10 September 2004

Observing Location	TotL
Atmospheric Conditions	Excellent at least early on. It was the clearest last night that it has been since last winter. Around 2300 hrs some clouds rolled in for an hour or so but they broke up and moved out about the time we started packing up near 0100. The atmosphere was very stable with little shimmering observed. About dusk they lit up the towers of light memorial at the World Trade Center. When it got dark the beams of light reached the zenith and ruined viewing of anything within a few degrees on either side of the beams. We didn't see when the lights were turned off but it was sometime around 2130.
Instruments	Canon 15x50 Image Stabilized binoculars - Charlie Canon 10x30 Image Stabilized binoculars - Hugo TeleVue 76 refractor - Ben Teleport 10" Dobsonian reflector - Peter
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway Ben Cacace Peter Tagatac Hugo Capra Debbie and Sammy

Target	Sagittarius
Time	10Sep04; 19:58 EDT
Category	Constellations
Comments	Sgr was well up above the trees. I was able to identify all the major "teapot" stars naked- eye with the exception of η and μ Sagittarii.

Target	International Space Station
Time	10Sep04; 2024 EDT
Category	Satellite
Comments	The ISS came blazing across the twilight sky. I first picked it up in the SSW above the buildings of Central Park South around Sixth to Seventh Avenue and tracked it up Fifth Avenue until it disappeared behind the large tree behind the ball field just north of TotL. In the binoculars the shape of the object seemed to change becoming elongated across the direction of the path a couple of times.

Target	ν Scorpii Double Double
Time	10Sep04; 2032 EDT
Category	Double Stars
Comments	Very faint and could not be found again.

Target	Tail of Scorpius
Time	10Sep04; 2040 EDT
Category	Asterisms
Comments	λ and ν Scorpii were easily visible naked eye, κ Sco with more difficulty and much concentration.

Target	M13, the Hercules Cluster, NGC6205
Time	10Sep04; 2136 EDT
Category	Deep Space Object
Comments	Observed in Peter's 10" Teleport. This globular cluster looked like a luminous area about the size of a quarter.

Target	M31, Andromeda Galaxy, NGC224
Time	10Sep04; 2215 EDT
Category
Comments	It took a lot of work but I finally found it with my binoculars after first seeing it in the scopes. There was a string of stars stretching from 7 to 2 o'clock. M31 is a faint fuzzy smudge to the left at the top of the string of stars and separated by a couple of degrees. The light we were observing left the galaxy 2,200,000 years ago.

Target	Triangulum (The Triangle)
Time	10Sep04; 2233 EDT
Category	Constellations
Comments	About 1/2 fist-width across [actually 6.4 degrees]. The upper two stars appear brighter than the third in the lower corner. It is a small constellation made up of third and fourth magnitude stars and is located below Andromeda and above Aires, and between Perseus to the west and Pisces to the east.

Target	Arise (The Ram)
Time	10Sep04; 2237 EDT
Category	Constellations
Comments	α and β Ari were fairly obvious naked eye. γ on the right end was more difficult and the clouds came in before I confirmed 41 Ari on the left end. Around 0200 when the constellation was higher in the sky and most of the clouds had dissipated 41 Ari was easily seen as was γ Ari.

Target	ρ Her
Time	10Sep04; 2243 EDT
Category	Double Stars
Comments	A very close double. In Ben's scope at 60x the right star looked brighter and higher up. The dimmer star looked bluish and lower left. It looked like it was behind the yellow star. At 80x the field was dimmer and the color not as obvious although they were easily separated. The brighter star appeared to be about twice the size of the dimmer star. At 48x I wouldn't have identified it as a double star.

Target	α1 and α2 Her, Rasalgethi
Time	10Sep04; 2255 EDT
Category	Double Stars
Comments	A closer double than ρ Her. The left star is brighter and a pale orange. The right star is much dimmer and tends to the white or maybe blue.

Target	M15, NGC7078
Time	10Sep04; 2331 EDT
Category	Deep Space Objects
Comments	Observed in Peter's scope, the globular cluster in Pegasus has a bright center.

Target	M27, Dumbbell Nebula, NGC6853
Time	10Sep04; 2343 EDT
Category	Deep Space Objects
Comments	I observed this nebula in Ben's scope. At 22x it was real difficult to see without a filter, with his nebula filter it became a little easier with but no shape could be discerned. At 48x with the filter it gave the impression of being an oblong diagonal with the lower end closer to Earth.

Target	M103, NGC581
Time	11Sep04 0002 EDT
Category	Deep Space Objects
Comments	Observed in Peter's scope. He calls this open cluster the slipper because of its shape: three stars in a triangle with one more star off to the side. It is a small object and not that bright so I probably hadn't seen it when I studied Cas alone a while back although it was definitely in my field of view.

Target	NGC663
Time	11Sep04; 0004 EDT
Category	Deep Space Objects
Comments	Two pairs of two stars at an angle to each other with other dimmer stars around them.

Target	η Cas, Achird
Time	11Sep04; 0009 EDT
Category	Double Stars
Comments	This double really flared out and was not easy to separate. There were diffraction spikes over the star because of Peter's spider.

Target	M45, Pleiades, NGC1
Time	11Sep04; 0131 EDT
Category	Deep Space Objects
Comments	Debbie first picked out the Pleiades naked-eye. We spent considerable time trying to figure out how many sisters there actually are in the Seven Sisters. I could see six stars easily. Debbie was up to eight and Peter at seven.

Target	Orion (The Hunter)
Time	11Sep04; 0239 EDT
Category	Constellation
Comments	I identified Belatrix as Orion was rising on his back in the east just beginning to clear the trees. By moving west along the path we were able to bring Betlejeus and the Belt into view. Given more room we might have seen the Great Orion Nebula.

Target	Gemini (The Twins)
Time	11Sep04; 0245 EDT
Category	Constellation
Comments	Castor and Pollux were laying on their sides to the left of Orion just starting to clear the trees. I could see their heads and Castor's feet but nothing else.

Target	NGC457, Owl Cluster or ET Cluster
Time	11Sep04; time uncertain
Category	Deep Space Object
Comments	Observed through Peter's scope the owl appeared to by laying in its side with two bright stars at one end for its eyes. It had a squarish body with wings/arms extending out diagonally on each side, one up and one down. At the bottom of the body were two feet or diminutive legs extending outward at nearly right angles from the body.

Target	β Per, Algol
Time	10Sep04; time uncertain
Category	Variable Star
Comments	I have read about Algol being an easily observed variable star but had no idea where it was. Ben star hopped me to it last night. It is a not a terribly star in Perseus. To find it we dropped down from Cassiopeia to α Per, Mirfak, a magnitude 1.8 star. It is part of an arc of stars in combination with η and γ Per above it. Just over a binocular field to the east of Mirgak is a third magnitude star and nearly a binocular field beyone that star is Algol. Algol was at its brightest last night and will be fading to about the magnitude of the star about two degrees to its east, nearly magnitude 4