27 September 2005

Observing Location	PSC
Observational Period	153-1630 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	It was warm with a light breeze. The sky was clear and there was no boiling. Transparency Excellent Seeing Excellent
Instruments	Canon 15x50 Image Stabilized binocular with Baader AstroSolar filter film - Charlie Coulter CT-100 with Baader AstroSolar filter film in an off axis cell - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target	Sunspots
Constellation	Leo
Category	Solar
Time	1530 EDT
Comments	I brought the CT-100 with me to compare the view with it to that with the binocular and see what will be my best instrument for future observations. I started out observing with the binoculars handheld and could easily see group 810 but that was all. When I put the binocular on the tripod group 812 quickly came into view but I didn't resolve any additional detail around 810. Then I moved up to the CT-100. I couldn't even find the Sun with the scope. At one point I did manage to get the sun coming over the front cage and into the mirror and don't remember if I had the eyepiece in the scope or was just looking down the drawtube trying to see if the sun was showing through the filter, but I clearly need to get the shroud built for the scope for safety sake if not to improve the view. I noticed that the image of the filter cell was projected as a yellow disk around the shadow of the scope so placed my hand behind the scope to try to estimate when the yellow disk projected equally on all sides of the rear cell but didn't never did get the sun in the field of view. Next time I try this I need to bring my home made Sun locator with me and see if that helps any. 810 NW quadrant. I didn't detect a penumbra around this spot today. 812 SE quadrant. This is a small spot that I only detected after mounting the binoculars on the tripod.   Groups Spots R Northern Hemisphere 1 1 11 Southern Hemisphere 1 1 11 Total 2 2 22 NOAA Boulder Sunspot Number 26 R = 10 * Groups + Spots

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Observing Location	TotL We nearly got drowned twice tonight. The infield sprinklers came on late tonight and looked a little strange. Then shortly after midnight the sprinklers just inside the fence of the Great Lawn came on. We grabbed everything and moved to the north side of the path unscathed although I nearly got run over by a cyclist. Around about 0100 EDT the outfield sprinklers came on on the north ballfields. There is one sprinkler head near third base of the closest diamond that has always been a problem for us and it started spraying the walk so we had to grab everything and move back to the south side of the walk again.
Observational Period	2030-0230 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	It was a wonderful night tonight. The air was cool and perfectly clear. Any breezes were light gusts. The only detractor was eight rotating spotlights and as many fixed position color changing spotlights on a flatbed trailer parked on CPW in front of the construction site where the Mayflower Hotel had been. Their light was bothersome to the south and west. Transparency Excellent Seeing Excellent
Instruments	Coulter CT-100 - Charlie Tacahashi 22x60 binocular - Peter Fujinon 7x50 binocular - Peter Yukon 6-100x100 Angled spotting scope - Kin
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway Peter Tagatac Kin Lee

I had a meeting to attend tonight and had intended to bring only the binocular with me but when I got home from solar observing I broke down and packed up Some Assembly Required and the tripod and left the binocular at home.

The view through SAR is nice but all the stars still look like comets. If you loosen the secondary cage and press it down against the truss bar you get the best view. I need to get some Teflon tape to replace what is in and is missing from the truss bar shoes to shim them out a bit but I am not sure this will help the view any since the thumb screw presses the car away from the bar when you tighten it. Peter has suggested that I post to Astromart and see if anyone has a defunct scope and would be willing to part with the truss bar. I think I should have Peter bring his bar sometime and see how my scope works on it. Maybe Teflon tape on the bearing surfaces of the bar will tighten it up and provide better images.

I am not particularly liking my PVC finder. It doesn't seem to be pointing where it should be and when I twist it around to where it belongs it doesn't stay there. A Velcro mounting would hold it in place better but would not be adjustable at all. I need to see about mounting the red dot finder and see of that works any better.

I am not used to seeing everything upside down in planetarium. Sometimes I did OK star hopping and sometimes I got completely lost. This is going to take some practice.

Naked-eye Limiting Magnitude Observations

I didn't do a systematic search of the sky to determine limiting magnitude in all directions but a couple of times Peter and I stopped to compare what we could see around different constellations. The most spectacular sightings were those at the end of the night in M45. We counted up to eleven stars there ranging in magnitude down to 5.44m. To be sure some of what we were seeing was the integrated magnitude of multiple dimmer stars, but we were seeing way deeper tonight than I think we have ever seen before from Central Park. On the way out of the park we stopped near the two street lights that aren't operating on the path just south of the Met to confirm our observations and came up one star shy of our previous count. Star Mag Appearance Taygeta 4.32 solid Maia 3.89 solid Celaeno 5.48 wavered but mostly there Asterope & Sterope II 5.78 6.45 wavered and seen as one object Electra 3.72 solid Merope 4.20 solid Alcyone 2.89 solid Atlas 3.65 solid Pleione 5.11 wavered but mostly there appeared attached to Atlas at 10:30 Another star was seen detached from the Pleiades above, probably 18 Tau (5.66m) and one to the south 7 Tau (5.94m) -- doubtful. Both Peter and I felt at different times that we saw something to the 5:00 of Atlas. I saw something beneath M45 in the neighborhood of Yale 1185 (6.09m)

I didn't make any notes on what I observed, I am getting bad about that lately. Hopefully I can turn it around once I figure out how this scope works and start landing on targets I want to observe rather than just things I can find.

Target	M57, the Ring Nebula, NGC6720
Constellation	Lyr
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	27Sep05
Comments	It took several attempts but I finally got myself into the neighborhood. Peter and I looked at it and he told me where it was. It was easiest for me to see when the scope was moving. This is something I find to be true for me with most really faint fuzzies.

Target	M56, NGC6779
Constellation	Lyr
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	27Sep05
Comments	As long as I was in the neighborhood Peter suggested I try M56, a globular cluster also in Lyr. After a lot more effort I got into the neighborhood and Peter and I had a long discussion of the star field and finally came to the realization that we were both looking at the same thing but describing it differently, neither of us perceiving it the way the other was.

Target	M31, Andromeda galaxy
Constellation	And
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	27Sep05
Comments	The galaxy was easy to find once I got into the neighborhood which wasn't so easy. It is large, probably filling about 1/4 of the FOV. I remember asking Peter about where M32 was in relation to M31 and think I saw something faint out there but didn't have him check it out.

Target	Leaping Minnows and Cheshire Cat
Constellation	Aur
Category	Asterisms
Time	27-28Sep05
Comments	I was able to find the Leaping Minnows without problem and Peter said I would locate the Cheshire cat by sweeping in azimuth which didn't and still doesn't seem right to me. I think the Cheshire Cat should have been beneath the Leaping Minnows. I went in all directions from the Leaping Minnows and never saw anything that looked like an upside down smile. I probably passed right over it and didn't recognize it with the smaller FOV and reversed orientation.

Target	Pherkad and Pherkad Minor
Constellation	UMi
Category	Double Stars
Time	28Sep05
Comments	Easy to see and very wide.

Target	M81, Bode's Nebula, NGC3031 and M82, Cigar Galaxy, NGC3034
Constellation	UMa
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	28Sep05
Comments	I hopped out to the neighborhood from Dubhe and Peter took a look but we lost where I was and I wasn't able to recover it.

I performed a drift test using Fomahot as my target star to determine what my Field of View really is. It took the star 10 minutes and 34 seconds to transit my field of view.

True FoV =	T * 0.2507 * cos(Dec)
T FoV =	10:34 * 0.2507 * cos(-29.6°)
T FoV =	634 * 0.2507 * 0.869494929505
T Fov =	138.200513625682 arcminutes = 2.3°
T = time to drift across the FoV in seconds 0.2507 = constant that converts seconds to arcseconds cos(Dec) = corrects for the difference in apparent motion as stars move away from the celestial equator

The True Fov I calculated from a Web JavaScript application was 2.4°.