21 June 2005

Observing Location	TotL
Observational Period	21Jun05; 2030-2330 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	There was a lot of atmosphere out tonight. The moon rose from behind low clouds. When I looked in Lyra for M57 I could only see the brightest stars at the base of the constellation. The air seemed fairly stable though. Temperatures were mild with no perceptible wind. Transparency Poor - Fair Seeing Good
Instruments	Canon 15x50 Image Stabilized binoculars - Charlie Fujinon 10x70 binoculars - Ben Fujinon 7x50 binoculars - Ben Tacahashi 22x60 binoculars - Peter Fujinon 7x50 binoculars - Peter 16x70 binoculars - Tom Audubon 6x16 monocular - Kin
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway Ben Cacace Peter Tagatac Tom Clabough Kin Lee Ken Brown

Target	Mercury, Venus and Saturn
Constellation	Gem
Category	Planets
Time	21Jun05; 2039 EDT
Comments	I have finally seen Mercury. It was in the same FOV as Venis and will remain there for the rest of the month so should be easier to find than it has been. We set up on the NE corner of the Lawn. 2039 EDT I found Venus in the binoculars. 2044 EDT Venus was visible to me naked eye. 2049 EDT After seeing it in Peter's binoculars I located Mercury in my own. 2056 EDT I panned around and located Saturn in my binoculars. 2100 EDT I keep seeing a faint flash of light that may be Mercury naked-eye. It appears in the same place in the sky all the time so I don't think it is a plane. 2104 EDT There is another flash to the upper left of Venus that may be Saturn naked-eye. 2106 EDT Saturn looks like a thick cigar inclined \. It appears to have a pot belly hanging beneath the rings. 2123 EDT Saturn is easily visible about 1º above the trees.

Target	Jupiter
Constellation	Vir
Category	Planets
Time	21Jun05; 2042 EDT
Comments	Jupiter was shining brightly between the trees lining the east path around the Lawn and easily visible naked-eye while the sky was still very bright. I saw four moons through Peter's binoculars (C G I J E).

Target	Moon
Constellation	Sgr
Category	Lunar
Time	21Jun05; 2139 EDT
Comments	The top half of the Moon was rising out of a layer of clouds behind the Fifth Avenue building with the high parapet on it to hide it's water tower (The Stanhope ?). There is a river of heat coming out of a smokestack behind the parapet that is being blown north and causing ripples half way across the moon. The moon was orange as it was rising with dark gray maria. By 2214 it was high enough that it was starting to turn white. Peter called our attention to Mare Frigoris which he said reminded him of the segmented body of an ant. It looks like it is composed of a line of three overlapping craters that have been filled with lava. The left crater, which spills out into Sinus Roris, looks like a pumpkin seed, being fat in the middle and pinched off on each end, and is the thorax. The middle section is more rounded and is the abdomen. The right crater is flattened and elongated and looks like the head. Peter even sees a leg extending down by Mare Imbrium. I tool another look at the ridge between Aristarchus and Copernicus that I found last night and feel that the crater I am seeing in it is the unnamed crater or walled plain in the LAC chart. It was closer to Copernicus than I had remembered it and in an area where the ridge flares out like a delta.

Target	M57, The Ring Nebula, NGC6720
Constellation	Lyr
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	21Jun05; 2245 EDT
Comments	We were discussing the quality of the atmosphere so I pointed my binoculars up at M57 and lower Lyra to see how it compared with the night before. There was no contest. All of the bunches of dim stars were gone and only the brightest stars forming the base of the Lyre were visible.