10 June 2005

Observing Location	Battery Park
Observational Period	1635-1900 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Hazy, Hot and Humid. I was at the Battery for a Wi-Fi event and showed up early to do my solar observing there. Clouds were building from the west and before I finished my sketch the sun was obliderated. Then it started to rain. I think I saw a wall cloud down over the Upper Harbor and called in a SkyWarn report to NOAA. After the event the clouds broke up long enough for me to complete a sketch. Transparency Fair Seeing Good
Instruments	Canon 15x50 Image Stabilized binoculars with Baader AstroSolar filter film - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

10Jun05; 1635 EDT

Target	Sunspots
Constellation	Tau
Category	Solar
Time	EDT
Comments	I was just sketching my last sunspot group when the clouds completely covered the sun. I hadn't had a chance to estimate a sunspot number yet. Sunspots 775 and 776 were visible without magnification.

Target	Wall Cloud
Constellation
Category	Weather
Time	10Jun05; 1700 EDT
Comments	I was doing my solar observing and I saw a Wall Cloud move out of Staten Island over the Upper Harbor and into Brooklyn. I called NOAA to submit a SkyWarn Spotter Report and they seened a little surprised at me calling it a wall cloud, but it compared favorably with the picture I scanned from their cloud chart and carry in my PDA. They did indicate a heay storm cell had moved along that track and was presently over lower Brooklyn. We had a brief period of moderate rain with large rain drops but no hail. The wind was off the water and strong enough in gusts to move smaller tree limbs. They estimated gusts to 30 MPH.

Target	Sunspots
Constellation	Tau
Category	Solar
Time	10Jun05; 1840 EDT
Comments	After the event was over I was walking up along the bulkhead and the clouds drpooed below the elevation of the sun so I found a bench and completed a field drawing and estimate of the sunspot number. 773 773 is a solitary spot in the southern hermisphere moving toward the western limb. It is surrounded by a void area but I do not detect a penumbra. 775 775 is a large complex that is visible naked-eye. The largest spot is surrounded by a penumbra and void area. On the edge of the void area are three smaller spots. The group is near the meridian. 776 776 is the largest and most complex group. It is in the southern hemisphere approaching the meridian and is visible naked-eye. The core of the group is two large spots with penumbras seperated by a light bridge. They are surrounded by a void that has a smaller spot without penumbra on its edge. Trailing the core are four spots that look more like areas of penumbra in color.   Groups Spots R Northern Hemisphere 1 4 14 Southern Hemisphere 2 8 28 Total 3 12 42 NOAA Boulder Sunspot Number 103 R = 10 * groups + spots

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I read an article on The Big Dipper at Space.com today and it mentioned birthday stars so I decided to check on mine and see if it has moved from Cassiopeia. Now my birthday star is nearly 180&167; across the sky in Hydra. Here is the text about my special star:

Your birthday star is in the constellation Hydra. It has the name ?01 (Tau01) Hydrae in Johann Bayer's Uranometria star catalog. It is also called 31 Hydrae in the Historia Cœlestis Britannica of John Flamsteed and Edmund Halley. It is called NS 0929-0246 A in the NStars database.

It has visual magnitude 4.6 meaning that you could just see this star with the naked eye under the best viewing conditions. It is marked in the center of this star chart, at celestial coordinates (J2000 equinox):

Right ascension	9:29:8.9
Declination	-2:46:8.2

This star is 55.8 light years away, which means that the light we see from it today set off on its journey at about the same time that you were born.

Calculate birthday stars at Birthday Stars Web site sponsored by the Joint Astronomy Centre