10 September 2005

Observing Location	Custer Institute, Main Bayview Road, Southold, NY Lat: 41.0516083°, Long: -72.4346722° This is my second trip to Custer. The last time was in early November when the weather didn't cooperate. The Milky Way was visible immediately upon getting out of the car before dark adaptation had a chance to occur. I thought about doing a naked eye limiting magnitude test but decided against it. There were just too many stars and I would be getting lost between the sky and Planetarium. Peter and I did take a couple of minutes to look at some specific dark targets and were seeming in the Mag 5-6 range, The site is situated on a slight incline running away to the east. There are trees of buildings all around. Except for the north where there is some light pollution from CT, stars can be observed until they drop behind the trees. Adjacent to the building the yard is screened on all sides by hedges and buildings so should have the best zenith skies but the horizon is somewhat obstructed by those same features. The field to the south has a more open horizon but is subject to vehicle lights on the road behind and in front. Most people were very courteous with their lights, coming to tell us when they were going to open a car door and have white light in the vehicle or move a car that had automatic headlights. During the public observing there were more headlight problems. The site is classed Bortle 4.5 which equates to a limiting magnitude of 5.9 to 6.2. Drive time from NYC is about 2 hours.
Observational Period	2100-0530 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	The air was clear and stable. It was cool and dew became a problem after about 0300 EDT. Around 0330 EDT clouds started to appear on the eastern horizon and towers extended up to alt 20° for a time but they dissipated before civil twilight. Transparency Excellent Seeing Good
Instruments	Canon 15x50 Image Stabilized binocular - Charlie Coulter CT-100 (Peter's) - Charlie Teleport 10" Dobsonian Reflector - Peter Tacahashi 22x60 binocular - Peter Fujinon 7x50 binocular - Peter Celestron 7x50 binocular - Kin
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway Peter Tagatac Kin Lee

The institute has some big scopes and giant binoculars and others there had big scopes which Kin looked through and reported great views. I spent most of my time with my binocular and some views through Peter's scope and binocular and later switched over to Peter's Coulter to see how I got along with that. I started on the western horizon moving east to get as many DSOs as I could before the set then went back and did it again. Having put this trip together on short notice I didn't have an observing plan but it didn't really matter. Almost anywhere I pointed my binoculars I could find something that I can't see from TotL. It was almost impossible not to see DSOs around the top of the teapot of Sagittarius.

Target	Kemble's Cascade
Constellation	Cam
Category	Asterism
Time	10Sep05; 2100 EDT
Comments	About 15 stars easily visible in my binoculars.

Target	M5, NGC5904
Constellation	Ser
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	10Sep05; 2119 EDT
Comments

Target	M55, NGC6809
Constellation	Sgr
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	10Sep05; 2128 EDT
Comments	A globular clister

Target	M31, The Andromeda Galazy, NGC 224; M32, NGC221 & M110, NGC205
Constellation	And
Category	Deep Sky Objects
Time	10Sep05; 2135 EDT
Comments	Seen in the Teleport M31 is huge and bright. M110 is tiny. M32 is dim.

Target	M22, NGC6656
Constellation	Sgr
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	10Sep05; 2137 EDT
Comments	Bright, Easy Between a triangle of gright stars and a box of bright stard diagonally \ from the top of the teapot (γ Sgr).

Target	M8, Lagoon Nebula, NGC 6523
Constellation	Sgr
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	10Sepo5l 2145 EDT
Comments	Lots of nebulosity in the area of the open cluster. A satellite passed just below it.

Target	M20, Trifid Nebula, NGC6514
Constellation	Sgr
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	10Sep05; 2148 EDT
Comments	An area of nebulosity to the left of a string of gright stars / to M8.

Target	M21, NGC6531
Constellation	Sgr
Category	A dusty area at the top of the string of stars noted in M20 above.
Time	EDT
Comments

Target	Veil Nebula, western part
Constellation	Cyg
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	10Sep05; 2152 EDT
Comments	Seen in the Teleport Very faint. Near a bright gold star.

Target	M23, NGC6494
Constellation	Sgr
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	10Sep05; 2155 EDT
Comments	Small points of light

Target	Veil Nebula, eastern part, NGC 6992
Constellation	Cyg
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	10Sep05; 2156 EDT
Comments	Seen in the Teleport at low power A large crescent coming out of 11:00. Astronomy Picture of the Day Veil Nebula picture.

Target	M17, The Omega Nebula, NGC6618 & M17, NGC6613
Constellation	Sgr
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	10Sep05, 2202 EDT
Comments	M17 is brighter while M18 is smaller.

Target	M16, the Eagle Nebula, NGC6611
Constellation	Ser
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	10Sep05; 2208 EDT
Comments	A glow with three stars embedded in it.

Target	M25, IC472
Constellation	Sgr
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	10Sep05; 2212 EDT
Comments	A smile with two widely spaced lines above and bunches of dimmer stars below for a beard.

Target	M26, NGC6694
Constellation	Sct
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	10Sep05; 2215 EDT
Comments	A small area of cotton left of a bright star

Target	NGC 6664
Constellation	Sct
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	10Sep05; 2215 EDT
Comments	Not Seen

Target	M11, Wild Duck Cluster, NGC6705
Constellation	Sct
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	10Sep05, 2218 EDT
Comments	Large cotton ball, strong core with ???.

Target	M12, NGC6218
Constellation	Oph
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	10Sep05; 2232 EDT
Comments	Required averted vision.

Target	M42, NGC2287
Constellation	Oph
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	10Sep05; 2232 EDT
Comments	Smaller but brighter than M12, could be seen without averted vision.

Target	M14, NGC6402
Constellation	Opn
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	10Sept05; 2236 EDT
Comments	Required averted to located but recovered with direct.

Target	M57, Ring Nebula, NGC6720
Constellation	Lyr
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	10Sep05; 2302 EDT
Comments	I think I saw it in my binodulars but am not certain of it. The first time we tried it we hopped to the wrong place and had to do it again after Peter observed it in his binodulars. It just looks like a star to me. In the Teleport it was big and the ring at 11:00 it was dim to absent.

Target	M51, Whirlpool Galaxy, NGC5194
Constellation	CVn
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	10Sep05; 2321 EDT
Comments	A defocused star.

Target	M101, Pinwheel Galaxy, NGC5457
Constellation	UMa
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	10Sep05; 2330 EDT
Comments	Not Seen, confirmed by Peter

Target	M81, Bode's Nebula, NGC3031
Constellation	UMa
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	10Sep05; 2337 EDT
Comments	Observed with averted while looking at 24 UMa. A glow of light.

Target	M82, Cigar Galaxy, NGC 3034
Constellation	UMa
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	10Sep05; 2337 EDT
Comments	Not Seen

Target	M77, NGC1068
Constellation	Cet
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	10Sep05; 2351 EDT
Comments	I see a wisp where M77 belongs.

Target	NGC752
Constellation	And
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	11Sep05; 0017 EDT
Comments	large and rich

Target	M15, NGC7078
Constellation	Peg
Category	Deep Space Object
Time	11Sep05; 0106 EDT
Comments	A small fuzzball.

Target	NGC288
Constellation	Scl
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	11Sep05; 0109 EDT
Comments	Seen in the Teleport An open cluster.

Target	M37, NGC2099; M36, NGC1960; & M38, NGC1912
Constellation	Aur
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	11Sep05; 0140 EDT
Comments	I have always had trouble with these objects, particularly M37, and tonight was no different than usual. Peter helped me out and I eventually say them all lined up going up past the Cheshire cat with M38 kicked out to the left a little.

Target	Mars
Constellation	Ari
Category	Planet
Time	11Sep05; 0145 EDT
Comments	Observed in the Teleport There is a dark spot in the upper right quadrant that comes and goes.

Target	NGC1893
Constellation	Aur
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	11Sep05; 0150 EDT
Comments	A cluster beneath the "Leaping Minnows."

Target	NGC1647
Constellation	Tau
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	11Sep05; 0155 EDT
Comments	Chevron shape of dim stars filled with even dimmer stars.

Target	M1, Crab Nebula, NGC1952
Constellation	Tau
Category	Deep Space Object
Time	11Sep05; 0200 EDT
Comments	Observed in the Teleport A nondescript fuzzball.

Target	Constellation of satellites
Constellation	Tau
Category	Satellite
Time	~0230-0245 EDT
Comments	Kin observed a flight of three satellites flying in formation but could not describe where they were so anyone else could get them in an instrument. Peter got a look at them in Kin's binoculars. Eventually Kin saw them pass the Sword of Orion. I remembered something about a European satellite system that flew in formation. I spoke about it at the AAA Recent Astronomy Seminar a while back and it got a bad reception there because it was a satellite and those people don't consider that they have anything to do with astronomy. Anyway, it was interesting to me because we had had a discussion at one time about satellites using GPS and people didn't think it could be done but that was how these satellites would perform stationkeeping. I think they are what Kin observed. [I searched the internet for formation flying satellites and found a link to the ESA constellation of four satellites that fly in formation. They are called Cluster. I searched Orbitron and found that they were supposed to have been in the right neighborhood when Kin made his observation. ESA article about Cluster. Track of Cluster II/FM5 from Orbitron Track of Cluster II/FM6 from Orbitron Track of Cluster II/FM7 from Orbitron Track of Cluster II/FM8 from Orbitron

[17Apr09 -- While reading Blank Spots On The Map: The dark geography of the Pentagon's Secret World by Trevor Paglen I came across this paragraph in his chapter on classified satellites, The Other Night Sky: A few miles north of the U.S. frontier:

Just visible to the unaided eye at an altitude of about 1,100 km are the Naval Ocean Surveillance Satelites (code-named PARCAE after Jupiter's three daughters), designed to track naval vessels by eavesdropping on shortwave and other transmissions. The NOSS satellites cruise across the night sky in formations of twos and threes, appearing as points of light moving in a triangular formation. In other words, they look like a late-generation UFO or super-secret delta-winged aircraft with a cloaking device. In fact, they are so easy to mistake for UFOs or black aircraft that UFO researchers have come to realize that a great deal of "black triangle" sightings can be explained by the PARCAE constellation.]

In the neighborhood or 0300 EDT I hit a wall and had a lot of trouble finding things. I switched over to Peter's Coulter CT-100 to get some experience with it and see what kind of views the scope is capable of. Peter had brought it along with him so that I could get used to using it.

Target	Mars
Constellation	Ari
Category	Planet
Time	11Sep05
Comments

Target	M45, The Pleiades, NGC1432
Constellation	Tau
Category	Deep Space Object
Time	11Sep05
Comments	The Pleiades fills the field of view and more with either a 38m or a 20mm Plossl eyepiece, I don't remember which I had in at the time. As much as I have observed M45 I nave never noticed the nebulosity of the Merope Nebula, NGC1435.

Target	Sword of Orion
Constellation
Category
Time	EDT
Comments	The sword fit nicely in the field of view with either the 20mm or the 38mm eyepiece, I don't remember which. M42 was very nice.

Target	Saturn and the M44, Praesepe, Beehive Cluster
Constellation	Cnc
Category	Planet
Time	11Sep05; 0330 EDT
Comments	I caught it just as the clouds came in to cover it up then had to wait for them to dissipate. I could see the rings planer than I can in my binoculars but could not sseparationion from the planet. I didn't boost the poser beyond 20mm.

Target	M77, the Little Dumbbell Galaxy, NGC1068
Constellation	Cet
Category	Deep Space Object
Time	11Sep05; 0348 EDT
Comments	Seen in the Teleport

I noticed a pronounced blow with a couple pillars of light on the nothern horizon that I attributed to cities on the CT shoreline just across Long Island Sound. Someone with local knowledge told us that it was an aurora. At that time and thereafter I did not observe the effect again. I did not observe any shimmering or rippeling. It looks very much like the gegenschein from Times Square that we see at TotL. When I got home I had the following aurora warning in my mailbox from Sky and Telescope:

MIDDLE LATITUDE AURORAL ACTIVITY WARNING - 11-14 SEPTEMBER A middle latitude auroral activity warning has been issued for the next several days. Intense solar flare activity continues. The associated high velocity coronal mass ejections are beginning to become more heavily directed toward the Earth. Several smaller impacts were observed over the last 24 to 48 hours from solar activity that occurred when sunspot complex 10808 was on the eastern limb of the Sun. But now, the region has rotated sufficiently far to produce stronger Earthward-directed impacts. The latest impact was observed near 01:19 UTC on 11 September (9:19 pm EDT on 10 September). This disturbance has the potential to produce periods of minor to major auroral storm conditions during the next 12 to 24 hours. Combining this disturbance with several others that are anticipated during the next 48 hours may result in a more volatile mixture of space weather conditions, perhaps capable of producing significant auroral storm activity during the next week. Observers across the United States and Europe (even toward the lower latitudes of the central/southern states) may spot periods of activity during the next week. Active sunspot Region 10808 remains exceptionally complex and volatile. It has produced two X-class flares within the last 12 hours (the largest being a class X2.1 event at 22:11 UTC (6:11 pm EDT) on 10 September. Additional strong X-class flares are expected in the coming days. With each passing day, the trajectory of the ejected mass from these events will impact the Earth more directly, resulting in greater opportunities for observers to spot auroral activity.

A Sky and Telescope article mentioning this aurora.

Many meteors were observed, a few of which were very impressive. One had a tail spanning 10° of arc.

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Observing Location	Orient Point ferry terminal, Orient Point, NY Lat:41.1550555°, Long: -72.2401638° The ferry terminal parking lot was recommended as a possible place to try to see the green flash so we gave it a try. There is a good view down to the waterline out to the east to so we had an onobstructed view of sunrise
Observational Period	EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	It was a little cool and very blustery. The sky was clear except for a thin band of haze on the horizon. Transparency Excellent Seeing Good
Instruments	Canon 15x50 Image Stabilized binocular with Baader AstroSolar filter film - Charlie Tacahashi 22x60 binocular (with my filter over one objective) - Peter
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway Peter Tagatac Kin Lee

Target	Sunspots
Constellation	Leo
Category	Solar
Time	11Sep05; 0630 EDT
Comments	Before the sun rose we noted a deeply scalloped surface of the water which Peter observed through his binoculars and can only explain as an optical illusion magnifying the height of the waves. The effect was most pronounced above where the sun was below the horizon. The sun appeared to rise very quickly until it was half way above the horizon then it appeared to slow for a while and speed up again as the bottom half came up from beneath the horizon. After the sun was about 2/3 risen a compressed mirror image of its lower portion could be seen on the water. We were looking for the green flash but none of us had ever observed it before or researched it so didn't know what to look for. We watched from before sunrise until after the sun had cleared the horizon and didn't see any green flashes. An Astronomy Picture of the Day image of a sunset green flash. An Introduction to Green Flashes has some immages and videos of sunrise and sunset green flashes. 798 SE quadrant. This is a huge and complex spot. There is a central spot surrounded by a penumbra and smaller spots on all sides of it.   Groups Spots R Northern Hemisphere 0 0 0 Southern Hemisphere 1 7 17 Total 1 7 17 NOAA Boulder Sunspot Number 101 R = 10 * Groups + Spots

Looking to the NE you can see the water tower from Plumb Island (Anthrax Island). That is where the the government has done research on animal diseases line anthrax. It is to eastern Long Island what Indian Point is to Rockland County. The Plumb Island ferry dock is adjacent to the commercial ferry to New London, CT.