21 January 2005

Observing Location	White Plains Road & McGraw Ave, The Bronx, NY
Observational Period	0945-1015 EST
Atmospheric Conditions	The temperature was around 20F at the time and the sky was clear of clouds but there was a bit of a haze. Winds were light.
Instruments	Brunton 8x21 compact binoculars with #14 welder's Gold Glass filter
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target	Sunspots
Constellation	Sgr
Category	Solar
Time	21Jan05; 1000 EST
Comments	I knew I would be standing on this corner for a while and it was sunny so I took the small binoculars and welder's glass to try and get a last glimpse of sunspot 720 before it rotates to the back side of the sun. I was not able to see it at all with my hand-held low power optics. I was able to pick out a couple of unnumbered spots near the center of the sun and two spots of 723 over near the trailing limb. [The unnumbered spot today has the number 725 and appears to be growing rapidly. And 723 has had 726 split off of it.]

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Observing Location	Parkchester, The Bronx, NY
Observational Period	1700-1730 EST
Atmospheric Conditions	The sun was just setting and the sky starting to darken as I was heading to dinner. In the direction I was walking I could see the sky to the east. Orion faded into view as I watched. It was cold and the air appeared clear.
Instruments	Naked-eye Observing
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Naked-eye Limiting Magnitude Observations	Star Magnitude Castor α Gem 2.0 Pollux β Gem 1.16 Saturn -0.3 Aldeberan α Tau 0.9 Betelgeuse α Ori 0.52 Bellatrix γ Ori 1.6 Alnitak ζ Ori 2.07 Alnilam ε Ori 1.7 Mintaka δ Ori 2.2 Rigel β Ori 0.1 Moon 89.2% -11.7

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Observing Location	TotL
Observational Period	1900-1930 & 2000-2030 EST
Atmospheric Conditions	Very cold and clear. It would have been a good night to have set up if it wasn't so cold and I wasn't trying to shake a cold. I walked through the park on the way to the Astronomy Meetup meeting and again on the way back home from the meeting. Peter was there so I spent about a half hour observing with him each time. On the way home we arrived just as he was checking the clock on the MONY building and it was 6F at the time. Winds were still to light out of the SW. The sky was pretty clear but not really great. I think I was seeing deeper in some areas than usual but wasn't seeing much nebulosity in Orion's Sword.
Instruments	10" Teleport - Peter Binoculars -- Peter
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway Peter Tagatac Jerry

It has been a month since I have been to Central Park for nighttime observing and someone moved everything around while I was gone. So on my first pass through the park I mostly figured out where things are these days.

Naked-eye Limiting Magnitude Observations	Star Magnitude ζ Cas 3.68 υ Gem 4.08 ι Gem 3.81 κ Gem 3.59 ν Aur 3.99 τ Aur 4.54 υ Aur 4.76 Alula Borealis ν Uma & Alula Australis ζ UMa 3.5 & 4.43 Tania Borealis λ UMa & Tania Australis μ UMa 3.47 & 3.07 κ Uma & Talitha ι UMa 3.62 & 3.16 Alcor 4.03 not seen

Target	C/2004 Q2(Machholz)
Constellation	Per
Category	Comets
Time	21Jan05; 1900 EST
Comments	Machholz is now in Perseus a little bit off Mirfac toward Algol. In Peter's binoculars it was a reasonably bright fuzzy ball with a denser center. I did not detect any tail at all. Mirfac is near the zenith so it is hard to observe it in the binoculars.

Target	Saturn
Constellation	Gem
Category	Planets
Time	21Jan05; 2200 EST
Comments	The A and B rings were clearly defined by the Cassini division. Four or five moons were spread out around the planet.

Target	Mare Smythii
Constellation	Tau
Category	Lunar
Time	21Jan05; 2200 EST
Comments	Peter initially thought he was seeing Mare Oriantale but that is a west limb feature so can only be seen under favorable libration conditions on a waning moon and we still have a waxing moon so thinks it is Mare Smythii he was seeing. I don't know enough about the lunar features to either confirm or refute it. In the Teleport the moon nearly filled the eyepiece and was very crisp. I was not conscious of atmospheric boiling and if there was a haze it was very uniform in texture.