1 September 2005

Observing Location	TotL
Observational Period	1815-0145 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	This was a very good night. I started out before sunset to do the sunspot count and stayed through curfew under very clear skies. At the outset it was hot but not too humid. There were broken clouds mostly to the NW and a moderate amount of boiling over the sun. After it had gotten dark the clouds mostly disappeared and the air was very transparent. It is hard to assess seeing through my binoculars when there isn't anything big like the Moon to see the effects of boiling on. Transparency Excellent Seeing Good
Instruments	Canon 15x50 Image Stabilized binocular - Charlie Teleport 10" Dobsonian Refractor - Peter Fujinon 7x50 binocular - Peter
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway Peter Tagatac Kin Lee Marie Winn Nick Steven

Target	Sunspots
Constellation	Leo
Category	Solar
Time	1Sep05; 1805 EDT
Comments	I only detected one spot today although there has a subsequent report of a CME aimed at Earth from group 803. 805 SE quadrant. I only detected one spot here today.   Groups Spots R Northern Hemisphere 0 0 0 Southern Hemisphere 1 1 11 Total 1 1 11 NOAA Boulder Sunspot Number ? R = 10 * Groups + Spots

Naked-eye Limiting Magnitude Observations

N 5.0 E Zenith W S I didn't make a systematic search of the skies tonight to determine limiting magnitude but Peter and I did spend a few minutes looking in Cas and UMi to see how deep we could go. Star Magnitude Cassiopea, The Queen Caph β Cas 2.29 Schedar α Cas 2.25 Achird η Cas 3.46 υ1 Cas 4.85 υ2 Cas 4.65 γ Cas 2.49 Ruchbah δ Cas 2.70 φ Cas 5.00 χ Cas 4.73 Segin ε Cas 3.40 Ursa Minor, The Little Bear Polaris α UMi 2.00 Yildun δ UMi 4.38 ε UMi 4.25 Ζ UMi 4.34 Kochab β UMi 2.10 Pherkad γ UMi 3.07 Pherkad Minor 11 UMi 5.04

Target	Venus and Jupiter
Constellation	Vir
Category	Planets
Time	1Sep05; 1840 EDT
Comments	I located Venus in the binoculars by offsetting from the sun. At 1845 Jupiter came into view and was very much dimmer than Venus but looked bigger and round. When out of the center of the field Venus looked like a streak with the upper end showing red and the lower end blue. It looks more nearly round in the center of the field. at 1855 I got Venus naked-eye and Jupiter naked-eye at 1938. At 1952 I was able to see one moon (Europa and Ganymede) at 11:00. Later in the evening that one moon could be split into two closely spaced moons, one over the other, and Io and Callisto were seen on the right side of the planet. In Peter's scope the equatorial bands were evident.

Target	ISS Visible Pass
Constellation	UMa
Category	Satellite
Time	1Sep05, 2043 EDT
Comments	Just after the ISS had lassed through the handle of the Big Dipper going south to north a Lacrosse satellite passed through the same area going west to east.

Target	Neptune
Constellation	Cap
Category	Planet
Time	1Sep05; 2120 EDT
Comments	I thought I was on the starfield but it wasn't looking right. P had Peter take a look and he thought I was too high so I hopped back in from another direction and finally got it. The planet looks like any other dim star in that filed in my binoculars. S&T says it's pale, bluish-gray disk "is distinguishable from a star only at high power." Sky and Telescope finder chart

Target	M8, Lagoon Nebula, NGC6523
Constellation	Sgr
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	1Sep05, ~2130 EDT
Comments	Seen in the Teleport. I counted 15 easily identified brighter stars with lots of points around them. But why am I counting stars in a nebula? Have I written down the wrong Messier number in my notes? Or was I seeing NGC6530 and missing the nebulosity?

Target	M13, Herculese Cluster, NGC 6502
Constellation	Her
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	1Sep05; ~2200 EDT
Comments	Observed in the Teleport A big diffuse fuzzball with some dark lanes.

Target	Uranus
Constellation	Aqr
Category	Planet
Time	1Sep05; 2205 EDT
Comments	Uranus was much easier to find than Neptune was. At nearly the magnitude of the surrounding stars it didn't match the stars in Planetarium. S&T says its "greenish-white disk is featureless but obviously nonstellar at medium power." Sky and Telescope finder chart

Target	M2, NGC7089
Constellation	Aqr
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	1Sep05, ~2215 EDT
Comments	A faint fuzzy, fairly bright and took direct

Target	M15, NGC7078
Constellation	Peg
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	1Sep05; ~2230 EDT
Comments	Small but doesn't resolve into a point source. Confirmaed by Peter.

Target	M34
Constellation	Per
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	1Sep05, 2343 EDT
Comments	A large, sparse, open cluster.

Target	Meteor
Constellation	Per
Category	Meteors
Time	1Sep05; 2340 EDT
Comments	While hopping through Perseus a meteor streaked right through my binocular field of view going left to right on a fairly flat trajectory. Probably an Piscid.

Target	M31, Andromeda galaxy, NGC224
Constellation	And
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	1Sep05; 1247 EDT
Comments	A big fuzzy ball.

Target	M45, The Pleiades, NGC1432
Constellation	Tau
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	1Sep05; ~0000 EDT
Comments	The Seven Sisters are returning to the evening sky. They were just above the trees so down in the schmutz but I could see at least four of them naked-eye. In the binocular they were blazing bright white with lots of dimmer stars around them.

Target	Mars
Constellation	Ari
Category	Planet
Time	2Sep05 EDT
Comments	My 5th and last planet for the night. Big and bright yellow. There is a star right next to it that is not in Planetarium so is dimmer than 6.5, but is still visible in the glow of the planet.

Target	Hyades, Mel25; Colinder 50
Constellation	Tau
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	2Sep05; ~0015 EDT
Comments	The Hyades were really low and I don't remember if I saw Aldebaran naked-eye or not.

Target	M52, NGC7654
Constellation	Cas
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	2Sep05; 0018 EDT
Comments	Seen in the Teleport but not in my binocular A central star with 8 bright star around it and many more unresolved stars.

Shortly before the sprinklers came on for the outfields at around midnight a solo cop came buy in the SUV. He was the burly guy with the bristly moustache and the vehicle smelled of dinner, Italian I think. He stopped and asked what we were looking at so I told him stars. He said he knew that much so I had to tell him I was searching for a cluster in Perseus or Cassiopeia, wherever I was at the time. We were all packed up and ready to go by 0100 EDT when Peter realized he hadn't looked at Mars yet. He then reminded me that the park closes at 0100 and we needed to be out by then. We were all packed up and ready to go by 0100 when Peter realized he hadn't looked at Mars yet so he set up again to observe that. We were just finished and packed up to leave again when we saw the SUV down at the south end of the park. It was the two black women this time. They sped around to catch us and tell us that we needed to leave and to be quick about it. I wish they would enforce the no bicycles on the walks and yielding to pedestrians as assiduously as they due curfew. It is worth your life to cross the park drive at a traffic light when you have a walk light near sunset. The bikers don't stop, they come as close to you as they can, and they yell threats of hitting you the next time they see you.

We are seeing more meteors these days than we saw the morning when the Perseids peaked.