20 March 2003

Observing Location	McGraw Hill Building, 1221 Avenue of the Americas (W 49 St), New York, NY Lat: 40.75917985432286, Long: -73.98133277893066
Observational Period	1130-1330 EST
Atmospheric Conditions	CSC says it is supposed to be clear and very transparent. It started out cloudy and then the sun started shining through holes in the clouds. Then it moved on to occasional clouds passing in front of the sun. Now we are back to the sun being behind large clouds a good bit of the time. It is supposed to be very clear most of the day and tonight according to CSC. Clear Sky Clock graphic NOAA is in substantial agreement with the CSC forecast. NOAA graphic But looking at the satellite imagery I don't see it happening. NOAA graphic The AccuWeather loop shows everything moving down out of Canada and western NY where there is lots of cloud. And the clouds for tomorrow's snow have to come from up in that direction. I am going to head downtown and hope there is a break in the clouds at noon. It was mostly cloudy at noon. A few times the sun poked through gaps between the clouds but mostly I had to view it through a veil of cloud. This was partially a good thing because it cut contrast making it a little easier to get pictures of the event. CSC was way off though. In the late afternoon it is finally clearing off some, but there are strong and gusty winds blowing. The satellite imagery is still showing a lot of clouds streaming down from upstate so I don’t hold a lot of faith for their forecast of a clear night. Clear Sky Clock graphic
Instruments	35mm, real film, camera - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target	Vernal Equinox
Constellation	Psc
Category	Solar
Time	20060320. EST
Comments	The Vernal Equinox was at 1326 EST (1826 UTC) today Planetarium shows the Sun as being at RA 0:0:0, Dec 0° 0' 0". At noon.the Sun was supposed to be aligned with the upper arm of the Sun Triangle at the McGraw-Hill building.. The triangle is a sculpture by the artist Athelstan Spilhaus that is installed in a sunken plaza in front of the McGraw-Hill building on Avenue of the Americas (Sixth Avenue). It is just a huge, open, stainless steel triangle that extends up out of the plaza about a storey above street level and means nothing until you read the little plaque embedded in the pavement in front of the sculpture. The plaque tells you that the sun is aligned with various arms of the triangle at noon on various dates during the year. Those dates happen to be the dates of the solstices and equinoxes. At the time of the Winter Solstice the Sun is at its lowest in the sky when it culminates so it is aligned with the lower arm of the triangle. At the Vernal Equinox it is mid way up in the sky and is aligned with the long upper arm of the triangle. At the Summer Solstice the Sun is the highest it gets in the sky and is aligned with the short steeply inclined arm at the end of the triangle. By the Autumnal Equinox the sun has dropped to its intermediate level and is again aligned with the upper arm of the triangle. Here is the triangle and the Sun shortly before noon today. Because NYC is one degree away from its central meridian solar noon occurs four minutes after civil noon so at noon on the clock the sun was still a little bit to the left of the tip of the triangle. 1202 EST 1203 EST 1204 EST By the time of the equinox the sun had tracked west behind the buildings south of my location> Also embedded in the pavement of the plaza are a couple of maps. They are elongated polar projections of the northern and southern hemispheres. The northern hemisphere projection shows the continents clumped tightly together surrounded by a little bit of water and is supposed to represent the land world. In the polar projection of the southern hemisphere Antarctica is small in the center of the map and is surrounded by lots of water and it is supposed to represent a water world. I can understand what they are saying, but to me they are just maps. Information about the McGraw-Hill Sun Triangle: NYCJPEG Tyson Midtown Book Upcoming.org New York City Images

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Observing Location	NYC
Observational Period
Atmospheric Conditions	Much to my surprise, it has remained clear tonight as CSC had predicted. NOAA is now saying it will be clear through the night and clouds will build quickly in the morning but they have killed the forecast for snow. It is cold and windy out there with the wind chill dropping the effective temperature into the low 20s. I think CSC has a good forecast for tonight and have given them a second mark for today, one much worse than predicted and one as predicted.
Instruments
Observing Party