15 June 2005

Observing Location	Metropolitan Oval, Parkchester, The Bronx, NY
Observational Period	1920-2000 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Cool and hazy. Initially clouds were just at the level of the Sun (I made it out just passed the time when I would have been able to observe the sun) in the west but they moved east completely filling the sky by 1935 EDT. By 2000 EDT the sky was looking nasty and the air felt moist and smelled of rain but none ever fell or fell as virga. The temperature is finally down to 65º tonight which is a welcome change even if it means I can't see the sky. Transparency Poor Seeing Good
Instruments	Canon 15x50 Image Stabilized binoculars - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target	Moon
Constellation	Vir
Category	Lunar
Time	15Jun05; 1920 EDT
Comments	The moon was easily visible over an hour before sunset. Naked eye it appeared to be at 1st Quarter but in the binoculars the terminator had a slight but obvious convex bulge. The terminator was a little bit east of Plato, went down through Mare Imbrium in the neighborhood of Montes Recti and Montes Tenerfe, through Sinus Aestuum and Mare Nubium. From there it would have passed near Tycho but it was not dark enough to detect any rays emanating from the crater and identify it.

Target	Jupiter
Constellation	Vir
Category	Planet
Time	15Jun05; 1935 EDT
Comments	Not Seen The clouds obliterated the sky before it got dark enough to see Jupiter even though it was in the same field of view as the moon (3.5º distant).

I noticed while changing batteries in my binoculars tonight that the waterproof jacket was not in place on the bottom near the tripod socket. On investigation I found that when Canon made the repair they did not remove the old double sided tape from either the jacket or the binocular shell and did not install new tape to hole the jacket in place. This is consistent with gaskets protruding from beneath the rubber eyecups on both eyepieces. Hopefully they did a batter job with the optics. I am not noticing anything off there.