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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Chicago Astronomer Star Party

21 November 2012 - 7pm

We are experiencing very above average temperatures these days before Thanksgiving...and Wednesday the 21st...will be clear. Pretty soon, we will have blistery snow...and I think we should take full advantage for some comfortable scope time.

I will arrive at our primary public site by 7:00 pm for some great Jupiter and Lunar viewing for fellow Astronomers and fans of the Chicago Astronomer.

(Of course...pending weather condition - check this thread for updates and confirmations.)

Join the Chicago Astronomers on a warm and clear Fall evening... ;D

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

UPDATE:

The Chicago Astronomer session for tonight...is a solid GO.

We might have to punch through some haze, but it'll be a nice warm fall evening to share with our friends.

Might be the last warm session...for quite awhile.

[Paulie pchris00]

What's your definition of "warm?"

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Any time my hands don't stick to metal.

[patrickm]

Our dog Caine just went into back & neck surgery. I'm gonna sit this one out and pace around for a few hours. Have fun.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

It's a tough time when our pets are sick.

Sorry and good healing thought's for Caine.

[tomlee]

I will stop by late if the guard let me thru.

[patrickm]

Came through great. We don't get him back until Friday or Saturday. Weird around here. Thanks for the kind thoughts.

Hope it went well last night & humidity wasn't too terrible.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

A hazy but fun time with Chicago Astronomer fans...

We are getting into the "more clouds than clear sky" time of the year and I called for this very last moment uber-mini star party...and had a good time.

Maria and I arrived at 7pm, the skies of course were already darkened and both the Moon and Jupiter were riding high for a solid few hours of observation. Before I had completed setting up, visitors were already gathering...eager to take a peek...

Chicago Astronomer Steve arrived with his 4" Refractor and assortment of eyepieces or "Bag of glass" as he calls it...

Steve targeted Jupiter, as I explored the Moon for our visitors...

The skies were hazy and made our objects "soft", but all of our visitors were thrilled at this opportunity to view through telescopes. Something new for this session...was the addition of the Android Tablet to the C11 itself...

Using it as a Virtual Digital Setting Circle tool, it works...ok. The massive metal of the C11 disturbs the sensors and a bit jumpy. Using a bracket I had from an auxiliary video lamp, it clamped nicely to my "Grab rails" on the OTA and the Tablet just slips on the arm snugly. It also keeps the screen nicely positioned to demonstrate star charts/planet orbits and other astronomical apps - keeping my hands free. Our visitors appreciated the addition and enjoyed the technology.

It was 50 degrees, but the winds picked up and it was a bit chilly. We continue...

I occasionally slewed around to the E.T. Open Star Cluster & and the Double Star Cluster, but mostly I keep the Moon in the eyepiece, which was putting on a good show, including Rupes Recta -The straight wall. Using Steve's 4x Barlow and his 16mm Televue...we were getting pretty good intense close-up views of the cliff.

When the crowds thinned, I took the free moments to check out the views through the 4" Refractor...

Steve also had with him a graphic of the four major satellites of Jupiter, which he used throughout the night, explaining various characteristics of each world.

Waves of groups would come up to our scopes and I reduced the magnification to a 40mm, capturing the entire lunar orb in the FOV...

Chicago Astronomer Bill arrived for a short bit to say hi.

When the crowds allowed, Steve and I experimented with various eyepiece combinations and techniques. I had noticed in prior observations, that brighter objects like Jupiter, improved in sharpness and contrast when just at the edge of the FOV of the eyepiece. On my 4.5" I used to place my open palm in front of the aperture to increase the sharpness, but with the C11...impossible. I had Steve observe Jupiter while I took the C11's aperture cover and slowly moved it in front of the corrector plate as he observed the change. at about the 1/2 way point, we found that it provided the best sharpness and contrast of the planet.

Stopping down the aperture seems counter production, as all Astronomers desire bigger and bigger apertures. But in this case for bright objects like Jupiter, Saturn, The Sun and Moon....I think I will make some prototypes on sub-aperture masks and see what works best.

I also utilized the Marzec/Bartinov mask for this, but it did not provide as much improvement as the cover did. We did do some tests of the mask on raw focusing...always works like a charm.

At about 10:00 pm, we called it a night and had 44 visitors to this un-announced Chicago Astronomer Super mini Star Party.