...and do it well.

Let's see when you can join in again and have a ball and laughs.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

New Chicago Astronomer fan Pankaj sent in two shots he took of the C11 on-board laser targeting Saturn...



Lasering Saturn, I used my pocket raw Chinese powered pointer to make a 90 degree right angle.

Thanks Pankaj!

[Paulie pchris00]

May 13, 2012 4:18:21 GMT -6 Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe said:

New Chicago Astronomer fan Pankaj sent in two shots he took of the C11 on-board laser targeting Saturn...



Lasering Saturn, I used my pocket raw Chinese powered pointer to make a 90 degree right angle.

Thanks Pankaj!

Was that an exposure time of an hour to catch the light bouncing off Saturn and back into space?

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

You gotta aim the laser just this side of the Cassini Division and bounce the beam off the outer rim...lest you just waste raw Chinese Green Laser power.

Just like playing pool...

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

More pics arriving...

My good friend and Chicago Astronomer fan Gerry, stopped by for this session and captured some of the action of the evening....

I don't know what was going here, but a good rowl is healthy from time to time. (I think it pertained to Tycho.)

Thanks Gerry for the shots....!

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Heh...

What came in on one of my Google Alert feeds....

[patrickm]

I saw that episode the other night while riding out the storm in the basement with our dog. She kept calling him, "Young man!" over and over when the makeup could clearly not conceal that he must have had two decades on her.

And then the pie fell from the ceiling and I forgot all about it.