Post by Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe on Dec 8, 2013 11:59:25 GMT -6
Three Astronomers, bitter cold temps and clouds
07 December 2013
07 December 2013
Chicago Astronomers Bill, Javier and myself ventured out into the cold temps to try and get some imaging under our belts before the cloud mass would arrive - about midnight...or so said the forecasters.
Bill brought his brand new 10" motorized Dob, painted a beautiful pearl white and great listening a dob slew about. Javier brought his mighty CPC 11 on a fork mount and equatorial wedge...and I the C11 beast on the CG-5 mount.
We had planned to do some deep sky imaging eastward and over the lake at our Chicago Astronomer site, but the clouds arrived early and before we could set-up properly, high haze had settled in and serious imaging was out. Jupiter was riding high, but even he could punch through the atmospheric turbulence. I tried to grab a few pics before we got socked it....
Ganymede was starting to pop from behind Jupiter just as the heavy clouds arrived...
Jupiter was a boiling, bubbling mass with brief moments of clarity. With the imaging part over of our session, we hung around for a bit, discussing astrogear and goofing around....
In prepping for this bitter cold session.....I layered so thick, that I was too hot. I had on thermal underwear, jeans, sweatpants, a sweater, a lined skull cap, a regular knit cap, fleece-lined hoodie, two pairs of thermal socks and my Thermal Space suit coat. Included were two heat packs in my shirt pockets that kept my areolas toasty...! I was so warm, that I spent most of the session without the Spacesuit coat.
Anytime with astro buddies is always a good one.
Onward to the next session!
