27 August 2004

Observing Location	Carl Schurz Park
Atmospheric Conditions	It was another night where there was a lot of haze up to around 50 degrees. The best views were directly overhead near Vega and of the moon which was able to burn through everything. The nearly full moon lit up the haze over most of the sky making it difficult to see much. The air wasn't as humid tonight but the temperatures were mild and there was a lot of rippling noticeable on the moon. The breeze was buffeting the telescopes and binoculars.
Instruments	Canon 15x50 Image Stabilized binoculars - Charlie Celestron 8" SCT - Bruce Orion ShortTube 80 mm refractor - Tom TeleVue Pronto - Rik Celestron NexStar 5 - Alice
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway Bruce Kamiat Tom McIntire Rik Davis Alice Barner various AAA members general public

Target	Moon
Time	27Aug04; 2040 EDT
Category	Moon
Comments	11d23h The terminator was well to the west of Copernicus tonight. Gassendi caught my eye in Bruce's scope. It is a large crater on the northern edge of Mare Humorum. In its northern rim is the smaller crater Gassendi A. The floor of Gassendi appeared to be flat except in the central area where there what appeared to be a string of three central peaks. Often having trouble differentiating between elevated and depressed features on the moon I interpreted them as a string of elongated craters. [Gassendi (110 km) is the glorious gem of the south. This grand walled plain on the northern border of Mare Humorum is one of the Moon's most beautiful craters. Circular in outline, the walls of Gassendi rise to a height of 3600 meters in places, but they are considerably lower in the south, where they dip down to almost the level of Mare Humorum. Gassendi's northern rim is cut across by the sharp polygonal crater Gassendi A (33 km) and this in turn touches Gassendi B (25 km). Gassendi's floor is very complex. Half a dozen central mountain peaks, two of which are particularly large, rise nearly 1000 meters above the floor. In a 60 mm telescope, the floor surrounding the peaks appears mottled and humpy, but a 150 mm aperture resolves it into many narrow rilles and low peripheral ridges. In the early morning, a broad black triangle of shadow is cast over the northern part of the floor between Gassendi A and a low ridge to its south, and a bright sharp face veers off from the western wall, jutting into the black shadows beyond. (Grego in Moon Observer's Guide)

Target	Epsilon Lyrae Double-Double
Time	17Aug04; 2113 EDT
Category	Double Stars
Comments	Directly overhead and difficult to observe comfortably with binoculars. I let Tom take it with the diagonal on the telescope and moved to Altair and γ Aql.

Target	Altair and γ Aql
Time	27Aug04; 2142 EDT
Category	Stars
Comments	I spent some time on these stars just to give people something different to look at since most of the other good targets were already being observed by someone. They also exhibit some color contrast with Altair being a blue-white and γ Aql being more of a yellow-gold.

Target	M71
Time	27Aug04 2200 EDT
Category	Deep Space Objects
Comments	Sagitta was in a clear patch of sky and easy to make out so I tried for some of the nearby deep space objects. The globular cluster M71 appeared faint and diffuse.

Target	Sagitta (The Arrow)
Time	27Aug04; 2208 EDT
Category	Constellations
Comments	Sagita was in an area of clear air so I went for M71 which was fairly easy. M27, the Dumbbell Nebula, was a lot more difficult. I had a sense of something being in the right place several times using averted vision but it is nothing that I can really claim I saw.

Target	Cassiopeia (The Queen)
Time	27Aug04 2221 EDT
Category	Constellations
Comments	Cassiopeia was marginally visible naked-eye. I tried for the NGCs and Ms around Ruchbah but the haze was too bright to see them.

Target	The Coathanger
Time	27Aug04; 2230
Category	Asterisms
Comments	Dim and hanging upside down. Tiny points of light without a lot of contrast with the surrounding sky.

Target	Uranus
Time	27Aug04; 2321
Category	Planets
Comments	Uranus is at opposition now so it should be at its largest and brightest appearance. I star hopped to it from the moon through δ Cap. Bruce says it is decidedly blue but mostly only looks gray to me. I occasionally got an impression of a little turquoise.