Super Bowl Weekend Astro

Clear sky and cool temps continue so out we go!

Friday evening found me at Starbucks doing a Moon/Jupiter/ Star Stuff program. StarStuff is where I show off a Star Cluster or Nebula dejour' and present Stellar Evolution. This is usually well received and most are excited to be able to see the M41-42 complex from a suburban setting! This old C8 gives nice contrasty views and with some patience most saw lots of detail.

Jonathan was totally digging the Lunar Poles and crater hopping all over the place!















Sunday morning found me at the Marina Park for a 3 hour Super Bowl SUNday program. The place was busy with folks getting the fresh air, exercise, and sunshine this cool morning before heading out to cheer their team. The park security team was excited at my presence and promptly got on the ATV and promoted the Sidewalk Guy around the complex - Nice! Soon folks were coming by expecting something good and good they got with Sol putting on a magnetic display easy for all to see!

On this outing I just happened to met the owner of the most popular used bookstore in town and she really enjoyed what I was doing. So now we are planning an event for her store in March/April. This was a good encounter and I am looking forward to this!

I had 80 visitors in the course of these events.

Jan 2012 Starbucks Update

This has been a fun and busy outreach month for me here in N.NV! With our winter being very mild I have had plenty of good opportunities to share the sky with my fellow citizens!

Here are some pics from my two Coffee, Chromosphere & Crater events held at my local Starbucks Coffee on the 14/28th of this month. The Solar pic is courtesy of the Swansea Astronomical Society (U.K) which shows our similar Chromospheric view we had on the 28th with the Lunt 60mm!







I have had a good response to these events with folks coming by via Facebook invitations, word of mouth and just coming in to grab a drink and socialize. The patrons are caught off guard and are asking the staff what is going on out there!
Most will come over and check out the astro show!








I wanted to include this pic so you could see my setup spot. It is on the S.E. corner of the patio in front of the store. At this spot everyone driving in & out has to see me. The drive up exit is in front of the scope. Throughout my sessions drive up folks stopped, conversed, parked, and looked! These folks were serviced quickly as most had time constants and were appreciative of the drive up astro experience! I had planned on moon observes with these events but on both she was hidden at the prescribed times both waning and waxing but the Solar views in the "red" left many spellbound with coffee & tea in hand!

First Light Trial Public Narrow Band Viewing 1/12/11

Our day today was so mild and with a blue sky over head the views were bound to be good so lets do a short trial run with the public on the Lunt 60THA.

Saturday morning will have me at StarBucks doing a "Chromosphere, Crater & Coffee" outreach on their patio. You guessed it Solar and Moon in the morning and early afternoon! I want to be ready and get all the bugs out of my operation so today is the perfect time with the park lightly used but "lookers" still available. This was not a numbers outreach but a test run on using the scope, coaching folks at the scope, a general rehearsal for my spiel, and scope set up.

No resource table for the StarBucks events. Just the basics - outreach binder, Atlas Of The Universe, Solar System/Universe Scale Model, Jumbo Styro Ball (moon cycle), Solar Ball, Lunar Map, and handouts - lots of them!

I will start out with the morning moon (AT106) and then move into Solar when the Sun is at a good observing height. Later I hope to have another AstroTec ALT/AZ set up to have Solar Wedge & Ha at the same time.





Ha scopes can be tough to look through for one who has not had much (or any) scope time in their lives. When I was doing outreach for the non profit I had a Coronado Solar Max 40mm to use which was a nice scope! But with the narrow field of view and small "sweet spot" and ghosting a fair amount of folks had trouble seeing. How would the Lunt 60 do?

Jeff is one of the guards at the park and is a great supporter of my efforts. I so wanted him to be the first to view and I would value his opinion highly. Needless to say timing was great and he was treated to a whole array of different prom, spicuale, filament, facuale features. No trouble looking through this scope for him or any other person so inclined to stop. Jeff made detailed observes and was blown away. I will be using my Orion Stratus eyepieces - look at the large eyepiece lens, see the bright red ball(exit pupil) that's your window to the Sun! Every time complete beginners were lining up with Sol in the scope first time!

I saw some spicuales today that blew me away!

Joe was a first time observer and let me coach him at the scope for a good 20 minutes and was seeing changes in the Solar environment by the minute - first time!

The Scope Stuff Sun Shield is awesome! Look at that shadow on the observer with no glare to contend with!

All and all I am so pleased and stoked. The Lunt 60 tha (not because I own it) is better than expected. Flat field, no sweet spot, minimal ghosting, black black field of view, easy easy to look through, built like a tank with excellent finish!

What more can a SUG ask for? Well two things; clear sky and a horde of people to show the Sun off too!

2012 StarBucks Coffee & Cosmos PatioAstro

This winter season sure is a mild one for us western USA types. With temps in the 50/60's and fairly clear conditions I have no reason to not get the 2012 outreach season going! So here are two events I have done so far......

January 4-5 marked Perihelion as the Earth reached it's closest approach to the Sun and is a outreach I like to do if weather and time permit. Awesome day was to be had at the Sparks Marina with 38 visitors. Dave, a former Army Recon Scout (Desert Storm & Panama!) really enjoyed the Sol show and the hands on modeling of this program. He also made detailed Sunspot observes and caught the sudden brightening of a isolated faculae on the S.E edge! Timing is everything!

The double shadow transit of Jupiter's moons Io and Ganymede the following evening made for some fun driveway observing. Moderate winter temps and hazy sky greeted us but we had no trouble watching the event unfold. Tom joined me for this shadow dance and his observing eye is developing quickly.







2012 also brings Coffee & Cosmos to local area StarBucks and this Friday evening was as good as any to give it a go. I have been wanting to do outreach at this particular one because it faces due east with a reasonable view from the N.E to S.E. Not having any contacts within the store I was not sure how I would be received so I was a little nervous just walking in, ordering a drink and "oh I'm the Sidewalk Universe Guy mind if I set up on your patio to share the cosmos?"

I was just gonna set up and see what happens but thought the better of it so in I go to ask this very unique request. Well things went my way as the shift manager knew me from my outreaches at the Marina Park!!! and soon I was off and running! Liane loves coffee and had fun hanging out with the SUG. A busy professional wedding planner she needed a break from the day and got treated to the Jove up in our sky. She was very encouraging and liked this outreach stuff.

I had a line most of the 3 hours out with customers from the nearby eateries coming over to check things out. Most were excited to look at Jupiter with the Galilean Moons on full display.









I had so many nice folks stop, look, talk and generally appreciate the experience. But this young lady made my night. Coming in and out of the Panda Express next door several times over she got a eye full of the evenings servings. She had a very defined "Lunar Bliss" moment observing sunrise on the Grimaldi Crater Complex! I was amazed at her interest level and zeal at the scope!

Coming soon will be a StarBucks SUG Solar on this very patio!

2012 Kick Off

Hi everyone and Happy New Year!

What a year we have in store for us astronomy types with 2012 bringing wonderful opportunities for us to enjoy celestial events galore along with excellent outreach opportunities! Here I am enjoying a New Year's Day early evening with my beloved Luna and sidekick Jupiter nearby with a steamy pot of soup on the stove! Awesome shadows across Imbrium and I did not spill any hot soup on me this time!

Along with you the June 5-6 Venus Transit and May 20 Solar Eclipse are things I am greatly anticipating! I do not have all the data on the eclipse yet (as I write this) but the shadow line runs right through southern Nevada. I have never seen an annular eclipse yet and I will be making a major effort to see it! Following this two weeks later on June 4th is a partial Lunar Eclipse preceding the Venus Transit 2 days later! WOW ! The timing on these events could not be better for my location as the weather is favorable May to early June.

Upcoming in 2012 Sidewalk Universe will expending its outreach by going red with narrow band Solar to inspire the public. Yes and the SUG Guy too! Timing is perfect to coincide with Solar Maximum, the transit, and upcoming outreach opportunities made available to me starting in February. Soon SUG Solar will be multi spectrum.

For me a dream long differed but here! More on this later......

I look forward to fun blog times with you all.

Richard (SUG)

DEC'11 Lunar Eclipse

What a great way to close out the observational year! I was very fortunate to have excellent viewing conditions and a easy to get to location to see this show - right on my driveway!

I was out the door at 4:15 a.m and I was able to spy the faint penumbrae "gray dusting" with my naked eye - easy with our very dry air conditions! Shades of gray on top of shades of grey.

First contact of the umbra is a highlight for me and right on time it shows itself kissing the lunar western frontier! Could it be because my street name is "Umbria Court" that I love this stuff so much?


As the shadow sojourned across Tom shows up to enjoy the unfolding shadow show. He joined me last year at this time for the previous total lunar eclipse. The cold and hour did not deter him from hanging out with the SUG, having some of his nitro coffee, and listening to my roaming commentary. Tom made good observes watching lunar features brighten and fade as totality came upon us. He really enjoyed the crater Tyco show that you can see in the pics!

AT 104 was the perfect scope for this outing with his sharp optics. The colors were absolutely vivid!















Here are keys to a successful early morning and very cool temperature Lunar Eclipse observe : Hot stick to your ribs SUGO Chicken Paprikash & Pasta the night before and nitro coffee! Bliss!

And of course a ruddy moon with shades of red, orange, brown and rust to color my western morning sky. By a stroke of celestial geometry I was just able to catch the end of totality on my nearby foothill with the binoculars with Luna a mere 5 degrees above the horizon shaded by morning haze in the distance. Not be left out Mrs.SUG joined me right at this minute and caught the still eclipsed moon as it kissed the western horizon. Impressed she was with this sublime view and her spouses fervor and tenacity to view all things cosmic!

End of Nov"11 Astro Stuff

I had my final session with Sierra NV Journey's Teacher's Workshop this Tuesday with our topic being Luna!

These teachers worked hard and put their hearts into everything! Modeling, observations, problem solving & presentation skills were covered. Great group to work with!

Saturday past while doing fall yard work there was a fine Sun Dog display to be enjoyed. Here is the eastern dog with arcs. The western one was hidden. I have been generally clouded out these last weeks. Wednesday eve looked promising till 80mph winds showed up!
And finally this is a book I have been wanting to read. I really like Dava Sobel's writing skills and research - amazing. I cannot recommended this read enough to shed the light of history upon events 400 years ago. Truly Science Faith Love melded together!

The last 10 pages were very moving. What was was played out is seen in the lives of the major players: devotion, heart felt dialogue and passion, nature's revelations, reverence, respect, and time as the great equalizer of everyone/everything.

Truly astronomy touches the human spirit and experience in many ways!