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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

The Chicago Astronomer at the "Public Practice at Garfield Park Conservatory"

21 August 2013

The Garfield Park Conservatory has been conducting public participation activities at their site throughout the summer and the Chicago Astronomer has been invited by the Adler to participate on Wednesday the 21st of August 2013 - 6:00pm to 9:00 pm...

Here is the event:

Public Practice at Garfield Park Conservatory
Wednesday, August 21 6pm – 9pm
Bring your singing voice and practice in public - all ages and skill levels are welcome!
Opera-Matic will share their practice of coordinating group effort to create shared public experience. Meet in the back lawn “practice space” to learn an original song inspired by the full moon and a group of August constellations: the Summer Triangle.
6 pm – 8 pm: Any time during 6 pm and 8 pm, you can join us at guided practice spots, where we will
· Practice singing an original “constellation song” with others, to be sang as a large group during the public practice performance time at 8 pm.
· Visit with astronomers and folks from the Adler Planetarium and Northwestern University and hear tales of the Universe. Volunteers will assist with telescopes for public viewing of the skies. As it gets darker, get a close up peek at the constellations and planets that are the inspiration for tonight's group effort performance.
· Learn skills and games for cooperative work.
· Make pinhole leaf constellations.
· Signal with flashlight choreography.
8 pm – 8:45 pm: Perform as a group a final “Public Practice” Performance, sing the moon into rising, and enjoy a campfire at the end of the night. This public practice performance is led by Opera-Matic's giant multi-media moon.
8:45 pm – 9 pm: Look at the stars, planets, and moon again at telescope viewing stations. (Viewing dependent on clear skies.)

www.garfieldconservatory.org/public-practice-at-garfield-park-conservatory.htm

We will set-up scopes and banner outside in the rear of the Conservatory by 6:30 pm and catch the rising Moon at 7:48 pm. It will give us about an hour and a half to share the skies with visitors before the 9pm close. Even if cloudy, we will have scopes at the ready to discuss astronomy and equipment.

For participating Chicago Astronomers:

Parking for Astronomers will be provided in the staff parking lot.

Let me know if you are interested in participating at this last minute opportunity in a great setting.

[patrickm]

This looks great but I can't make it. Really great though.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

It should be a fun time with the flora and stars.

Chicago Astronomer fans are more than welcomed to stop by and enjoy the evening with us.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

A non-Stop Blast at the Conservatory....

A very humid evening awaited us as I arrived at the Garfield Park Conservatory around 6:20 pm. This was Ken Walczak's - from the Far Horizons Lab at the Adler - activity to have scopes at this event. The Chicago Astronomer was invited to participate and attend to the crowds for this nice event...

...and a good one, considering they had references to the Moon and Vega this evening.

Ken had his scopes, The Adler's 10" MEade and his personal Mak up and running, while he assisted me in lugging my gear through the Greenhouses and to our site way in back on the ridge overlooking the grounds...

As always, folks started to gather early by the scopes, but it was way too early for celestial targets, so I trained the C11 on a distant building with antennae arrays to explain what kind of power we were going to push this session...

The musical crew started to play chants and sing about the Moon and Vega...of which the Summer Triangle was arranged in the field. The Moon soon made it's parade with chanting...

I targeted the first object that popped out, Arcturus...

Clouds threatened this session from the north and we had cloud cover on the east...but there were signs of a break...

...and as the Moon broke through the clouds, the attendees howled at the Moon and our visitors enjoyed a much anticipated Lunar viewing....

Although the skies were very hazy, it was good enough for some decent muted lunar enjoyment through all scopes...

We had a ISS pass this evening and I made our announcement to the crowd. I had to get my bearings, as it was coming from the NW and I did not have my familiar landmarks, but I identified the initially dim space station with my handy dandy Astronomical laser and she was putting on a good show...

Our visitors were thrilled at being able to view the station so clearly and brightly...

We then go back to the hazy day past full Moon...

Old pal Jaik stopped by and joined us near the end of the session and by 9:30 pm, we broke down the site and ready to head home. We had approx. 100 visitors to our scopes, but being solo, I didn't have the time to use the counter.

A nice time with Moon lovers at the Conservatory...and the skies cooperated...sorta.

[Paulie pchris00]

Aw, shoot. I saw this posted Monday, but didn't think I was going to be able to come out, so I forgot about it. Turned out I probably could have made it. Would have been a nice Station pass out here, but I had to settle for seeing it through sucker holes. Looks like a fun time.