Sunday, September 19, 2004
AstroFest 2004
AstroFest was great fun this year, even though the seeing was not great due to clouds. The new location at Vana's Farm worked out well, and the food was good. Claudia joined me on the weekend, and my co-worker O.T. camped with his wife then too. Tom was there Thursday and Friday night. I didn't try and get any good astro photos, but did snap this panorama on Thursday night after the sunset (click on it to see a larger version).
As you can see, there were clouds, which were actually the far reaches of a large hurricane that had come ashore covering the entire southeastern part of the U.S. Friday and Saturday nights were similar but from clouds from thunderstorms coming from the west, but at least on Thursday and Friday nights it cleared up later on. As is always fun at AstroFest, we enjoyed great views through other 'scopes more than our own. Here is a photo of a nice 12.5" Portaball that had really sharp views--the Portaball is a really nicely integrated setup, though pricey.
We also saw awesome views through homemade 11" and 14" dobsonians, a 25" Obsession dob, a 12.5" Meade dob, etc.--never a shortage of good 'scopes at AstroFest. Thanks to the Chicago Astronomical Society for all their hard work putting it on!
As you can see, there were clouds, which were actually the far reaches of a large hurricane that had come ashore covering the entire southeastern part of the U.S. Friday and Saturday nights were similar but from clouds from thunderstorms coming from the west, but at least on Thursday and Friday nights it cleared up later on. As is always fun at AstroFest, we enjoyed great views through other 'scopes more than our own. Here is a photo of a nice 12.5" Portaball that had really sharp views--the Portaball is a really nicely integrated setup, though pricey.
We also saw awesome views through homemade 11" and 14" dobsonians, a 25" Obsession dob, a 12.5" Meade dob, etc.--never a shortage of good 'scopes at AstroFest. Thanks to the Chicago Astronomical Society for all their hard work putting it on!
