8 February 2005

Observing Location	Barryville, NY Lat 41.465 Long -74.883
Observational Period	1915-1945 EST
Atmospheric Conditions	Observing was very variable. When I first got out of the car Orion was big and bold over the tops of the trees but a few minutes later it was not visible at all.
Instruments	Naked-eye Observing
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target
Constellation
Category
Time	8Feb05; 1930 EST
Comments	I didn't have a lot of time to do any real observing so just looked around to get an impression of how dark the sky was there. There was a floodlight on the end of the trailer shining down the driveway that was killing observations to the west. There were a lot more stars than I am used to seeing but I wasn't able to see all of the Kids in Auriga. The area around Mirfak, α Per seemed to be fuzzy and there were more stars in the constellation than we see from Central Park.

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Observing Location	Poughkeepsie, NY Lat 41.699 Long -73.933
Observational Period	2045 EST
Atmospheric Conditions	By the time we reached Poughkeepsie there was nothing visible in the sky at all.
Instruments	Naked-eye Observing
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway Eric Russell

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Observing Location	Hugh J Grant Circle, The Bronx, NY Lat 40.832915 Long -73.820459
Observational Period	2345 EST
Atmospheric Conditions	It was above freezing and the air was still. The sky was mirky.
Instruments	Naked-eye Observing
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway Eric Russell

Target	Arcturus
Constellation	Boo
Category	Stars
Time	8Feb05; 2345 EST
Comments	Arcturus was the only star visible anywhere when I got home. Without a frame of reference I had no idea what I was looking it. Initially we thought it might have been a planet but Jupiter was already climbing the ecliptic and too far to the south. I haven't seen Arcturus for a while and probably wouldn't have IDed it correctly even if there were more stars visible.