Any bicycle astronomy folks out there?

I recently got back into a long-neglected hobby of mine - amateur astronomy. I'm hoping to combine my renewed love of astronomy with cycling and I was wondering if there were any other folks who similarly are into bikes and astronomy/telescopes/stargazing. I plan on using my bike along with my trailer to take my 10" Dobsonian out along with a newly purchased Meade GoTo scope for various stargazing outings as the temps cool off and the skies improve throughout fall and winter. Curious as to whether anyone else has done anything similar in terms of carrying a scope on their bike to somewhere for viewing. Also, if there are enough folks interested I could see starting a group up dedicated to bicycle astronomy. Anyone?

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Permalink Reply by Elwood Gruschow on October 17, 2014 at 5:49am

Yes, Willis tower will have a great view.  I do not know how to "reserve/hog" west window view for that half hour period.  

 The skydeck is about 400 meters above the street.  Maybe some more knowledgeable person can do the math, but I figure I it will increase sunset time in neighborhood of 16 seconds.

Permalink Reply by Mike Schwab on October 17, 2014 at 7:37am

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horizon gives the formula for distance to the horizon.

1353 Ft per http://theskydeck.com/

Horizon distance is 44.875 Statute miles converts to 39 nautical miles / cos(41.8 Latitude) .745 = 52.345 minutes of longitude

Earth rotates 360 degrees of longitude in 24 hours, 15 degrees in 1 hour, 1 degree in 4 minutes, and 52.345 minutes in= 3 minutes 29 seconds.

Permalink Reply by Ray on October 17, 2014 at 5:12pm

I still have charts, a refractor, some 10x70 binos and a number of field guides. I've been talking about getting back into observing, and since the greatest treasures and even sky conditions are best in the cooler temps, and you don't have to stay up SO late for the skies to darken. This may be a great time to get something started. Count me in. It would be a great opportunity to meet fellow riders with yet another common interest. :)

Ray

Permalink Reply by Jodoh on October 17, 2014 at 11:40pm

And I'm signing up for a beginners course in astronomy at a local community college next semester and saving for a telescope. Yay

Permalink Reply by Jodoh on December 14, 2015 at 12:02pm

and it finally happened:  I am a proud owner of a new telescope--got it on Saturday and am now in the process of assembling it. I got a modest Celestron AstroMaster 114, so now I can finally start learning to stargaze...

Permalink Reply by Tom A.K. on December 14, 2015 at 2:20pm
http://www.celestron.com/browse-shop/astronomy/telescopes/astromast...

That is fantastic Jodoh ! Stargazing will now become even more awesome !

Feel free to make any astronomy comments on the group; Bicycle Astronomy, which you are a member.

Again, Happy Stargazing ! Yay !
Permalink Reply by Lucianne Walkowicz on October 22, 2014 at 5:22am

I'm an astronomer at the Adler, so if you want to coordinate stuff I'm your woman!

Permalink Reply by Mike Schwab on October 22, 2014 at 7:32am

How about a astronomical movie night?

The Principle, Chicago, starting Oct 24, 2014?

http://www.popsci.com/article/science/how-conspiracy-theorist-duped...

Permalink Reply by mike w. on October 22, 2014 at 1:39pm

Wish i could get down to Adler tomorrow, but sorry to say that the weather report for tomorrow is not promising... :(

Did manage to catch a glimpse of the 26 1/2 day old moon as i rode to work this AM . Beautiful!

Permalink Reply by Lucianne Walkowicz on October 23, 2014 at 5:38am

Just so you all know, even if the eclipse is clouded out there's still related programming at the planetarium! And also, it matters a lot what kind of clouds-- sometimes you can still see stuff if they're thin. There's a gigantic sunspot visible right now too, which is pretty awesome. Here's a pic I snapped with my iphone through our solar scope yesterday...

Permalink Reply by Elwood Gruschow on October 23, 2014 at 2:12pm

Lucianne,

  THANK YOU for encouraging people to attend Adler in spite of the gloomy forecast.  The ten day forecast ten days ago was sunny and clear today.  As we got closer to the event the forecast degenerated to cloudy with higher possibility of rain at five pm.  

  It was cloudy all day so I did not travel anywhere to view the eclipse.  After reading your encouragement I decide to go over to Adler and poke around.  Cycling past Shedd around 5:15pm the sky in the west  looked like dark purple cardboard.   I talked with some of the enthusiasts, pocketed the  obligatory solar glasses, inspected some of the filtered star scopes and a couple dedicated solar scopes, generally hung around under the gloomy skies.

   As channel 7 news was leaving I walked toward my bike and noticed the front steps of Adler had a golden cast.  I saw a person cast a shadow!  I hurried up the steps in front of the gift shop while donning my solar glasses.   It was magic, people were streaming up the steps, out of the building and from unseen places.  The sun was north of Soldier Field, south of the Museum Park hi rises, slightly above some building and below the thick clouds.  For a few short minutes you could see the whole disk, but you could not see the whole disk because a percentage was missing from the upper right.  The sun looked like a flat disk but you could tell slight shading on the blocked portion, it was like a black pea rolling on to a very shiny dime.  Partial solar eclipse, what a magnificent show.  Standing there with the excited others, think I saw the Nicolaus Copernicus statue wink at us to say, "I told you how it works". 

Permalink Reply by Tom A.K. on October 23, 2014 at 4:06pm
"The sun appeared through the gloomy dark purple cardboard colored skies to cast a golden shadow and a magical chance to view a black pea rolling onto a very shiny dime. Partial solar eclipse, what a magnificent show! Even a knowing wink from Nicolaus Copernicus!" Thank you Elwood Gruschow for your description of our fleeting chance to view this magnificent partial solar eclipse. Cheers to our new CL group: Bicycle Astronomy !

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