1 October 2005

Observing Location	CSP
Observational Period	0500-0800 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	It was crisp and clear. The forecast humidity was not evident. I wished I had a vest under my fleece lined jacket. Transparency excellent Seeing Very Good
Instruments	Canon 15x50 Image Stabilized binocular with Baader AstroSolar filter film - Charlie Coulter CT-100 with off axis Baader AstroSolar Filter - Charlie Pentax 20x60 Binocular - Kin
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway Kin Lee

I didn't find the same sweet spot on SAR's truss bar this morning that I found last night and the views were not as good, more coma, but still not too bad. I need to bring a marking pen with me and mark the location of the primary cage when I have a good view.

Naked-eye Limiting Magnitude Observations

While I was waiting for the sun to rise I did some looking in CMa to see what the dimmest stars I could see were N - E - Zenith - W 5.1 S 4.70 Star Magnitude Appearance Spica α CMa -1.5 very bright Murzim β CMa 2.00 solid ν1 CMa 3.97 solid ν3 CMa 4.45 twinkles ν2 CMa 5.72 rarely seen ο1 CMa 3.89 solid Adhara ε CMa 1.52 solid σ CMa 3.49 twinkles Wezen δ CMa 1.86 solid Aludra η CMa 2.47 solid Yale 2766 4.66 occasionally ω CMa 3.87 twinkles ο2 CMa 3.04 solid π CMa 4.70 twinkles Muliphen Γ CMa 4.14 twinkles θ CMa 4.09 occasionally

Target	Moon
Constellation	Leo
Category	Lunar
Time	1Oct05; 0518 EDT
Comments	0518 EDT The Moon rose south of where it did the last time we observed it from this location and I missed it. Kim pointed it out when it was ~5° above the horizon between two tall apartment buildings south of the Triboro Bridge. It looked like a thin smile -- a frown in my telescope. I think the terminator was just outside of Grimaldi. 0545 EDT Nice Earthshine. I can see the maria across the dark side of the moon. 0700 EDT The Moon is no longer visible to me naked-eye and is showing a smaller arc in the scope. 0720 EDT The Moon is a small, dim crescent. I think I would have trouble recovering it even if I knew right where to point my telescope.

Target	Saturn and M44, Praesepe, the Beehive Cluster
Constellation	Cnc
Category	Planet/Deep Sky Object
Time	1Oct05; 0525 EDT
Comments	If I put Saturn at the top of my field of view I can see most of M44 at the bottom. M44 really looks like a hive of bees in my scope since all of the stars have comet-like trails pointing to the left that look like little wings. In Kin's binoculars I thought I could see space between the planet and the rings on the western side but the center pole on his tripod was fully extended making it a little wobbly and high for me to see.

Target	Orion's Sword: M42, the Orion Nebula, NGC1976; M43, NGC1982; NGC1977, the Running Man Nebula; σ Ori, Struve 762
Constellation	Ori
Category	Deep Space Object
Time	1Oct05; 0540 EDT
Comments	M42 I saw nice nebulosity most of the time but as we moved into Nautical and Civil Twilight it became less evident. M43 I did not see anything I thought might be M43 but need to study star charts and pictures to be sure where I should be looking for it. It might have been there and I misinterpreted it. Running Man Nebula I did not detect any nebulosity in this area Struve 762 I saw good separation even though the tails on the stars makes it difficult to separate doubles. There was a noticeable color and brightness difference which aided in separating them.

Target	Mars
Constellation	Tau
Category	Planet
Time	1Oct05; 0545 EDT
Comments	Mars was very evident shining brightly below the much dimmer Pleiades.

Target	M45, The Pleiades, NGC1976
Constellation	Tau
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	1Oct05; 0545 EDT
Comments	I counted eight naked-eye stars in the cluster.

Target
Constellation
Category
Time	1Oct05; 0605 EDT
Comments	It is nearly bright enough to read without having to turn toward the street lights. The sky changes from orange at the horizon to yellow to white to purple to blue up near the Moon.

Target	Sunspots
Constellation	Vir
Category	Solar
Time	1Oct05; 0727 EDT
Comments	I was able to find the sun in SAR with some difficulty. I got close to it using the red dot finder with my binocular filter held in front of it. Then I looked down the drawtube without the eyepiece and could see the image of the sun being reflected onto the inside of the filter above the secondary so I adjusted the ball head to bring the image onto the secondary mirror. It was difficult to keep the image in your eye once the eyepiece was inserted. I think I need to put one or more off axis holes in the filter. The view was a comfortable brightness and a nice image size when you could see it. I wasn't able to see the little sunspot in the scope that I could see in the hand-held binoculars. 0705 EDT The sun is beginning to rise above the buildings on the horizon. It is rising from behind what looks like a prison guard tower, possibly on Rikers Island. It is a big orange ball even in the white light filter, and appears squashed top to bottom. 0725 EDT There is only one tiny spot visible today. I was able to see it with the hand-held binocular even when standing but was not able to make it out in the telescope. There is also a gap in the rice grain structure near the upper, west, limb. 812 SE quadrant. The spot looks like a small gray comma. I originally noted this as a northern spot but on reviewing my field diagram I now think it is actually a southern spot.   Groups Spots R Northern Hemisphere 0 0 0 Southern Hemisphere 1 1 11 Total 1 1 11 NOAA Boulder Sunspot Number 0 R = 10 * Groups + Spots

Target	Mercury
Constellation	Vir
Category	Planet
Time	1Oct05; 0745 EDT
Comments	A couple came by who Peter and I had talked with last month and asked questions again. Among them were what planets could be seen then so I gave Mercury a try. The sky was too white for me to find it. My tripod head could use finer graduations for the small distance I had to offset from the sun.

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Observing Location	TotL As Kin and I were walking out the NE exit from the Lawn the sprinklers out near the walk there were just coming on. It looked like it was going to be a bad sprinkler night at TotL and I yelled this back toward Peter and Ben but don't know what ultimately transpired.
Observational Period	2015-2400 EDT I left before curfew tonight since I wanted to get a little sleep before getting up at 0400 EDT tomorrow morning to try to see the last crescent moon of this lunation.
Atmospheric Conditions	It was cool and clear again tonight but not as much of either as last night. Although there were no clouds the air was moist and the sky a little gray. The only place I found really black backgrounds to the stars was at the zenith. Transparency Good Seeing Good
Instruments	Coulter CT-100 - Charlie Fujinon 10x70 binocular - Ben Teleport 10" Dobsonian Reflector - Peter Tacahashi 22x60 binocular - Peter Fujinon 7x50 binocular - Peter Pentax 20x60 Binocular - Kin
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway Ben Cacace Peter Tagatac Kin Lee

SAR seemed to be behaving well until I found that the one screw holding the chimney onto the secondary cage was loose and resulted it a lot of refocusing as the eyepiece was moved. I used a socket screwdriver bit to finger tighten the screw since it requires an offset screwdriver to do the job properly and started observing again but found that the chimney was loose again. When I went to tighten it I found that it was actually looser than it had been before. Peter and I played with it for a while. He thought he could get the screw to grab enough to work but eventually came to the same conclusion I had previously and had postponed action on: the hole in the secondary needs to be drifted into an oblong to allow the screw to work properly. Since I eventually want to replace the chimney with a real focuser, and don't want metal filings in the house if I can help it, I have not done this but now that this problem is impacting on my use of the scope it is time to address it. I have a small rat tail file that will do the job but it will take a lot of trial and error to extend the hole far enough without going too far. I am wondering if it might not be a good idea to put a star locking washer under each screw head since this is a piece that will constantly feel stress as I focus the scope. I won't do that until I see what happens when I can get both screws in the chimney and tied up tight. Ultimately I want to replace the chimney with a helical focuser and Peter is recommending a model from KenOptics that I have already researched. That is going to be a more severe solution to my problem as it will require drilling new holes in the secondary can and if they are not put in the right place could have a very negative impact on my views. Even with this problem I was able to get some very nice views of M57 and M27 at the end of the evening.

Naked-eye Limiting Magnitude Observations

I didn't to a systematic survey of the sky tonight but after I identified my equipment problem I switched over to naked-eye observing in a view constellations and think I can back out some of what I saw. N 4.59 E 5.48 Zenith W 4.39 S 4.03 Star Magnitude Lacerta, The Lizard β Lac 4.45 α Lac 3.79 4 Lac 4.59 11 Lac 4.48 Cepheus, The King The Garnet Star μ Cep 4.10 ζ Cep 3.37 δ Cep 3.77 Taurus, The Bull Taygeta 4.32 Maia 3.89 Celaeno 5.48 Electra 3.72 Merope 4.20 Alcyone η Tau 2.89 Atlas 3.65 Cetus, The Sea Monster Diphda β Cet 2.06 Dheneb η Cet 3.47 ν Cet 3.62 Aquarius, The Water Bearer Skat δ Aqr 3.29 τ2 Sqr 4.03 γ Aqr 3.76 Aquila, The Eagle Alshain β Aql 3.73 Altair α Aql 0.79 Tarazed γ Aql 2.74 Deneb el Okab ζ Aql 3.01 δ Aql 3.38 Alshain β Aql 3.73 Altair α Aql 0.79 Tarazed γ Aql 2.74 Deneb el Okab ζ Aql 3.01 δ Aql 3.38 ν Aql 3.25 λ Aql 3.46 12 Aql 4.04 Sagita, The Arrow γ Sge 3.49 δ Sge 3.84 β Sge 4.39 Sham α Sge 4.39 Lyra, The Lyre Vega Alpha Lyr 0.05 Sulafat γ Lyr 3.26 Sheliak β Lyr 3.47 Cygnus, The Swan Deneb α Cyg 1.3 Sadr γ Cyg 2.22 Alberio β Cyg 3.1

Target	Lacerta, The Lizard
Constellation	Lac
Category	Constellation
Time	1Oct05 2315 EDT
Comments	This is my first time in this constellation and I wasn't able to find most of it. Pronunciation: lah-SIR-tah The genitive of Lacerta is Lacertae This constellation nigh in the north, close to the zenith. It is very dim. So dim that none of its stars have proper names and about half if them don't have Bayer designations either. It is on the edge of the Mikly Way so has some DSOs. Star Name Bayer Designation Mag Meaning   β Lac 4.45     α Lac 3.79   4 Lac   4.59   11 Lac 4.48

Target	M57, The Ring Nebula, NGC6720
Constellation	Lyr
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	1Oct05 ~2330 EDT
Comments	I have finally seen the Ring Nebula in my own equipment and it is not very impressive. It is small and just looks like a defocused star. I didn't sketch the fob so will not find it again without Peter talking me to it.

Target	M27, Dumbbell Nebula,
Constellation	Vul
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	1Oct05~2345 EDT
Comments	I had trouble with this hop trying to work my way down from the point of Sagita and had to abandon it and come back on it from the end of Vulpecula. It looks like an ellipse of slight haze.