12 July 2005

It was still worm and humid but not as bad as when I got home around midnight. Between the haze and the area lighting and the lightening sky I was having trouble seeing stars to orient myself.

Observing Location	Metropolitan Oval, The Bronx, NY
Observational Period	0345-0430 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Transparency Fair Seeing Good
Instruments	Canon 15x50 Image Stabilized binoculars - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target	Kallisto/HIP108428 Occultation
Constellation	Aqr
Category	Occultation
Time	12Jul05, 0421 EDT
Comments	It had cleared up enough that I could see some stars and I was hoping that I would be able to find my target star. But I observed from the oval where there is a round-the-clock rent-a-cop (sleeping) and I should be fairly safe. Unfortunately between the floodligths and street lights, the haze and the lightening skies I wasn't able to locate Aquarius' Water Jar naked eye so never found the target star. The only thing I am sure I saw was Mars which, although it is getting bigger, isn't going to be anywhere as big as the moon by Halloween.

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Observing Location	PSC oval
Observational Period	1730-1745 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Hazy, hot and humid with still air. Some boiling. The sky was kind of white and looked like a possible storm about sunset. Transparency good Seeing food
Instruments	Canon 15x50 Image Stabilized binoculars - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target	Sunspots
Constellation	Gem
Category	Solar
Time	12Jul05; 1730 EDT
Comments	It looks like the sun is tending toward featureless, unless something rotates onto the face from the backside quickly, which seems unlikely based on the NASA backside images. All the spots that are visible to me are west of the meridian and shrinking. 786 NW quadrant. The group is close enough to the equator that foreshortening has changed its aspect considerably since yesterday and it is getting hard to see how complex it is. I can still make out two large spots and one smaller one. They are all surrounded by a bright white void area. 788 SW quadrant. There is still one fairly large spot visible in this group. But it is not large enough for me to detect a penumbra. There is no void area surrounding it. 789 NW quadrant. The p-spot of this group is less pronounced today and it took a bit of time to locate it. The f-spot is still prominent, although not prominent enough for me to detect a penumbra, and has a void ring surrounding it on the limbward side.   Groups Spots R Northern Hemisphere 2 5 25 Southern Hemisphere 1 1 11 Total 3 6 36 NOAA Boulder Sunspot Number 68 R = 10 * Groups + Spots