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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Chicago Astronomer and the Chicago Park District Present

"An Evening about Light Pollution Awareness and Pilsen Observation Session"

Friday, 22 April 2016

Click for the Night Out in the Parks Event Website

Join the Chicago Astronomer and the Chicago Park District on Friday, the 22nd of April at the Harrison Park Field House, (7:00 pm to 10:30 pm) as we celebrate Earth Day Activities in the Pilsen community and presenting a discussion on Light Pollution awareness with an outdoor telescopic observation session to close the evening.

The stars have been "stolen away" by urban glare and our own Milky Way galaxy is totally unobservable from within the city. One has to travel well out of Chicago's boundaries to notice the galactic bands across the sky.  Improper lamps & upward pointing lighting fixtures contribute unnecessarily to this situation where the night skies are taken away from this and future generations.

The Chicago Astronomer IHSCA Astronomy Club has been working on gathering light Pollution data in collaboration with the Adler Planetarium...with field trips to the museum and the Indiana Dunes to compare darker skies with those of Chicago. The crew then presented their findings in a exceptionally well attended presentation in January 2016 at our school...

Displays on proper lighting practices, A "All Sky Cam" to measure light pollution in the near future via SatCubes and utilizing a Sky Quality Meter to measure the ambient light at different locales...

At this gathering at the Harrison Park Field house, we will discuss the current situation on light pollution and how it affects observable enjoyment of the night sky.  Joining us, will be the IHSCA Zoology club and the Chicago Bird Collision Monitors, who will discuss how light pollution negatively affects migratory birds flying through our city.


We also will show a short film on Urban Astronomy's battle with the glare called "City Dark" and then all are invited to share views of the sky via telescopes at the corner of 18th street and Damen, where Harrison Park will turn off their field lights for us.  Jupiter, a low hanging Moon in the east and other early spring targets will be highlighted for this outdoor session, where Astronomers will discuss all things astronomical and attend to our visitors till 10:30 pm.

Show your interest and participation by visiting this FaceBook event page

Be there, (rain or clear skies)...you know you want to. 

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

UPDATE:



It's on......


The Chicago Astronomer Crew is a solid go for tonight's presentation on Light Pollution and viewing the award winning film "City Dark".

The heavy clouds of earlier are sliding away, making our urban skies accepting of Telescopes and astronomers after the film.

Be there....


__________________________


Chicago Astronomer Crew:


Here is the logistics to the event:



Enter the park from 19th st and put your flashers on and drive slowly. Turn right into another pathway along the side of the Mexican Museum. Park in the grassy area and walk your gear into the Field House. We will be to the right in the gym.



About into 3/4s of the movie, we will start heading out to the observational field. Park along Damen Ave and set-up for a solid time with our fans and Pilsen stars.



See tonight!



Astro Joe

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

The Chicago Astronomer Night at Harrison Park

22 April 2016

The Chicago Astronomer crew working with the Chicago Park District for Earth Day recognition had a great time sharing the night skies with fans and friends on a cool evening with giant telescopes - bringing in superb views of the Moon and the Jupiter system.  We also had with us the Institute for Health Science Career Academy's Chicago Astronomer Astronomy Club and the IHSCA Zoology club to discuss their investigations into the Light Pollution situation that our city endures.  

The Harrison Park field house was set-up for us for our presentations...

We started the evening with Chris Mercado, High School Senior and from the IHSCA Zoology club, who did quite a great job sharing information via Powerpoint...

We introduce High School Junior Kevin Flores and IHSCA Astronomy Club President for an intro on what the astronomy club has been working on for the past 6 months...

My turn next to present the astronomical implications on urban light pollution...

With Chicago Astronomer Administrative Assistant Maria working the camera and behind the scenes organizing, the evening was flowing well.  

Members also discussed the "All Sky Camera" that the crew build in cooperation with the Adler Planetarium, which will image a 360 degree view of the sky above our school and later - to communicate with a "CubeSat" to be placed in orbit in future...all to monitor ambient sky glow in the city...

Annette from the Chicago Audubon Society also made a presentaion on how light pollution effects the flight patterns of migratory birds over our city - many slamming into building who keep lights on necessarily...

With the presentations concluded, we start the documentary on urban light pollution "City Dark"...

After the film, we entertained a Q & A session and then directed our guests to our telescopes, already set-up in a semi-darkened field for an evening under urban stars....

While Maria, the IHSCA astro crew and I were in the field house, Chicago Astronomers: Larry Silvestri, Ken Plecki, Bill Chiu, Brian Urban and Amanda Beach were attending to early sky lovers with their own telescopes...no need for me to set-up the C11...

Lines formed at all scopes, enjoying views of a Jupiter/Io Transit in progress.....

Solid views of the lunar surface were shared with our Pilsen community sky lovers.  (We just might make this a regular event at Harrison Park..!)









All Chicago Astronomers enjoy interacting with our visitors, answering questions, speculating on extraterrestrials, black holes and the new gravity wave discovery...




Brian, our newest Chicago Astronomer crew member, has fit right in, attending to our fans and having a great time.



Brian


David brought along his reflector on his first session with us

The Chicago Astronomer IHSCA Astronomy Club crew




The Chicago Astronomer Telescope Crew for this chilly session in April..
Shout out to Chicago Astronomers:
Bill, Ken, Larry, Brian, Amanda, Maria and myself


...and to Chicago Park District Night Out in the Parks Coordinator Kathleen Soler
and Harrison Park Supervisor Tony...!

A long time planning and organizing, but well worth it.  In our post evaluation, we estimated our event attendance at 125 visitors for the entire session - (7:00 pm/10:30 pm)

Onward to the May 9th Mercury Transit of 2016......!