28 September 2005

There is an article in the BBC science news today saying that the US government is proposing the elimination of leap seconds after December 2007. This will make keeping time with atomic clocks easier. But it will also mean that clock time will increasingly drift away from mean solar time which will be bad for astronomy. The article is located (at least today) at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4271810.stm

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Observing Location	PSC
Observational Period	1515-1545 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	It was mild with light winds but also mostly cloudy and the air was beginning to feel a bit moist. There was no boiling over the sun. Transparency Poor Seeing Excellent
Instruments	Canon 15x50 Image Stabilized binocular with Baader AstroSolar filter film - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target	Sunspots
Constellation	Leo
Category	Solar
Time	28Sep05; 1515 EDT
Comments	I had wanted to take my tripod out to try using it as a monopod to see what would be the minimum equipment that I would need to see 812. But it was getting too late for me to fool around and still make it downtown for my meeting tonight so I just took the binoculars. It was just as well because I had to wait several times until the sun poked through holes in the clouds. Then my IS batteries died. There were some very nice views of the clouds through the binoculars and they moved in front of the sun at different speeds and in different densities and shades of gray and white. 810 NW quadrant. This group is getting real close to the limb now.   Groups Spots R Northern Hemisphere 1 1 11 Southern Hemisphere 0 0 0 Total 1 1 11 NOAA Boulder Sunspot Number 23 R = 10 * Groups + Spots