3 July 2004

Observing Location	The Great Lawn (North), Central Park, New York, NY
Atmospheric Conditions	A lot of contrails were visible tonight even in the dark skies. It was slightly cool after sunset and the air remained dry, the relative humidity must have been very low all night. Light from Times Square is bothersome when looking Manhattan south, a pillar of light up to the zenith. The moon had a ring around it when it finally got up above the trees.
Instruments	Canon 15x50 Image Stabilized binoculars - Charlie Fujinon 7x50 binoculars - Ben monocular - Tom
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway Ben Cacace Ton Clabough

Target	Jupiter
Time	03July04; 2114 EDT
Category	Planets
Comments	On the way into the park Jupiter was first sighted naked eye over the Metropolitan Museum of Art in a darkening sky. Regulus was dim to lower right, Arcturus golden and high overhead. In the binoculars Ganymede and Callisto were out to the east, Io was fairly close and high to the west. The planet looks flattened above in my binoculars, may be an artifact of flare. There was a field star out to the east that looked like a moon but was very far away, maybe 2 degrees.

Target	Diamond of Virgo
Time	3Jul04; 2130 EDT
Category	Asterisms
Comments	It was difficult with the glare of the park lights, but I was able to make out all the stars of the diamond (Cor Caroli in Canes Venatici, Arcturus in Scorpius, Spica in Virgo and Denebola in Leo. The most difficult was Denebola being the closest to a light.

Target	δ Bootis
Time	3Jul04; 2150 EDT
Category	Double Stars
Comments	This is a wide double in Bootes. I found it easily in my binoculars but it is so wide I wasn't sure I had it. It is the left point of the kite.

Target	μ 1 Scorpius
Time	3Jul04; 2153 EDT
Category	Double Stars
Comments	This is a close double. It was just above the tree line in the SE. Ben located it in my binoculars. It appeared to be flashing green and white in the atmosphere. Later in the evening when it had gained altitude it was very solid. Since it is in the tail of Scorpius it is an area of the sky we generally don't get to observe because of haze. This double is just visible naked eye.

Target	Alberio
Time	3Jul04; 2241 EDT
Category	Double Stars
Comments	Alberio is a close double. The primary is gold while the secondary is green-blue. It was barely visible in Ben's binoculars due to the closeness of the stars. If I hadn't been told it was a double I probably wouldn't have noticed the secondary shining next to it.

Target	M39, NGC 7092
Time	3Jul04; 2251 EDT
Category	Deep Space Objects
Comments	An open cluster near Deneb in Cygnus, 2 fields to 8:00 from the right wing. A dim triangle of stars. Ben found it.

Target	M7, NGC 6475 Ptolemy's Cluster
Time	3Jul04; 2255 EDT
Category	Deep Space Objects
Comments	An open cluster in Scorpius. Brighter than M39 but low and in a bright sky so hard to see in Ben's binoculars. Very bright and large in my binoculars.

Target	M6, NGC 6405, Butterfly Cluster
Time	3Jul04; 2302 EDT
Category	Deep Space Objects
Comments	In Scorpius near to M7. Looked like a small house laying on its side, Fairly dim. M6 and M7 are supposed to be two of the brightest open clusters visible in North America, visible with the naked eye. Together they are known in Arabic as Al-Humah Al-Akrab, the Venom of the Scorpion, because of their location just above the tail of Scorpius

Target	Sagitta, The Arrow
Time	3Jul04; 2310 EDT
Category	Constellation
Comments	The constellation filled the field of view in Ben's binoculars making it too big for mine. It was too dim for me to see naked eye.

Target	M11, NGC 6705, Wild Duck Cluster
Time	3Jul04; 2326 EDT
Category	Deep Space Objects
Comments	This open cluster in Scutum appeared as a dim egg-shaped smudge in Ben's binoculars. One of the densest open clusters it appears more like a globular.

Target	Moon
Time	4Jul04; 0000 EDT
Category	Moon
Comments	The moon rose just past full, 16 days 8 hours, 95% illuminated, behind the trees close to the walk so we never saw it until around midnight. The terminator was just visible on the right limb in the upper right quadrant. Aristarchus was very evident as were a number of other bright features like the rays. Plato and Grimaldi were both very dark. Central peaks were evident in Longrenus and several other craters. By the time I arrived home at around 0200 the Moon already appeared less than full.

Target	NGC 869 & 884, The Double Cluster
Time	4Jul04; 0029 EDT
Category	Deep Space Objects
Comments	Double cluster in Perseus. Twice the distance between the end stars of Caseopea toward Perseus. It all looked like one object to me in Ben's binoculars. They are supposed to be visible naked eye. The clusters have a lot of glow from unresolved stars at their center and are in a rich star field to begin with so that might account for my trouble differentiating them in Ben's binoculars which, to me, lack contrast. There is debate about whether these are an actual double or an optical double.

Target	Corona Australis, The Southern Crown
Time	4Jul04; 0049 EDT
Category	Constellation
Comments	It looked like a fish hook standing on its shank just above the trees in the east. Too dim for me to see naked eye. We are usually not able too see anything in this area because of clouds.