Omaha Area Star Parties in 2010

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Stargazer
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Omaha Area Star Parties in 2010

Post by Stargazer »

FREE Public star gazing opportunities throughout the year... last night we had a couple of hundred people show up at our first Mahoney State Park star party.  Great views of the first quarter moon, Saturn, Venus, Mars, globular clusters/galaxies/and more.

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Astronomy in the Parks tour: 2010
Friday, May 28th, Bayliss Park, Council Bluffs
Saturday, June 19th, Downtown, Heartland of America Park
Friday, July 17th, Lake Zorinsky
Saturday, August 28th, Lake Cunningham
Friday, September 24th, Walnut Creek Recreation Area, Papilllion

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Mahoney State Park star parties
Friday, June 18th
Friday, July 16th
Friday, August 20th
Friday, September 10th

We'll also be outside the Strategic Air and Space Museum the evening of Saturday, May 29th

Complete list of Omaha Astronomical Society events

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Last edited by Stargazer on Sat Jul 17, 2010 10:47 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Stargazer
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Post by Stargazer »

I'll be setup for some lunar/planetary viewing at Heartland of America Park Saturday night... in case anyone is in the area, stop by and say hello.
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Post by Stargazer »

A gorgeous (albeit a little muggy) night at Mahoney State Park last night... with about 200 people showing up.

We've got a stargazing twofer this weekend, with some sidewalk astronomy at Lake Zorinsky tonight (near soccer fields accessible via 156th and F Street entrance).  Not the same dark skies which Mahoney has to offer, but we'll still have some fabulous views of the Moon, Saturn, Venus, and whatever brighter objects beyond the solar system we can dial up from this suburban location.  Clear skies permitting of course. :)
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Brad
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Post by Brad »

I sure hope it cools off for you Jeff.  I still want to get to one of these.  Actually, I want to get out to one of the really dark locations more!
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Post by Brad »

Too bad its going to be cloudy tonight...

http://www.spaceweather.com/
spaceweather.com wrote:RARE LUNAR ECLIPSE: The lunar eclipse of Dec. 21st falls on the same date as the northern winter solstice. Is this rare? It is indeed, according to Geoff Chester of the US Naval Observatory, who inspected a list of eclipses going back 2000 years. "Since Year 1, I can only find one previous instance of an eclipse matching the same calendar date as the solstice, and that is Dec. 21, 1638," says Chester. "Fortunately we won't have to wait 372 years for the next one...that will be on Dec. 21, 2094."
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Post by almighty_tuna »

Indeed :(
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Stargazer
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Post by Stargazer »

Don't give up on it completely... we've found often the Canadian based 'Clear Sky Chart' is more accurate than local meteorologists... it's showing a small window near the eclipse peak... albeit with poor transparency.

http://cleardarksky.com/c/OmahaNEkey.html
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Post by Brad »

Cool, Thanks Jeff!
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Post by almighty_tuna »

Stargazer wrote:we've found often the Canadian based 'Clear Sky Chart' is more accurate than local meteorologists...
Funny, I say the same thing about my "forecasting rock" in the lawn.
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Big E
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Post by Big E »

Stargazer wrote:we've found often the Canadian based 'Clear Sky Chart' is more accurate than local meteorologists...
Once again proving socialism's superiority to a science-based free market.
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Post by Stargazer »

Clear sky chart comes through again!  An absolutely gorgeous night... and a most memorable winter solstice eclipse.

Image
Last edited by Stargazer on Tue Dec 21, 2010 10:44 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by TechnicalDisaster »

Stargazer wrote:Clear sky chart comes through again!  An absolutely gorgeous night... and a most memorable winter solstice eclipse.
Excellent capture!  What are the technical details? Camera? Lens? Settings?
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Post by almighty_tuna »

Great grab, Jeff! Nicely done.
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Big E
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Post by Big E »

Had to do a little googling to understand why it turns orange (refraction, penumbra, magic, etc).

Is it always roughly that shade during a lunar eclipse?  Almost looks like mars.
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nebugeater
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Post by nebugeater »

Nice stuff!!!!!

Get any sleep last night?
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Post by Stargazer »

Thanks.  I didn't get much... went to bed at ~4:30am... but I'm used to it, my job often keeps me up at these hours.
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Post by Stargazer »

Something I never knew existed before, until a couple of hours before the eclipse ... remote control of my antiquated D70... I used this free DIYphotobits software to completely control the camera from the warmth of the house.

Image
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Post by Coyote »

Nice! :thumb:
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Post by Stargazer »

Yes, I am lazy and not attentive to detail.

Not to make excuses, but I'm really not much of an astrophotographer, rather a visual amateur astronomer.  Although, while I bought this GM-8 model of Losmandy mount for it's portability... it's an excellent astrophotography platform as well... and I do aspire to pursue it more seriously, although I'm not sure I have the patience for it (if not the work in the field... the post processing at home). Perhaps by that point, I'll actually care about the impact of the camera strap.

Actually, the whole setup was pretty jury rigged last night too, I just received this mount about a week ago and if you look closely, you can see a hint of the block of wood I was using in the absence of a dovetail plate... and my 17ah power supply died, so I was running off of a nearly dead marine battery from an old boat I had... while a charger was connected to it.  :o\

It's a miracle I got anything more than a big, amorphous blob.
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Post by Brad »

That's an Awesome shot Jeff!

I hope we get to see more as you try out your new toy!
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Post by Stargazer »

Thanks Brad.

A quick and dirty composite I threw together

Available in t-shirt form at the Omaha Astronomical Society 'fan shop'. :D

http://www.cafepress.com/omahaastro

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Post by Brad »

Thats Awesome Jeff!
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Post by Coyote »

:thumb:
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