12 September 2004

Observing Location	TotL
Atmospheric Conditions	When I left The Bronx it was a beautiful evening with little apparent haze and less than 25% cloud cover. By the time I reached Central Park the horizon was fringed in faint orange all the way around. To the south Midtown Manhattan was throwing up a dome of light pollution into the S-SSW sky. The sky was gray all night. Some clouds moved in and out but didn't really affect observing since there was little to be seen through the haze. The Summer Triangle was about all there was to be seen naked eye. I was trying to learn constellations using my Sky Talker tapes but as soon as they moved from the zenith down to the ecliptic I had to give up.
Instruments	Canon 15x50 Image Stabilized binoculars - Charlie Finder scope - Peter
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway Peter Tagatac

Target	ISS Visible Pass
Time	12Sep04; 1954 EDT
Category	Satellite
Comments	The ISS came out of Earth's shadow high over Central Park South and tracked up the east side of the park disappearing into the trees behind the ballfield north of TotL. I was watching through the binoculars when the satellite appeared to be over the East 60s and it appeared to drop in magnitude abruptly but it was still easily visible naked eye for the duration of the pass. When it got north of my position its apparent movement got very slow as it was moving more along my line of sight.

Target	ISS Visible Pass
Time	12Sep04; 2125
Category	Satellite
Comments	This is another satellite that wasn't seen tonight. The problem this time was that the ISS didn't get above 20 degrees during the pass and it was out to the west where there were some big trees.