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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Public Solar Session at the North Park Village Nature Center
Sunday 22 October 2023
11:00 am to 1:00 pm

We had originally scheduled our solar session at the Nature Center on the 15th of October...but poor weather not only rescheduled it, but absolutely ruined our Partial Solar Eclipse event for our Chicago Astronomer fans. 

We will set-up telescopes and safely observe and share views of our closest star with white light filtered telescopes and a very special Hydrogen-Alpha instrument, that allows hidden solar artifacts to be viewed by our visitors.

   

Family Friendly and free....Stop by on the city's far north side and marvel at the surface and atmosphere of the Sun with our Chicago Astronomer crew.

Astro Joe 

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

A crisp sunny day at North Park for Solar Viewing
22 October 2023

This was a pleasant non-rushed Chicago Astronomer Solar session tat the North Park Village Nature Nature Center...a frequent and favorite site for us to share both the night and daytime skies with park visitors.   Arriving at 11:00 am, I was joined by Fellow Astronomer Steve and one of my top ASM students Dan, who stopped by with his family.  Joining us too was Jeff from Northwestern University and who volunteers at the Adler.

I set-up my 8" SCT with the Coronado 60mm Hydrogen-Alpha scope riding on top for both frequencies of light...

We had a nice Prominence this day to share with our guests, most of whom had never peered thru a telescope aimed at the Sun. 


                        


Steve brought along his Solar Projection system, which worked very well to display the Sun's disk.   

                

Apart from the scopes, I also brought along other solar optics, to demonstrate the spectrum of light and simple solar glasses...

              

We had one fun little boy and enjoyed the scopes and our set-up...


  
    

My After School Matters student Dan and threw around a football a bit and his family presented my a potted flower and some dessert treats.  Yums.

Near the end of our session, Steve tried out the smaller Solar Projection adapter on the 8" SCT.  It worked nicely with a 40mm eyepiece, but this is meant for a smaller refractor scope and I do not like to expose the full unfiltered aperture of reflectors to the direct Sun, as heat can build up and damage the innards...as demonstrated of the Projector getting hot quick. ..

We had a fun time meeting fans and making new ones.  Shout out to: Steve, Maria, Jeff and Dan.



Full pics here at the link:
ibb.co/album/1JxVxF

Astro Joe