10 August 2005

Observing Location	Pier 54, Hudson River Park, New York, NY I went down to go see Animal House on the pier and had taken my compact binoculars with me to take a quick look around. Kin arrived while I was half watching the movie and half watching the stars and thought it was clear enough that he went back home to get his scope. We moved back behind the moviegowers and observed from there and I made a naked-eye limiting magnitude assessment. Just before the moview ended we were approached by a NYC park enforcement officer who asked if we had a permit for the use of the tripod. He explained that it is against the park rules to use a tripod in the park without a permit which can only be obtained in person at Pier 40, Monday through Friday, 0900-1700, and is only good for a single specific date. Kin has sent me a citation from the rules which he believes is the section on which the claim was based but it only relates to setting up a structure in association with an event and since we were not attending the event at that time should not apply. The first section of the rules also state that any person who performs an act or abets a person in performing an act is also guilty of the act. That means the City of New York would be goilty if I performed an illegal act because they abetted me in performing the act by providing me transportation to the site. And any business that sold me an innocuous product would be guilty if I used that product in an assault. I think the park rules are poorly written, overly broad, and being improperly and expansively interpreted. We have observed from this location on at least one other occasion when there were numerous enforcement officers present and were not asked for a permit. The sky was great from here at zenith and not bad to the west, but the rest of the sky is pretty much a loss due to light pollution.
Observational Period	2030-2230 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	It was warm and clear. The air did not feel humid and there was no haze or wind. There was some boiling over the moon. Transparency Very Good Seeing Good
Instruments	Brunton 8x21 compact binocular - Charlie Yukon 6-100x100 Angled- Kin Kin's new scope has to objectives (35mm and 100mm) and a zoom occular. By switching between objectives ans zooming the occular magnifications of 6x - 25x - 100x can be achieved. It is a little hard to bring to ficus because you set the tripod vibrating when you touch the scope and then can't tell what efect you adjustment is having on the image of the star. But the system settles quickly. There appeared to be a bright ring around the limb of the moon. Jupiter looked a little soft. Kin reports observing chromatic abberation inthe daytime. It is very convenient for him since it is compact and he can carry both the tripod and scope over his shoulders when he is on his skates, skateboard, scooter or bicycle.
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway Kin Lee

Naked-eye Limiting Magnitude Observations

N 4.03 E 3.73 Zenith 4.03 W 4.0 S N/A Star Magnitude Bootes, The Herdsman Murfid η Boo 2.70 Arcturus α Boo 0.00 Izar σ 2.72 ρ Boo 3.60 Seginus γ Boo 3.05 δ Boo 3.49 Nekkar β Boo 3.52 Corona Borealis, The Northern Crown Alphecca α CrB 2.25 Nusakan β CrB 3.70 γ CrB 3.86 Aquila, The Eagle Alshain β Aql 3.73 Altair α Aql 0.79 Tarazed γ Aql 2.74 δ Aql 3.38 Deneb el Okab ζ Aql 3.01 θ Aql 3.25 λ Aql 3.46 Ursa Minor, The Little Bear Polaris α UMi 2.04 Kochab β UMi 2.10 Pherkad γ UMi 3.07 Ursa Major, The Great Bear Alkaid η UMa 1.90 Mizar ζ UMa 2.29 Alioth ε UMa 1.80 Megrez δ UMa 3.33 Phad γ UMa 2.46 Merak β UMa 2.39 Dhube α UMa 1.70 Draco, The Dragon η Dra 2.76 Aldhibah ζ Dra 3.19 θ Dra 4.03 Ed Asich ι Dra 3.31 χ Dra 3.59 Nodus Secundus δ Dra 3.09 Eltanin γ Dra 2.25 Rastaban β Dra 2.81 Lyra, The Lyre Vega α Lyr 0.05 ε Lyrae Double 5.00 5.16/6.04 Zet1 Lyr 4.30 4.38/5.75 Sheliak β Lyr 3.47 Sulafat γ Lyr 3.26 Deneb, The Swan ο1 Cyg 3.81 ο2 Cyg 4.00 δ Cyg 2.89 Deneb α Cyg 1.30 Sadr γ Cyg 2.22 Gienah Cygni ε Cyg 2.48 Alberio β Cyg 3.1

Target	Moon
Constellation	Vir
Category	Lunar
Time	10Aug05; 2030 EDT
Comments	The moon looked very nice naked eye or magnified with Spica right off its lower horn. In Kin's scope at high power we were able to see the overlapping craters of Catherina, Cyrillus and Theophilus (Cyrillus does not actually overlap Catherina in LAC as it appear to in the eyepice but they are close) and the central peak of Theophilus. As the moon was setting it went down between the illuminated roof towers of a building on the NJ shore making a very nice picture as it was deep orange and red.

Target	Jupiter
Constellation	Vir
Category	Planet
Time	10Aug05; 2053 EDT
Comments	Jupiter was off to the right and slightly below the Moon. At ~6&drg; of elevation it looked a little yellow through the atmosphere. I wsa not able to see any moons in my small handheld binoculars but all four Galilean moons could be seen in Kin's scope. The view in the scope remained a little soft and banding appeared to be evident.

Target	Venus
Constellation	Leo
Category	Planet
Time	10Aug05; 2030 EDT
Comments	Venus was ~6° up and over ballfield lights. It didn't look very bright. It is just off the diamond of Libra but is actually in Leo. By the time Kin had his scope set up it was lost.

Target	Lacrosse 5
Constellation
Category	Satellite
Time	10Aug05; 2126 EDT
Comments	Heading south but I didn't make any notes about it. We were looking toward the Moon and Jupiter at the time.

Target	Unknown Satellite
Constellation
Category	Satellite
Time	10Aug05; 2151 EDT
Comments	There were two satellites following very similar tracks at similar magnitudes so I can't be sure which one I saw: Zi Yuan 2 at Mag 4.0 and Cosmos 1271 Rocket at Mag 3.9.

We had a father and young son spend a long time talking with us. They had a lot of good questions and hopefully got some good answers.

I made arrangements this afternoon to go out to Staten Island and pick up Some Assembly Necessary on Sunday evening.