8 August 2004

Observing Location	TotL
Atmospheric Conditions	I arrived at TotL just at sunset and viewing was very good then and remained so until 2200 when clouds quickly obliterated the sky. It remained cloudy until 2300 when the clouds broke up and it was mostly clear until 2345. By the time I arrived home at around 0045 it was mostly clear again. Seeing was above average all night, it is just that there weren't any stars to be seen for most of the night. Clear Sky Clock had indicated that things would be pretty good initially then get bad between 2100 and 2300 but that after 2300 there would be few to no clouds for the rest of the night.
Instruments	Canon 15x50 Image Stabilized binoculars -Charlie Fujinon 7x binoculars - Peter Fujinon 16x70 binoculars - Tom
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway Peter Tagatac Tom Clabough

Target	Arcturus
Time	8Aug04; 2026 EDT
Category	Stars
Comments	Visible naked-eye through haze. Apparent magnitude variable as the haze moved around.

Target	Vega
Time	8Aug04; 2028
Category	Stars
Comments	Also visible naked-eye in the very light haze at variable apparent magnitude, but more much stable than Arcturus.

Target	ο 1 Cyg (30 & 31 Cyg)
Time	8Aug04; 2054 EDT
Category	Double Stars
Comments	A turquoise and orange double pair. I stumbled upon them with the hand-held binoculars while trying to find the guide star for the Iridium flare and had to star hop in Planetarium to figure out what they were. They have a nice appearance.

Target	Iridium 57
Time	8Aug04; 2010 EDT
Category	Satellites
Comments	This flare was listed for 2109 at magnitude -8 but was later than that. But then our timepieces may not have been set to perfection. We saw three other satellites transiting this area in the 5-10 minutes prior to the flare. I first picked up the satellite as it passed Sadr. It brightened quickly and appeared to grow in size as it did. I was observing through the binoculars so can't compare its brightness or apparent size to any nearby field stars but my impression is that it appeared larger and brighter than any of the planets except Jupiter when seen through heavy haze when it looks more like a ball than a point of light. It faded from peak brightness quickly but remained bright enough to track with the binoculars or naked eye as it transited about 60 degrees of the sky.

Target	μ Boo
Time	8Aug04; 2309 EDT
Category	Double Stars
Comments	A close double above the left shoulder of the herdsman. There were clouds in the area and the stars appeared faint orange and a brighter white.

Target	Cloud Formation
Time	8Aug04; 2350 EDT
Category	Clouds
Comments	As we were packing up I noticed another of my negative contrails. There was a puffy cloud passing overhead that appeared to have been bisected by a jet. There was a straight lane of clear air passing through its middle along the long axis. By the time we were packed up and ready to go the void had been filled in by clouds or the cloud had changed position relative to ours such that the lane was no longer visible to us. None of the others present had ever noted this phenomena before.