12 June 2004

Observing Location	The Great Lawn, Central Park, New York, NY
Atmospheric Conditions	The weather had been beautiful all day, with temperatures topping out in the high 70s and not a cloud visible from my location in The Bronx. On the way home from dinner conditions remained the same. By the time I picked up my equipment and got back to the subway the clouds were coming in from the SW. At The Great Lawn there was a layer of cloud on the horizon in the SW to W. Seeing was very good for a couple of hours after sunset with more stars visible than usual in the north. Alcor was visible naked eye. Then the clouds started rolling in and seeing got very variable and finally became abysmal.
Observing Instruments	Canon 15x50 Image Stabilized binoculars - Charlie TeleVue TV76 - Ben Homemade 6" Newtonian reflector - Peter
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway Ben Cacace Peter Tagatac

Target	Jupiter
Time	12Jun04; 0815-24:00 EDT
Category	Planets
Comments	I picked Jupiter up naked eye shortly before sunset. Initially Callisto and Ganymede were nicely spaced out to the East and Europa and Io were to the West but so close to the planet and to each other that I could only make out one object in the binoculars. Later in the evening both Europa and Io appeared farther separated from Jupiter and from each other. Their separation appeared at that time through Ben's scope to be about equal to that of Callisto and Ganymede which made a nice bookend effect. Late in the evening as Jupiter was getting low on the ecliptic in the West it was filtered by the clouds. At that time it appeared in the binoculars as a big round ball rather than a glaring point of light and only one moon was visible to the East.

Target	Iridium 82
Time	12Jun04; 22:35 EDT
Category	Satellite
Comments	This flare came up in the belly of Leo just left of Regulus and got very bright to Magnitude -5.4. At its brightest there was a very obvious ring around the flare as it shown through the high cirus clouds. After the flare faded below naked eye brightness as reported by Ben I was still able to track it in the binoculars until it finally disappeared in the North.

Target	θ Ursa Major
Time	12Jun04; 22:45 EDT
Category	Stars
Comments	These are the knees of the Great Bear. I was able to see them naked eye tonight and then to find them in the binoculars. I was trying to find comet C/2001 Q4 (NEAT) at the time.

Target	C/2001 Q4 (NEAT)
Time	04-6-12; 23:00 EDT
Category	Comets
Comments	Saw this in Ben's Scope. It was very dim and required averted vision to make it out. It was just a hint of a smudge in the sky. If I hadn't been told it was there I wouldn't have noticed it. I was not able to see it in my binoculars although I was in the right neighborhood. http://cometography.com/lcomets/2001q4.html

Target	4 &epslon; 1 Lyrae
Time	12Jun04; 23:07 EDT
Category	Double Stars
Comments	Double Double in Lyra. The primary stars are widely separated and easily visible. I did not see the second doubles in either my binoculars or Ben's scope at 20x. Visible below and to the left of Vega.

Target	Izar
Time	12Jun04; 23:26 EDT
Category	Double Stars
Comments	A double star above Arcturus in Bootes. The star was visible in my binoculars and the double could just be seen in Ben's scope at 90x