3 October 2004

Observing Location	TotL
Atmospheric Conditions	This was a better night than the great night Clear Skies Clock had predicted. It was cool and the views of the buildings were very crisp and got better as the night wore on. We didn't look at a lot of stuff or any new stuff, but we got very nice views of the old friends. Looking toward the north the sky wasn't as black as it should have been because the Milky Way was shining through giving the telescope field a light gray appearance. Peter was counting stars in various objects and seeing many more than usual. The air was chilly and felt a little moist but there was no dewing on the equipment and the bags didn't feel terribly wet when we packed up so it must have just been not being used to the fall nip in the air. The last time I looked at the temperature on the MONY building it was only down to 60F.
Instruments	Canon 15x50 Image Stabilized binoculars - Charlie Fujinon 16x70 binoculars - Tom 10" Teleport - Peter
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway Tom Clabough Peter Tagatac

Target	Cassiopeia (The Queen)
Time	3Oct04; 2010 EDT
Category	Constellations
Comments	NGC457, the ET cluster, was easy to find in my binoculars with good contrast between the "eyes." The body stars came and went for me. M103: the three brightest stars were prominent forming a downward pointed equilateral triangle with a dimmer star off the left corner. NGC663: mostly a smudge but I did resolve about a half-dozen points of light.

Target	M31, The Andromeda Galaxy
Time	3Oct04; 2027 EDT
Category	Deep Space Objects
Comments	I saw it first in Tom's binoculars as a fairly large circular ball of haze that was brighter in the center. It was more easily seen with averted vision. When I slewed over it in my binoculars it was vary obvious. Coming off Third Base in the Great Square of Pegasus I went out two stars in the upper leg of Andromeda (μ And) then diagonally up from there one field of view. It is close to a zig-zag stripe of stars.

Target	M30
Time	3Oct04; 2120 EDT
Category	Deep Space Object
Comments	A globular cluster in Cas. Even in Peter's 10" scope it looked like a tiny smudge in a gray field. The viewing to the south was not as good as that to the north. [12', 26,100 ly, mag 7.2]

Target	Kemble's Cascade
Time	3Oct04; 2210 EDT
Category	Deep Space Objects
Comments	I found the Cascade tonight coming off of Cas for the first time. The upper half of the Cascade was difficult to pull out but the double in NGS1502 was easy to split. In Peter's scope there were at least six fairly bright stars around the double and bunches of much dimmer stars forming the fan of water at the bottom of the cascade (my bird's foot). At around 130x there were several more dimmer double stars visible.

Target	Moon
Time	3Oct04; 2254 EDT
Category	Moon
Comments	Schicard was darker than Plato tonight. The Dorsa Smirnov wrinkle ridge in Mare Serentatis was just inside the terminator.

Target	θ Tau
Time	3Oct04; 2340 EDT
Category	Double Stars
Comments	θ Tau is a naked-eye double in the Hyades (The Rainy Ones) just to the right of Aldeberan, α Tau, the eye of the bull.

Target	Cyclops Asterism
Time	3Oct04; 2341 EDT
Category	Asterisms
Comments	This is around the double stars of θ Tau and is my own invention. There is a bright star representing the eye of the cyclops. Beneath it is a single star in his throat. The θ Tau stars are his left arm. Two stars to the other side are the other arm and two widely spaced stars are the feet. There are some dimmer stars around in the head and shoulders. I get a hint that the cyclops' eye might be a very tight double.