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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Chicago Astronomer Joe's Partial Solar Eclipse Observation Session

20 May 2012

- View the Eclipse through Chicago's Largest Public Mobile Telescope -

This is an unusual Solar Eclipse event for Chicagoans.

NATO is in town and my primary Observation site is locked down hard by the Adler Planetarium and museum campus area -and not accessible. I also need to stay relatively close to home for the foreseeable future.

Chicago will get to view the beginnings of this partial eclipse Sunday evening - before we lose the Sun as it sinks in our western horizon. From our Chicago Astronomer Curt:

"The partial eclipse will begin at 19:22 CDT for Chicago observers. By the time that the Sun sets, its diameter will be 61.5% covered by the Moon."

Read more: astronomer.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=recent#ixzz1vBXeW9GB"

But...this is an Eclipse and even though it's a partial "annular"...the Chicago Astronomer still should set-up a scope and catch it. (My last partial eclipse was the "Christmas Eclipse of 2000"...and it was cold! )

I did scout around a bit for a decent vantage point in the city, but the locales I came came across failed in one manner or the other...(trees, buildings, public accessibly, lights etc....) Close to home, is the Park District's "River Walk" - where one can take a leisurely stroll along the Chicago river. There is a rest spot along Ashland Ave - just South of the Bridge (going South)...

At this locale, the angles to the western horizon allows for a late sunset track - just missing some distant trees - and no buildings to obscure the sight lines...

This site is just across the street from the famous "Bubbly Creek" turn basin off the south branch of the Chicago River and plenty of free parking. A simple matter of walking across the street with equipment and set-up for the eclipse.

Eclipse event timeline for Chicago Astronomer Observers...

At 6:30 pm, when I set-up, the two orbs will still have some distance between each other.

At the 7:00 pm mark, I intend to show/enjoy the solar disk as time progresses using both a Full Aperture Solar Filter on the C11 and projection method on the attached 90mm refractor.

At 7:22 pm, the first contact event will occur and the Moon will just start to kiss the solar disk.

At 7:30 pm, we are well on our way and a good bite will have been taken out of the solar disk.

At 7:45 pm, and still following the event, we should get some good Sun Spot occultation by the lunar disk.

By 8:00 pm, the eclipse should be viewable naked eye, as the solar disk dives into the lower atmosphere and haze.

Our last glimpse of the eclipse will be at 8:02 pm, as we lose both disks to the horizon. (We will probably not catch the event this far into the eclipse, but worth a try. Telescopes still trained on the duo

I intend to do a practice run Friday or Saturday and put the easier to carry 90mm for a preliminary dry-run. If a go, (and I think it will be), I will set-up by 6:30 pm Sunday evening and remain on-site till 8:00 pm...or maybe later if the skies are decent.

Unless something else better develops close-by, this will be my observation site for Sunday's Partial Eclipse event...if it stays clear. Convenient and a half decent vista.

If free, stop by, say hi and catch a partial eclipse with me or if in the western suburbs, catch the eclipse with my fellow Chicago Astronomers who will be setting up their equipment at various locales. (Check the threads here on the Chicago Astronomer forum for details.)

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

The weather is iffy and most likely stormy by late afternoon for the eclipse.

But...

It just may be sunny and clear. Weather forecasters have been totally wrong in the past.

Updates closer to the event time.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Okay kids...

The skies are overcast...but there is a clearing moving in over the Chicagoland area within the next 2 hours.

I will set-up and hope for the best...perhaps get lucky and get a few minutes of the event. If I elected not to set up observational equipment and it clears...it would be unforgivable.

Pics of the action soon.

[magic612]

I don't know Joe - the way those storms look to my west and your southwest, things don't look promising. Hoping for them to magically dissipate..... (yeah right).

[atomant]

Hey Joe, Maria did great job finding a quaint little park with nice western horizon!
Here are quick pics of the neat eclipse with friends:

Astronomers are optimists!



Storm clouds overhead, but a glimmer of hope.


Tea party begins while we await.


Yay!


Heads aglow


Sunlit cig


Moji's iPhone money shot


Atop a cap


A beaut!

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

We had a beautiful time at this little Riverwalk park...

Here are two shots of the Solar Eclipse event...

...with a whole lot more coming shortly.

But, well done Chicago Astronomers!!

[jeremy]

Hi Gang,

Sorry I wasn't able to be out there with you yesterday. We started the day in Indianapolis at the in-laws and wasn't sure if we'd be back on time, especially with the uncertainty of driving back into the city with the NATO stuff going on. Fortunately we made it back just in time for me to setup my scope and give it about 20 min to adjust to the air temps outside.

It looked a bit hit or miss with the cloud coverage. I had a view of the moon just starting to cover the sun then lost everything behind the clouds. Fortunately, as I know you all saw too, the sun poked out from under that band of clouds to give us a show after all.

I have to tell you though, I thought for sure police or Secret Service would come by. My street is near the highway and feeder ramps that they had blocked off for the VIPs motorcades here for the summit. When I say near, my street ends within 40 ft of the ramps going by. Here I am out on the street in front of my place with my big Dobs pointed at the sun due West. I didn't realize they would be using that route. I had helicopters buzzing directly over me for about 15 min, not sure if they were coincidental, or if they were trying to figure me out. The highlight was watching what we think was Obama's motorcade go by. No official ever stopped by to my relief as I would have hated to be told to put the scope away. However my neighbors and I thought for sure someone would stop by wondering what my telescope was given the heightened security in our area.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

The Chicago Astronomer 2012 Annular Partial Solar Eclipse bagged....

This was a Go/No-go situation from the break of this day. Clouds, rain and storms were forecast at exactly the time the Solar Eclipse event was to occur. Keeping an eye on weather radar, reports from eyes in the western Chicago suburbs and looking down my street to the west...I was evaluating the entire day. It was not until 6:30 pm that I finally decided to go...hating myself if even a couple of minutes of visibility presented itself and I was not there to record and share it.

I arrived on-scene at our eclipse observation site in a little park area along the Chicago River walk...

A intimate patch of land with a decent western horizon and open skies...and just west of a river bridge. Checking the radar/satellite maps just before I left the house, I saw that there was a clearing moving its way to the east...and perhaps would allow us a brief peek at the event. Rushing to set-up, the temp was in the 90's and humidly high. I was sweating as I was assembling the C11 beast before the 7:22 pm first contact event. But there it was, in the west was our brief window of opportunity...but there were also rain shafts observed.

Will we get drenched....?

With me, was Maria, working fast and hard to get all the things up and running and I set-up the scope. Chicago Astronomers Tom and Bill also joined in soon after...

I popped om the full aperture Solar filters on the C11 and the Seymour filter on the 90mm and scanned the ever brightening western edge of the cloud cover mass. But, the filters did not allow any sort of first glimpse yet, as the filtering on the scopes was too dark and I viewed nothing but black...

Anticipation grew as the Sun tried to push through the edge and we all attempted to catch a first hint of anything going on. Chicago Astronomer fans made their way to our new site and shared the evening with us...

In my last-minute rush, I had forgotten to bring along a ladder. With the Solar event being so low, the 90mm was too high to reach and I used my sturdy eyepiece case to gain a much need lift...

I don't recommend this method too often...

We were still searching for the event, but in the meantime we chatted about the mechanics of a solar eclipse, astronomy and the 2012 End Times...

I took off the C11 filter and attempted a unmagnified peek at the edge of the cloud cover...

...but still did not see anything...not even a Solar limb. With the first contact event now past, I feared that this eclipse would not be at all visible. I used a variable polarizer to scan the area and started to get a hint of the Moon taking a bite out of the Sun...

CA Bill caught it first, using his mylar solar filter on his finder scope and hope turned into anticipation of some peek at the event...

And Bam...!...there it was...

I was thrilled that the skies did indeed open up to our west, but looking to my north...lighting was a common sight and my C11 would make a great lightning rod. But, this was science and well worth it.

The C11 performed wonderfully and I grabbed some quick shots before the clouds might roll over the Sun again...

Sunspots and the irregular/turbulent edge of the lunar surface now was in bright wide open view...my guests and fans, (which was increased by now), enjoyed sharing this rare event with the Astronomers. But a problem was about to present itself. The angle of the sunset was about to take it into a mess of distant trees - not acceptable. The whole eclipse party group grabbed something and carried my equipment further in the park, past the tree obstruction. I removed the OTA and had the mount lugged over some to a better location - rushing to beat the clock. And we start where we left off...

C.A. Bill moved over as well and got good angles with his scope...

Sprinkles fell at first while we were catching this event and then a bit more. The event was not over yet, so I placed a plastic cover on the OTA for some protection...

The eclipse party crew was still following the Sun's travel to our horizon...

The sprinkles became a bit wetter and I feared that perhaps a downpour might hit out site from windblown rains. Bill came prepared and sheltered the C11...

I was hot and sweaty from the evening's weather and lugging the equipment again to the second site. But this was well worth it!

At about 7:55 pm, we started to lose the Sun's disk and felt great that we caught the majority of the observable event from the Heart of Chicago. The skies were painted nicely as we reflected on this past 40 minutes...

We managed to miss the heavy rains, but I got concerned about the heavy water laden cloud menacing our gathering...

And with lightning still around us...it was time to pack up. My Eclipse Party disciples all grabbed a bag and helped me haul it to my van - which made it a snap!

A big shout out to C.A. Bill for joining in with his equipment and to all those who shared this cool eclipse with the Chicago Astronomers!

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Chicago Astronomer Steve's pics of the Eclipse from Albuquerque New Mexico...

There is projection, funnel screen and filtered shots of the event. I see that someone was using their "Astroscan" ball scope for projection - but with all that light and heat bouncing around in that ball scope, I would think some damage would occur. (Maybe they built them better back then! )


Steve also was mentioned in their local paper....

"Seeing an eclipse was “on my bucket list,” said Steve Cosgrove, who flew in from Chicago."

www.abqjournal.com/main/2012/05/21/news/thousands-gather-around-albuquerque-to-view-rare-eclipse.html

Lot of good pics of the mass gathering at the link.


More pics coming, but Steve and I chatted while the eclipse was in progress several times and as I was packing away the equipment, he was enjoying the "Ring of fire" phenomenon.

More of his pics coming...

[erikruud]

Maybe the smaller aperture on the Astroscan is what is saving it. The next picture looks like he is using a much larger Orion newtonian for projection. You can't see it is stopped down at all.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

More shots from Chicago Astronomer Steve in New Mexico...

"BT-80's with custom mount. Nice local retired couple, and head of his town's astro group."



"Margie looking through the double stack Ha scope"



"A grassy field and a tent with a big screen for the thousand or so civilians on hand."



"Vintage 6" ( or 8") refractor with custom alt-ax mount"



"The sun was very low on the horizon by then so kind of fuzzy, but you can still see some prominences."




"You can see the "ring of fire" if you zoom into this pic, so I will send it full resolution. Maybe you can add an inset of a cu of the sun"

"A pricey but very sharp projection device."



"Dee Frisen - President of the Albuquerque Astronomical Society, and the guy who invited me to join their group. I've got my Coronado "binomite" binocs around my neck, but they did not get much use with all the pre-aimed big glass on hand."



"A super cheap 70mm refractor, rubber funnel and grey frosted plastic and a few hose clamps, plus a medium range plossl eyepiece. Like all the projection setups, they said they used a "Sacrificial" eyepiece, figuring it might not survive unscathed, especially the coatings"



"Guy from Texas. The box at bottom has a laptop capturing video"

I like that last pic. The guy has everything on his scope...something I would do.

And not a single C11 in sight....as it should be!

[atomant]

Now why can't Chicago get crowds like that to enjoy the sky?!
There's more folks seeing the sun in NM than there were NATO protesters.

[Above is just rhetorical.
It's more a comment on the sad sad showing of the NATO protesters.]

[erikruud]

Two things.
The weather, which I am sure kept some in our area from even trying.
Hype. I am sure there was much more news coverage out there because they were in the path of the ring of fire. NATO hype probably also counted against us too.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Here is a nice shot from space during the solar Eclipse at maximum....

www.universetoday.com/95298/the-may-2012-annular-eclipse-as-seen-from-space/

A neat gallery of eclipse pics and vids too.

[Paulie pchris00]

May 22, 2012 11:14:48 GMT -6 atomant said:

Now why can't Chicago get crowds like that to enjoy the sky?!
There's more folks seeing the sun in NM than there were NATO protesters.

Erik has probably nailed it. They're in the ring of fire, so they got hype, Chicago had NATO, and scared off non-protesters.

Also, I bet a good percentage of that crowd, like Steve, traveled to NM because it was in the ring of fire. Makes a difference to be the destination that astronomers are heading to.

[erikruud]

May 21, 2012 22:41:35 GMT -6 Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe said:

"Guy from Texas. The box at bottom has a laptop capturing video"

[/center]


I like that last pic. The guy has everything on his scope...something I would do.

And not a single C11 in sight....as it should be! [/quote]

My daughter just saw this and said, "He even has the mustache!" #Thumbsup#

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

My daughter just saw this and said, "He even has the mustache!"

Righteous!

[lanshan75]

I am totally agree with what you said,but my English is poor, sometiomes I don't know how to express my feeling,I just want to make some friends who can help me in my English and share the happiness with each other.
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