11 March 2006

Observing Location	CSP
Observational Period	0330-0530 EST
Atmospheric Conditions	Conditions were variable but sufficient. When I arrived I could see some areas of haze or cloud but they weren't heavy. A patch of denser colud passed therough and then it was primarily patches of denser haze that troubled me. The temperature wasn't terribly cold but it was a little moist so felt colder than it was, particularly when the wind gusted. Central Park Time Local Wind Dir Speed Gusts Vis Miles Cloud Cover Temp °F Wind Chill °F 0251 EST W 8 -- 10 Clear 52 -- 0351 EST NW 9 16 10 Clear 51 -- 0451 EST Vbl 6 -- 10 Clear 50 -- 0551 EST 0 -- 10 Clear 48 -- Wind chill is not calculated when the air temperature is above 40ºF LaGuardia Airport Time Local Wind Dir Speed Gusts Vis Miles Cloud Cover Temp °F Wind Chill °F 0251 EST N 12 -- 10 Mostly Clear 52 -- 0351 EST NW 17 -- 10 Mostly Clear 51 -- 0451 EST NW 17 -- 10 Partly Cloudt 50 -- 0551 EST NW 16 -- 10 A Few Clouds 49 -- Transparency Fair Seeing Good
Instruments	Canon IS 15x50 binocular -- Charlie Pentax 20x60 binocular -- Kin
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway Kin Lee

Target	Jupiter
Constellation	Lib
Category	Planet
Time	20060311.0330 EST
Comments	I saw two moons to Jupiter's left (Io and Calisto) and one to its right (Europa). Later when we put Kin's binocular on my tripod I was able to see Ganymede almost touching the planet's rim on the right. Zuben Elgenubi and Zuben Elschemali were fairly easy to locate. Zuben Elakrab took a bit more work.

Target	Venus
Constellation	Cap
Category	Planet
Time	20060311.0415 EST
Comments	I saw Venus rising naked eye but didn't look at it until it was well up. By that time it was shining too brightly to be observable in the binoculars.

Target	Iridium Flare
Constellation	Cas
Category	Satellite
Time	20060311.0443 EST
Comments	Flare from Iridium 37 This is the first Iridium flare I have seen in a long time. It was a long flare and very bright.

Target	C/2006 A1 (Pojmanski)
Constellation	Del
Category	Comet
Time	20060311.0430 EST
Comments	When I first arrived I was able to locate Altair and Tarazed naked eye and star hopped in the binocular down to Delphinus which was low on the horizon to the right of the bridge. All of the bright stars of Delphinus were easily seen in the binocular but I could not make out any of the fainter stars to its left for sure. When Delphinus rose higher it got into a little clearer air and the dimmer stars started to become visible. I thought at one point that I might have seen the comet but can't be sure of it. Later we put Kin's binocular on my tripod and the view improved. His binocular provides a bit more contrast than mine so the fainter stars were more obvious. There was one star out there that just wouldn't resolve and I am sure that was the comet. We did not see any indication of a tail. I had looked up the ephemeris on a web site that posted it for several days during the month and put it in Planetarium. One of the days happened to be 11Mar06 so I should have had a good indication of the comet's location but it did not agree with where I found it. When I got home I looked the ephemeris up on a harvard site and it gave a different location which was right where we found it. I found that the Your Sky star charts (listed in the links) allow you to cut and paste the ephemeris data from anywhere into a form and will use it to plot the location of a comet or asteroid, and probably anything else you plug in there.

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I had to attend a meeting of the NY Map Society today at the NYPL. They have just renovated and reopened the map room so I visited their web site to see what it looks like. At the bottom of the page is a link to the Map Shop at the Library Shop so I checked that out and found several items of astronomical or related interest. They are all overpriced, but it IS a museum-type shop after all.

Sagittarius Globe	$65
Armillary Sphere	185
Map of the Heavens Poster	35
Constellation Globe	85
Crystal Globe	68
18th Century Atlas Armillary	525
18th Century Sundial and Compass	50

I think it is a tip off that this stuff is overpriced that all of the prices are in even dollar amounts ending in either 0 or 5 (except for the Crystal Globe which inexplicably ends in an 8). Anywhere else the Sagittarius Globe would be something like $64.95. This stuff is not priced to draw in the bargain hunter, or even the normal shopper. They are catering to the deep pockets clientele. This is one of those stores where if you need to look at the prices you don't belong there.

I asked the division assitant about any astronomical holdings they may have. In the stack area they have a small glove (~12-15" diameter I would guess) housed in a plexiglass cube and held to its base by wire rope. I was told that they don't have much in the area of astronomy but do have some Moon charts and a few other items. I will have to get back there to check these out. The library also has a book in the Rare Books room that you need a special access card to see. The card is painless go get and is used to reduce the amount of theft if historic materials that goes on in libraries everywhere (see The Island of Lost Maps : A True Story of Cartographic Crime by Miles Harvey).

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Observing Location	NYC
Observational Period
Atmospheric Conditions	CSC was predicting 60% cloud cover up until 2300 EST when it went up to 90%. I think they were optimistic again as I did not see any stars and the Moon was shining through a lot of atmosphere. I will be generous again tonight and say that conditions were only worse than predicted since they were calling for clouds anyway. Clear Sky Clock graphic
Instruments
Observing Party