10 January 2005

Observing Location	Metropolitan Oval, The Bronx, NY
Observational Period	2200-2400
Atmospheric Conditions	Partly cloudy. I was able to see Betelgeuse from my bedroom window so took my binoculars with me when I mad a recycling dumpster run. It has been nearly two weeks since I have seen a star. There were areas of thinner clouds where the brighter stars burned through. The floodlights around the oval weren't helping me much either. I was able to see the Pleiades through the binoculars but not at all naked eye. I didn't even really try for Machholz, Flora and Herculina. There was just too much haze to try for faint objects through handheld binoculars. When I left at midnight even Saturn was noticeably dimmed. It certainly didn't look like it was approaching opposition. Most of the time was spent giving the local constabulary a tour of the SW sky. One of the officers asked about the sun and other planets spinning around the Earth and was under the impression that the Earth was stationary at the center of everything.
Instruments	Canon 15x50 Image Stabilized binoculars
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Naked-eye Limiting Magnitude Observations	Star Magnitude Castor α Gem 1.6 Pollux β Gem 1.1 Saturn -0.4 Alheba γ Gem 1.9 Procyon α CMi 0.4 Betelgeuse α Ori 0.7 Bellatrix γ Ori 1.6 Alnitak ζ Ori 1.8 Alnilam ε Ori 1.7 Mintaka δ Ori 2.25 Rigel β Ori 0.1 Spica α CMa -1.44 Aldeberan α Tau 0.9 Mirfak α Per 1.8 Capella α Aur 0.1