April Star Party Followup

Following is an excerpt from an update by Jim (our VP) on our April Star Party.  Out of all the star parties scheduled for this Week of Astronomy, this was the only one that wasn’t cancelled due to weather!  It turned out great!  To view this thread in the forum go to: http://www.csastro.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3516&highlight= There are also additional pictures in the gallery! – http://www.csastro.org/forums/modules.php?set_albumName=album15&op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=view_album.php

Skies cleared for the most part. Just a tad breezy and quite chilly but overall not too bad. Seeing was not as good as I had hoped with the muck in the air and of course the moon.

BobV’s new 20″ Starmaster took first light and it was quite an awesome site to behold. Several times during the night I would go see what he was looking at and then run back to my scope to compare. The biggest WOW I got was some moons of Saturn. In BobV’s we had the three brightest (will have to go look up the names) as well as two very distinct moons close to the rings. In my scope there was ONLY the three bright moons, the two that I observed in BobV’s scope were no where to be found in mine. That’s just frakkin awesome!!

I’m quite sure that BobV will be very very happy with his newest acquisition for quite some time to come.

We must have had 15 scopes out there though. Pretty good turnout despite the chilly weather.

Don’t think we got close to a 100 visitors but we did have a fair amount. I’m thinking we also had at least 30 PPCC students in that crowd.

Saturn and the Moon were viewed quite often. M13, M3, M42 and some doubles were also viewed.

Al, myself and some others took pictures early on. I’ll get mine posted here later as I’m sure Al will as well.

We started about 7:30 and went till 10:30.

Again…please pipe up with your name here if I don’t get it listed…

BobV, PapaJ, Bruce, KenF, Dennis, Floyd, Cindi, JimU, Al, JohnH, and others whose names escape me at the moment and myself.

Much thanx to all of those that helped support this event!

-JimW

Astrophotography for Beginners

by Dave Martin, skyhawk1@pcisys.net

Have you ever wanted to try taking astrophotos but have not been sure where to start? What type of film should you use? What type of camera is needed? How long of an exposure should you use? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then this article is for you. I’ll discuss what to look for in a camera, what films work well and some of the equipment and techniques used in basic astrophotography.Continue reading “Astrophotography for Beginners”

August 2014 Monthly Meeting


Date: August 26, 2014 (Tuesday)
Time: 7-9pm
Place: East Library Community Room (map below)
 

Agenda:

  • President’s Introduction
  • New Members/Visitors Welcome
  • What’s Up in Tonight’s Sky
  • Featured Presentation – Scott Donnell – Observing Carbon Stars
  • Break & Socializing
  • Past/Upcoming Events
  • Observing Reports
  • Treasurer Report
  • Committee Reports
  • Old/New Business
  • Adjourn

 

Where:

Pikes Peak Library District
East Library Community Room
5550 North Union Blvd.
Colorado Springs, CO
80918

[flexiblemap center=”38.912686,-104.778068″ width=”500″ height=”400″ zoom=”16″ title=”East Library”]

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August 2014 Public Star Party – CANCELED

BobV 

Date: CANCELED – Friday, August 1, 2014

Time: 8-11pm

Place: Fountain Creek Regional Park, Fountain, CO

 

 

We’re hoping for good weather but as always, be sure to check back here on the night of the star party to find out if it’s still on. Hope to see you there!

[flexiblemap center=”38.708715,-104.71504″ region=”us” title=”Fountain Star Party Site” directions=”true” maptype=”satellite”]

View Larger Map

2014 Star Party Schedule

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CSAS at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo We do public star parties from spring to fall once a month. We also do private star parties as part of our outreach program.Schools and other organizations ask us to present information about astronomy and/or demonstrate and make available our telescopes. The most notable of these were our Cheyenne Mountain Zoo series.

Don’t forget to read our Star Party Etiquette page before attending a star party.

Thanks! We look forward to seeing you!