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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Chicago Astronomer Star Party

- *Montrose Harbor -

Saturday 19 July 2014

After a long absence of a Chicago Astronomer event at  *our primary observation site, we are returning Saturday, the 19th of July at 8pm till 10:30 pm.  


*NOTE: We must relocate from our primary site by the Adler, to Montrose Harbor, due to now...an extended four day run of the Phish concert at Northerly Island - effectively, locking up the entire museum campus area.  Sorry kids...


Due to weather and concert/sports events in the area, we were forced to cancel several great nights of sharing skies with our fans and friends including conjunctions, full Moons and the opportunity to discuss astronomy with eager sky lovers.  Friday is the better of the two, but the Phish concert will lock up the Planetarium area - and so Saturday it is.

Will have have Saturn, Mars, Binaries and star clusters to enjoy and share on this evening with telescopes and Astronomers.

Be there....you know you want to.

[patrickm]

Can't make it. Turns out we are having people over for dinner and it would be a little rude to bail for star time. Hope the smokey layer blows away for you or maybe the planets will punch through.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

I'm running late myself...(Getting parts for the Chevelle).

That's ok Patrick....you'll join us next time.

Sky conditions are iffy, but we are committed....

[patrickm]

The Chevelle!!!

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

A thick hazy evening with scopes and Astronomers...



With the forest fires from the northwest mingling in with the city hazy....observational conditions were pretty poor and unsuitable for a session....but we were committed and set-up regardless....glad we did.

Arriving a bit late myself, Tom, (a fellow Telescope Operator from the Adler), was already on site waiting for me and we plopped our gear down.  As always, the credo..."Set-up a telescope and they will come" always holds true and soon enough, we had a small crowd assembled and eager to see what telescopes can display.  We had on site: Tom with his 8" SCT, Mac who brought along his 6" reflector and I with the C11 Beast...

Conditions were such, that not even Saturn, easily visible with the unaided eye, blinked in and out from behind the mucky haze.  But remarkably...provided some decent views in the eyepiece....showing good ring detail and surface features.  I bounced around from Saturn to Mars and to Alberio for this session...

We discussed all things astronomy with our guests, who were amazed at seeing Saturns rings for themselves first-hand....

Vega and the summer triangle was up and nicely situated....





...I always like to discuss the movie "Contact" with our fans and ask if she went to the Vega system or not.  I also used the CG-5 mount this evening, utilizing the neat iPad go-to feature...knowing that star hopping would be futile this session...



Calling up the SkySafari Pro app...all one needs to do is touch a desired object on the tablet and tell it to slew.  Does it very well, although I'm not too keen on the most recent software update, as the virtual slew buttons are now in the way along the side of the screen, accidentally hitting them as one holds the tablet. 

And we continue...

With all the atmospheric muck, the on-board laser on the C11 was especially dramatic...




Sending photons on their way while targeting desired objects.

Near the end of our hazy session, we had fireworks off of Navy Pier, a regular weekend show...

Our telescope crew and fans for the evening....



It was a nice time spending a session with my fellow Astronomer pals and friends on a hazy night...



Stay tuned for our next Chicago Astronomer Star Party......