12 May 2005

Observing Location	Parkchester South Condominium Oval, Bronx, NY
Observational Period	1630-1700 EST
Atmospheric Conditions	Seasonable temperatures, light wind with some moderate gusts, crystal clear skies.
Instruments	Canon 15x50 Image Stabilized binoculars with Baader AstroSolar filter film - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target	Sunspots
Constellation	Ari
Category	Solar
Time	12May05; 1830 EDT
Comments	Sunspot 758 continues toward the limb and appears to be dissipating although it is still quite large and well defined. It looks to me like a smile and a frown slightly offset from each other. There is a clear area in the rice grain structure around them but I don't detect a penumbra. Sunspot 759 looks bolder but this may be because it has rotated onto the disk far enough that it is not exhibiting foreshortening. I can see two fairly large dark spots making up 762. They are more pronounced than yesterday and appear to be growing. A new sunspot group, 763, has rotated onto the disc today. There are two spots that are probably a little smaller than the main spots in 762. It appears to be farther from the equator (in this case south) than the other spots are.

My image stabilization batteries died as soon as I turned the stabilization on. This is the third time in a row that it has happened and it makes seeing fine details of the sunspots hard. I don't know if my rechargable batteries are failing, if the binoculars are getting turned on in my pack during transport, or if there is a problem with the binoculars that is draining them while they are in storage. I know that I put fresh batteries in them when I got home from solar observing yesterday and didn't use stabilization last night.

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Observing Location	Battery Park, New York, NY Lat: 40.##, Long 74.##
Observational Period	1830-1915
Atmospheric Conditions
Instruments	Canon 15x50 Image Stabilized binoculars with Baader AstroSolar filter film - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target	ISS Solar Transit
Constellation	Ari
Category	Satellite
Time	12May05; 1908 EDT
Comments	This event didn't happen. The ISS was supposed to pass in front of the sun tonight but yesterday they boosted its orbit by 800 meters so now it is orbiting slower and won't pass in front of the sun from here. CalSky is now listing the event as near the sun. Original information from CalSky.com: Accurate Time: 19h08m46.07s Crosses the disk of Sun. Separation: 0.262d Position Angle: 273.8d Angular Velocity: 12.8'/s. Transit Duration: 0.28s Angular Diameter: 13.4" size: 73.0mx44.5mx27.5m Satellite at az: 286.5d WNW h: 9.2d dist: 1378.8 km Satellite apparently moves to direction 6.6° Centerline, Closest Point: Lon: 73d58m21s W Lat: +40d36m58s dist: 14.89 km az: 177.6d S Path Direction: 87.6d E Ground Speed: 14.322 km/s Width: 13.5 km max. Duration: 2.5 s When I started making this entry last night some things bothered me like the fact that CalSky says the ISS will cross the disk of the Sun but it also lists a separation angle. Using Starry Night I created a predicted track that was not on the sun for NYC. I then used the Lat/Long for the Centerline Closest Point and it was well down on the Sun's disk. Playing with Starry Night I found that you have to be south of 40º 42.5' in order for the ISS to pass over the Sun's disk. I then went to DeLorme Topo USA and fount that that means the tip of Manhattan or farther south. So now I am sure that I will be trying to view the event from Battery Park near the Seaman's Memorial. There are a few more inconsistencies I haven't resolved like the duration of 0.28 seconds at the top of the CalSky data and 2.5 seconds at the bottom. The track predicted by Starry Night (Starter version). They are predicting the pass between 19:07:50 and 51. Before I left for my evening observing I checked CalSky one last time and saw that ISS was once again listed as Sun crossing but by then it was almost time for the pass. I should have gone to Battery Park as I had planned just in case something like this happened. But then I would have missed the Dunham message about the occultation later in the evening.

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Observing Location	TotL
Observational Period	19450-0015 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	There were no obvious clouds but there was a haze so not as many stars were visible as there should have been. There wasn't much of a breeze or much humidity but it still felt cool at times.
Instruments	Canon 15x50 Image Stabilized binoculars - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway Ben Cacace Kin Lee

Target	Moon
Constellation	Gem
Category	Lunar
Time	12May05; 1945 EDT
Comments	4d15h07m The moon was visible naked eye at around 45º of elevation over the SW edge of the park. Earthshine was visible over about half of the disc at that time. The moon was between the Twins close to Castor's chest but few of the Gemini stars were visible due to the haze and brightness of the Moon's glare in it.

Target	Venus
Constellation	Tau
Category	Planets
Time	12May05; 1953 EDT
Comments	It took me a good while and many scans of the sky to find Venus tonight. Initially I found it in the binoculars at 1953 EDT then saw it naked eye after Kin at 2003. Kin had considerable trouble locating it even after I had it dead center in the binoculars. This may be due in part to focus and the low contrast between the planet and the white haze we were seeing through. I focused for my eyes without my glasses and his focus is considerably different from mine. His eyes are also a different distance apart. So the planet was not in focus when he got to the binoculars and may not have even showed up as a blur. I had meant to see how far out of focus I could get the binoculars and still tell that Venus was there but forgot to do it. I also didn't note what time Venus dropped behind the trees.

Target	Saturn
Constellation	Gem
Category	Planets
Time	12May05; 2039 EDT
Comments	Saturn became visible along with Castor and Pollux. At one point I saw Titan at 6:00 to Saturn but it was very difficult and didn't happen often. Towards setting the rings looked puffy again with a big blob merged onto them from below. I can not detect any space between the rings and the planet itself.

Target	Jupiter
Constellation
Category
Time
Comments	I should have seen Jupiter from the NE corner of the Lawn where we were observing Venus but didn't locate it. When I saw it from our normal TotL location it was a lot higher than I was looking for it so I might have just missed it earlier. Ganymede was way out in front of the planet. Europa was fairly close and Io so close that I couldn't see it at all. Callisto was bringing up the rear and lagging a good ways back.

Target	Unknown Satellite
Constellation
Category	Satellites
Time	12May05; 2055
Comments	A couple stopped by and I mentioned the upcoming ISS pass so they stayed to see it. At the correct time there was no satellite to be seen. After a while the woman say a satellite skimming the trees above the police precinct. It was about the right brightness and elevation for the ISS but too late and too far east according to the pass information from Heavens-Above.com. There were no other possible matches in my Heavens-Above listing. When I got home I checked CalSky but it apparently is incapable of doing retroactive searches. P brought up the radar display in Orbitron and it shows ISS in light all the way across the sky at that time and Cosmos 2084 is also close by going in the same direction. So I can't be sure what we actually saw.

Target	Vega and Doubles
Constellation	Lyr
Category	Double Stars
Time	12May05; 2110 EDT
Comments	Showed passers-by Vega and the ε Lyr and ζ Lyr double stars.

Target	Corona Borealis
Constellation	CrB
Category	Constellation
Time	12May05; 2130 EDT
Comments	I did some work in Corona Borealis tonight trying to identify as many stars as possible to determine the limiting magnitude, over those sky conditions, of my binoculars. It was harder than it would appear. It was difficult to know which of the stars on the chart I printed from Carted du Ceil I was seeing and which ones weren't there yet. And I was doing it too early in the evening so more stars were coming out after I had been through an area.

Target	47 Gem Occultation by the Moon
Constellation	Gem
Category	Occultations
Time	12May05; 2206 EDT
Comments	I looked in the binoculars and 47 Gem was laying right next to the dark limb of the Moon. A quick check of Planetarium indicated that it would be occulted. Sure enough at about 2208 EDT it winked out while I was at the eyepieces. It reappeared at about 2247 EDT but Ben happened to pick it up when it was about 0.5º from the bright limb so we don't know how close a star of that magnitude (M 5.80) can be recovered on the bright limb.

Target	ISS
Constellation
Category	Satellite
Time	12May05; 2226 EDT
Comments	Spotted by Kin while Ben and I were busy talking and not watching for it. About the elevation of Deneb or maybe higher. Higher than recent passes I think.

Target	Yale 2711 Occultation by the Moon
Constellation	Gem
Category	Occultations
Time	12May05; 2239 EDT
Comments	Dave Dunham of IOTA sent out a notice yesterday afternoon indicating that this would be a spectacular grazing occultation since the star is a close double. The graze line wasn't that far from us and had we had advanced notice that it would be such a good event we might have organized an away party for it. But we had to settle for a full occulatation in the park. The star approached the dark limb of the Moon a little distance from the terminator and was visible for a while riding the terminator. 2239 EDT - Separation still visible 2240 EDT - Starting to ingress 2241 EDT - I had the impression the star was getting smaller which may have been when one of the stars went behind the moon and the other remained visible. Brighter stars always look bigger to me. Then it disappeared completely 2258 EDT - The star should have come from behind the bright limb of the moon at around 2303 EDT. Ben was the first to see and me about 1/2 minute later. So we are able to see a Mag 6.45 star against the bright limb of the moon with our respective optics.

Target	Corvus
Constellation	Crv
Category	Constellation
Time	12May05; 2312 EDT
Comments	We were able to find the four corner stars of the crow but not the lowest star.

Target	Resurs 1-4 Rocket
Constellation
Category	Satellite
Time	12May05; 2328 EST
Comments	Sighted it beginning its track between the haunch of Leo and the Leap of the Gazelle and followed it into UMa where I lost it when I looked away momentarily.

Target	Sprinklers
Constellation
Category
Time	12May05; 2330 EST
Comments	The sprinklers over the infields of all of the baseball diamonds started up and ran for about one minute.

Target	Coma Berenices Star Cluster
Constellation	Com
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	12May05; 2333 EDT
Comments	Seen in Ben's binoculars. It was very near the zenith and a difficult place to look with binoculars.

Target	M13
Constellation	Her
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	12May05; 2350 EDT
Comments	I saw it in Ben's binoculars but was unable to find it in mine. It formed a shallow triangle with two brighter stars being in the middle of them.

Target	M92
Constellation	Her
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	12May05; 2356 EDT
Comments	I observed this in Ben's binoculars also. It is smaller and fainter than M13 so I didn't even try it myself. It formed a right triangle with two brighter stars.

Target	Lacrosse 2
Constellation
Category	Satellite
Time	12May05; 2356 EDT
Comments	Not Seen Another satellite out of the north to the west.

Target	Sprinklers
Constellation
Category
Time	13May05; 0003 EDT
Comments	The outfield sprinkers started up on all ballfields and were still running when we left at about 0015 EDT.

Target	Scorpius
Constellation	Sco
Category	Constellation
Time	13May05; 0005 EDT
Comments	Scorpius had risen out of the horizon haze in the SE to about the level of ε Sco.

Target	1 Ceres
Constellation	Lib
Category	Asteroids
Time	13May05; 0006 EDT
Comments	It looked a little fuzzy to me. I didn't think it resolved as well as the nearby stars. Seen in Ben's binoculars.

Target	Zuben Elgenubi, α Lib
Constellation	Lib
Category	Double Stars
Time	13May05; 0007 EDT
Comments	This is an easy wide double of unequal brightness. The primary, Mag 2.77 α2, appeared blue-white while the secondary, Mag 5.17 α1, looked a little yellowish (Ben called it ruddy). The two stars are 231' apart. There is a chevron composed of 7 faint stars, 4 in one leg and 3 in the other, above the double. It is about 2º in size.