23 January 2005

Observing Location	Parkchester, The Bronx, NY
Observational Period	0530-1945 EST
Atmospheric Conditions	I think the word is frigid but my brain will have to thaw out before I can check it. The temperature has been steady at 9F since 1500 this afternoon. There has been a light wind with occasional heavy (> 15 MPH) gusts. The sidewalks around here have been plowed but the wind is blowing the snow back onto them so most places are covered with something between compacted snow and ice making walking a little tricky. You definately don;t want to try crossing against the light in these conditions although most cars are going slow enough they could probably stop for you. The air seems pretty clear. There was a wide diffuse glow around the moon but no ice crystals to cause a ring around the moon. No haze was detected when looking at the moon in the binoculars. And yet I think I have seen deeper from here on other occasions.
Instruments	Canon 15x50 Image Stabilized binoculars
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target	Moon
Constellation	Gem
Category	Lunar
Time	1730
Comments	I started observing when I noticed the Moon out my bedroom window. I found that if a lay on my bed I could see the Moon through the bottom panel of the window where there is double glazed glass but no wire screen. There was some light scatter from light bouncine between the uncoated sheets of glass and a lot of boiling from the heat from the radiator just in front of the window. Due to field rotation the moon was not in the orientation I am used to seeing it. Mare Crisium was near 12:00, Tycho down near 4:30 and Mare Imbrium toward 10:30. If I lay on the bed on my side things appeared more normal to me. There was a strong ray running pretty much along a meridian that appeared to be centered on a crater in the top rim of Mare Serenitatis and extend toward both poles from there. It is not oriented to terminate at Tycho as most long rays do. This is probably the ray referenced in Price's The Moon Observer's Handbook, pg. 31. Amont the most eye-catching of the Tychonian rays is one that reaches all the way to Fracastorius and a double one that crosses over the Mare Nubium, passing just to the east of Bulliadus. The white streak running through the middle of Mare Serenitatis is thought by some to originate from Tycho but there is some doubt about this. I guess you could say that I am one of the doubters. To me it looks like it is heading from Mare Serenitatus to the right of Tycho. Aristarchus was chalk white and Plato inky black. Viewed through the window with all its reflections and refractions the moon looked to the naked eye to be full although it isn't for another two days.

Target	Moon, Saturn, Gemini
Constellation	Gem
Category	Plantes
Time	23Jan05; 1815 EST
Comments	On getting outside to go to dinner I was immediately struck by how nice the moon looked with Castor, Pollux, and Saturn forming a crescent around it Object Magnitude Distance to Moon Moon -12.2   Castor α Gem 1.6 5.8° Pollux β Gem 1.16 5.1° Saturn -.03 6.3°

Target	C/2004 Q2 (Machholz)
Constellation	Per
Category	Comets
Time	23Jan95; 1845 EST
Comments

Target	Orion's Sword
Constellation	Ori
Category	Asterism
Time
Comments

Naked-eye Limiting Magnitude Observations

After dinner I made some naked-eye limiting magnitude observations at Metropolitan oval under the flood lights then moved to the darker South Condominium Oval and observed the same areas to see how much impact the flood lights do have on observing. Star Magnitude Metro- politan Oval South Condo Oval Achird η Cas 3.46 seen seen Segin &epsilon Cas 3.40 not seen seen Al Anz σ Aur 3.01 seen seen Hoedus II η Aur 3.19 seen seen Haedi ζ Aur 3.77 seen seen ν Aur 3.99 seen seen τ Aur 4.54 seen seen υ Aur 4. 76 not seen seen θ1 Tau 3.86 seen seen θ2 Tau 3.42 seen seen Hyadum I γ Tau 3.67 seen seen Hyadum II δ1 Tau 3.78 not seen seen δ3 Tau 4.31 seen seen Ain ε Tau 3.55 seen seen λ Tau 3.49 seen seen M45 The Pleiades   4 stars seen 5 stars seen The Parkchester South Condominium oval with its full cutoff lighting might be marginally better as far as darkness goes. But you can't see as low on the horizon from there.