21 September 2004

Observing Location	The Clay Courts at Riverside Park Enter Riverside Park from Riverside Drive at between 96th and 97th streets or between 97th and 98th streets. Once in the park follow the walk to the north as it goes downhill to a wide promenade along the West Side Highway. Continue north until a smaller path diverges to the left and downhill. At the bifurcation of this path go to the left bending around to the north and steeply downhill toward the West Side Highway access road which passes under the highway through a big arch. Once through the arch turn to the left on the walk along the river and proceed south a short distance to the north end of the tennis courts. The walk may be about 10 minutes from the last stop on the M96 crosstown bus at 97 Street and West End Ave.
Atmospheric Conditions	It wasn't too bad at the outset but once the sun went down and the stars were supposed to be out the haze became evident. There were heavy stratus clouds on the horizon to the north that blocked the view of the ISS. Cas didn't seem as crisp as it has been from TotL and the Mag 8 and 9 stars of Kemble's Cascade were hard to make out. I don't think seeing was as good tonight as it was last night at TotL and was definitely much worse than Sunday night.
Instruments	Canon 15x50 Image Stabilized binoculars - Charlie NexStar-5 - Alice Tele Vue Pronto - Rik 8" Dobsonian - Mike Orion 6" Dobsonian - park
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway Alice Barner Rich Rosenberg Rik Davis Mike O'Gara Ben Cacace Tom Haeberle This was an announced public observing event done by the park and the AAA so there were probably about 50 members of the public who stopped by.

Target	Moon
Time	21Sep04; 1850 EDT
Category	Moon
Comments	The moon looked beautiful sitting there in the blue sky so I set up and started observing before sunset anticipating that I would not have much time to do much real observing after it got dark and the public started arriving and wanting to look through my optics. While I was setting up I was approached by a man who had lots of questions about the optics but didn't want to look much so I didn't get as much time to make notes as I would have liked. Alphonsus And Arzachef were identified. Montes Apenninus showed good shadow on the back side. Montes Alps were also showing good relief and the Alpine Valley was evident. Mare Frigoris looked billiard table flat as did the rest of the mare. The central peak in Alpetgagus was evident

Target	Iridium 35 Flare
Time	21Sep04; 1923 EDT
Category	Satellites
Comments	Heavens Above called this a daytime flare. It actually occurred just after the end of Civil Twilight when the sky was already pretty dark. It occurred near Altair so it was easy for people to find it since we had already talked about that star being part of the Summer Triangle and visible early in the night. It brightened and faded quickly but was there long enough for people to find it. This was my first "daytime" Iridium flare. I have figured out why I have not seen the ones I have tried observing from home. When I was looking this one up on Heavens Above I created a site for Parkchester and all of the listings for New York City disappeared and many more came up for Parkchester. So these sightings are more site specific than those for the ISS. Now I have locations in Heavens Above for TotL, Carl Schurz Park, Parkchester and Sydney, NS (for vacation) so I get better predictions.

Target	ISS Visible pass
Time	21Sep04; 1923 EDT
Category	Satellites
Comments	This was supposed to have been a very shallow pass lasting only two minutes at exactly the same time as the Iridium flare, but in the opposite part of the sky. It was to be low on the horizon where all the stratus clouds were so I didn't even bother looking for it or the one that occurred in the same neighborhood for an even shorter period of time at 2058.

Target	Various
Time	21Sep04
Category	Various
Comments	The sky was hazy enough and the lights bright enough (even though the parks people covered them with garbage bags that I wasn't finding much with my binoculars. Alice got Kemble's Cascade with her GoTo and Rik and Mike found some M objects in their scopes.