8 April 2005

Observing Location	TotL
Observational Period	1700-1900 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	The eclipse was scheduled to occur just as the sky was supposed to begin a clearing trend. Looking out my window to the east in the afternoon I could see a few stripes of light blue and it looked like it might have been starting to break up. But from the subway platform looking out to the west on the way downtown it didn't look so good. Down in the park it was overcast with some denser stripes of cloud. About an hour before sunset a stripe of clear sky appeared just above the horizon, It was comfortable weather while you were sitting in the sun with temperatures in the low 60s and light wind. It cooled off as soon as the sun went behind the San Remo.
Instruments	Canon 15x50 Image Stabilized binoculars - Charlie Tacahashi 22x60 binoculars with shade 14 welder's glass - Peter
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway Peter Tagatac

Target
Constellation	Psc
Category	Eclipse
Time	8Apr05; 1745 EDT
Comments	A partial eclipse was not predicted for this far north, but Planetarium and Cartes du Ciel were showing that the limb of the moon would be tangent to that of the sun. I went to the park in hopes that it would clear off on the chance that the partial eclipse might occur farther north than predicted Both events were longshots and neither occurred. Early on the sun was up in the clouds. When it got down to around 8º it got into an area of the sky where there were no clouds and I got some nice crisp views of it. Sunspots 749 and 750 were both see along the equator which had a \ orientation due to field rotation. 749 did not initially appear but became a small speck near the center of the sun after extended observation. 750 was much higher on the disk and appeared larger but still small and composed of at least two lobes. I had hoped to possibly see a hint of darkening next to the Sun where the Moon was in silhouette but this was not observed in the Baader filter. Ben says it might be observed through a Hydrogen-alpha filter which would reveal the Sun's corona. So far there are no images of this in the Spaceweather.com image gallery. Sky & Telescope article. A Viewer's Guide from Space.com Final update from Space.com CNN covers the event.

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Observing Location	TotL
Observational Period	2030-0100 EST
Atmospheric Conditions
Instruments	Canon 15x50 Image Stabilized binoculars - Charlie Fujinon 10x70 binoculars - Ben Tacahashi 22x60 binoculars - Peter
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway Ben Cacace Peter Tagatac

Naked-eye Limiting Magnitude Observations	The sky wasn't really that clear so no attempt was made to establish a limiting magnitude although Peter and I did talk a bit about the concept.

Target	Mintaka
Constellation	Ori
Category	Double Stars
Time	8Apr05; 1948 EDT
Comments	Mintaka, δ Ori, is very bright with a very dim secondary at about 1:33-1:30. Both appear white.

Target	Unknown Satellite
Constellation	Ori and Tau
Category	Satellite
Time	8Apr05;
Comments	I picked up a satellite in the binoculars while looking at the Sword. It tracked up past Mintaka and out toward Aldeberan. I lost it when I took my eye away from the binoculars to try to point at it for Alexander. The only satellite listed in Heavens-Above on my Palm in this timeframe was Shenzhou 5; Mag 3.1; becoming visible at 2059 in the west; maximum elevation at 2102 in the north; disappearing 2102 in the northeast. The track doesn't seem to be right and the time is too early.

Target	M67
Constellation	Cnc
Category	Deep Sky Objects
Time	8Apr05; 2005 EDT
Comments	I was right on the object but wasn't seeing anything. Peter resolved two stars but when I came back to it later he thought they might have been foreground stars since M67 us supposed to be a faint glow.

Target	M44, Praesape, Beehive Cluster
Constellation	Cnc
Category	Deep Sky Objects
Time	8Apr05; 2001 EDT
Comments	The Beehive nearly fills my field of view. I counted 21 easily seen stars in my binoculars with many more identifiable dimmer stars that might have been counted with more careful study. Later in the evening I observed the cluster through Ben's Fujinon 10x70s (first light) and only counted 15 stars but I did not refocus for my eyes and didn't want to hog the optics or probably would have seen a few more.

Target	Collinder 71
Constellation	Ori
Category	Deep Sky Objects
Time	8Apr05; 2020 EDT
Comments	A cluster of stars around the Belt of Orion that I found as a string of stars extending down between Alnilam and Mintaka then fishooks under Alnilam. There is a kite just above the line of the belt and another much larger one above that in Orion's chest. Peter says Collinder 71 has a good range of magnitude stars and would make a good object to test the limiting magnitude of my binoculars. I will have to figure out how to have CDC print magnitude values for all the stars. The difference in contrast between binoculars of different magnifications was evident when comparing the views of Collinder 71 between Peter's binoculars and mine.

Target	σ Ori
Constellation	Ori
Category	Double Stars
Time	8Apr05; 2033 EDT
Comments	Planetarium says this is a quadruple star system. I can split it as a double easy. When I throw it out of focus I see an indication of another star which appears to be at its 8:00. This system also has a Struve number.

Target	M44, Praesape, Beehive Cluster
Constellation	Cnc
Category	Deep Sky Objects
Time	8Apr05; 2058 EDT
Comments	The Beehive nearly fills my field of view. I counted 21 easily seen stars in my binoculars with many more identifiable dimmer stars that might have been counted with more careful study. Later in the evening I observed the cluster through Ben's Fujinon 10x70s (first light) and only counted 15 stars but I did not refocus for my eyes and didn't want to hog the optics or probably would have seen a few more.

Target	M1
Constellation	Tau
Category	Deep Sky Objects
Time	8Apr05; 2105 EDT
Comments	Was not seen

Target	M36
Constellation	Aur
Category	Deep Sky Objects
Time	8Apr05; 2110 EDT
Comments	Nebulosity with a few resolved stars. Confirmed by Peter

Target	Saturn
Constellation	Gem
Category	Planets
Time	8Apr05; 2110 EDT
Comments	In Peter's binoculars I could see a separation between the planet and the rings but could not detect any structure in either.

Target	M38
Constellation	Aur
Category	Deep Sky Objects
Time	8Apr05; 2115 EDT
Comments	Not seen. It should have been in the right cheek of the Cheshire Cat.

Target	Cheshire Cat
Constellation	Aur
Category	Asterism
Time	8Aug05, 2115 EDT
Comments	A large arc of stars forming the smile, three stars on the left side of the smile and two stars on the right. Tow widely spaced stars form the eyes but are closer to the lips than they should be. Peter says there are some dim stars between the eyes and lips but I can't see them.

Target	M37
Constellation	Aur
Category	Deep Sky Objects
Time	8Apr05; 2130 EDT
Comments	Not seen although I was in the right place.

Target	M5
Constellation	Ser
Category	Deep Sky Objects
Time	8Apr05; 2220 EDT
Comments

Target	M101, Pinwheel Galaxy
Constellation	UMa
Category	Deep Sky Objects
Time	9Apr05; 0015 EDT
Comments	Not Seen

Target	M81 & M82
Constellation	UMa
Category	Deep Sky Objects
Time	9Apr05; 0010 EDT
Comments	Not Seen

Target	M40
Constellation	UMa
Category	Deep Sky Objects
Time	9Apr05; 0030 EDT
Comments	This one needs to be looked at again and a finder chart printed for it. None of us are really sure where it is and we may or may not have seen it.

Peter's 22x60 binoculars have the most contrast showing the darkest sky. In 15x50s the sky, which I normally feel is very black, looks washed out and gray. The sky in Ben's 10x70s is even brighter.