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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Chicago Astronomer Star Party

Saturday 11 April 2015

1st Public event of the 2015 Observational Season

It's been long hard winter and Astronomers don't like being cooped up for so long.  


The weather forecast looks pretty good for a Saturday evening star party with fellow Astronomers, fans and friends.  Daytime temps in the 60's and evening in the mid 40's, with the promise of clear skies.

We will set-up Telescopes by our usual observation site - just west of the Adler Planetarium building - at 8:00 pm and share the skies till 10:00 pm.  We will have Jupiter and the last of the winter targets to enjoy this session.

Stop by, say hi, take a selfie or two and join us for the first Chicago Astronomer Star Party of this season..

[headdunce]

I'm not sure where I left off on my 12" dob before winter set in, seems so long ago. I'm sure I need some batteries... not sure if I can make it out tomorrow night, working on it. Either way, sold my camper up in Wisconsin last year so you'll be seeing more of me this year!

Does homebrew beer and astronomy work well together downtown too? Hope so!

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Jim baby...

Excellent man.

Hope to see you Saturday night, but if not...we got a whole spring, summer and fall to enjoy.

[tomlee]

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

A successful 1st Chicago Astronomer Star Party of the season

11 April 2015

I had scheduled this first star party of the 2015 observational season for the Chicago Astronomer crew.  Weather looked great and Chicago Astronomers  at the ready.  I, contracted stomach flu and was going to bow out, but that wouldn't be cool.  Pushing through it, the other crew members picked up the slack and we all had a fun time meeting our fans and friends...

I set-up the C11 on the CG-5 mount, but with a long winter, things need attention and tweaking - including disassembly of the C11 for cleaning and Collimation...

We had an armada of scopes this this 1st session...refractors, SCTs and dobs...

Chicago Astronomers Bill and Tom arrived and Ken Plecki was waiting with his cool 15"Dob...

The skies were not great, but it was clear and temps cool.  Jupiter would be the highlight for this session and Venus displaying a nice 3/4 gibbous phase. On Jupiter, Ken was catching a nice Io transit with a sharp shadow.  Others were instructing visitors on scopes and the current celestial highlights...

We also had a new Chicago Astronomer fan arrive with his ETX and mount...all loaded on to his bike...

He has a 10" dob that he intends to build a trailer and transport it to our star parties.

Nice...


This was only to be a two hour session. which was ok...since I wasn't feeling well, but we continue and take our astro selfies...

Here, are two of my students from the IHSCA Astronomy club to participate in their first session behind telescopes.  Amauri and Raymundo learned few few things, but since I was not feeling 100%, their next time will be a better learning experience...

I needed frequent rest breaks...

At 10:00 pm, we ceased all observations and broke down our site, satisfied on a successful 1st Chicago Astronomer Star Party of the season and welcoming new Astronomers, friends and fans for the 2015 public observation season.


Stay tuned on our next event....

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Tom....

Thanks man for coming down to our first session of the year and taking these great shots of the event.

Hope to see you often!

[tomlee]

Joe, you know I'll be there whenever I can make it. Also, I added Maria's photo which I missed the first upload.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Tom,

I like your captures and the depth of field composures.

Good stuff and see soon man!

[Vinod Kumar]

Glad to see this. Thanks for sharing the photos