12 September 2005

Observing Location	PSC
Observational Period	1700-1715 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	It was hot with little air movement and little humidity. The sky was clear all around. Transparency Excellent Seeing Good
Instruments	Canon 15x50 Image Stabilized binocular with Baader AstroSolar filter film - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target	Sunspots
Constellation
Category	Solar
Time	EDT
Comments	Sunspot 808 is huge and can easily be seen without magnification. (10)808 nee 798 SE quadrant. This spot is huge and very complex. The central spot is two long spots separated by a light bridge enclosed in a common penumbra. It looks like another similar pair of spots smaller in size trailing the main spots.   Groups Spots R Northern Hemisphere 0 0 0 Southern Hemisphere 1 8 18 Total 1 8 18 NOAA Boulder Sunspot Number 101 R = 10 * Groups + Spots

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Observing Location	TotL
Observational Period	2000-2330 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	I got burned by CSC again tonight. It sent me email saying tonight would be a good observing night but I found that transparency was only fair and the First Quarter moon was lighting all the moisture up so that there wasn't much visible to the naked eye. The temperature was very pleasant and the humidity felt low although my the side of my tripod bag felt moist where it had be laying against the grass. There was no ring around the moon, just a pretty uniform light gray sky. The pillar of light from the Citicorp building predominated over Times Square tonight. The World Trade Center memorial lights are gone already. The air wasn't very stable as there was boiling evident over the entire disk of the moon. Transparency Poor Seeing Fair
Instruments	Canon 15x50 Image Stabilized binocular - Charlie Celestron 7x50 binocular - Kin
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway Kin Lee

Naked-eye Limiting Magnitude Observations	I didn't perform a formal NELM assessment but I did count all the stars I could see shortly after Kin arrived, probably around 2130 EDT, and only got to 24.

Target	Moon
Constellation	Sgr
Category	Lunar
Time	12Sep05, 2000 EDT
Comments	Since the sky looked very milky I spent most of my time observing the moon tonight. The terminator was just east of Hauportuis, passed down through Mare Imbrium just east of La Hire, East of Copernicus and into Oceanus Procellarum passing slightly east of Reinhold; Down into Mare Cognitum just east of Lubiniezky and Bullialdus. Down in the southern heavily cratered region it was just east of Peter Longomonthanus and Blancanus. I was not able to detect the Alpine Valley. There was strong shadow on the western walls of Copernicus, Aristillus and Autolycus. No shadow was seen in Plato which probably means it is a shallower crater than the other three. There is shadow on the eastern face of the Apennine Mountains but the Caucasus Mountains did not show any shadows at all. The central peak in Arzachel is visible although there are no shadows around it. Proclus, Manilius, Menelaus and Delambre are all shining bright white. At the northern edge of Mare Imbrium I could see the Teneriffe Mountains, Mt Pico and Mt Piton. I located the area of the Apollo 15 landing site near Mons Hadley but could not see the mountain itself on the edge of the Apennine Mountains and Paulus Putredinus (Russian for putrid swamp). Graphic from Virtual Moon Atlas The Carpathian Mountains above Copernicus were just beginning to catch the morning sun as are the Jura Mountains on the western edge of Sinus Iridum. Lambert is filled with a dark shadow and gives the impression of being very deep. Reinhold and Bullialdus are also filled with dark shadows. I can't see the central peak in Ballialdus. The craters Lambert, Timocharis, Archimedes, Aristilius, Eudoxus and Aristotoles seem to form a crescent through Mare Imbrium into Mare Frigoris. The western end of Mare Frigoris (the head of Peter's ant) looks very round like it is an old crater that overlaps Mare Imbrium with the Alps Mountains being its southeastern wall. At 2215 EDT the moon was already starting to turn yellow. A short while later it appeared to be turning pinkish and by 2315 EDT it was turning orange. When we left the park it was hanging over Peter's building and about the same color as it's illuminated roof making a very nice sight.

Target	Meteor
Constellation
Category	Meteors
Time	12Sep05; 2140 EDT
Comments	A bright, fast moving meteor streaked across the sky high above heading westward.

Target	M31, Andromeda Galaxy
Constellation	And
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	12Sep05; 2205 EDT
Comments	I could see M31 naked eye. I couldn't find it in Kin's binoculars but did get it in mine.

Target	Falcon
Constellation
Category	Fauna
Time	12Sep05; 2230 EDT
Comments	A falcon flew over and circled the NW corner of the Great Lawn three times before flying off to the NE. It's circles encompassed the robin dormitory on the west and our location near the storm drains at the top of the lawn on the east.