2 December 2005

Observing Location	New York City
Observational Period
Atmospheric Conditions	Clear Skies Clock graphic I had planned to stop at TotL to count sunspots and observe the young crescent moon around sunset but when it was time to head down there it was completely overcast and the weather radar was even showing some light rain in the area, although it is dry around here. The sky conditions stack with what CSC is predicting. I still have to go downtown for a meeting and should be finished dinner right about the time when CSC is predicting clearing so will make another assessment then.
Instruments
Observing Party

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Observing Location	TotL
Observational Period	2045-2130 EST
Atmospheric Conditions	There were some scattered cumulous clouds on the horizon but it was mostly clear and the air looked crisp. It was a little cool but there was a lot of wind that was quickly sapping heat. Anticipating poor conditions I didn’t wear long John bottoms so as not to overheat during the meeting. With the conditions being better than expected I paid for that decision. My feet were doing OK but my legs started to cool off quickly. Although I was wearing fleece gloves that I had successfully used for observing last year they were not up to the wind and my hands were soon chilled. But my PDA battery was the first to give out. When I started observing it was reading 50% of capacity and quickly drained down to the automatic shutdown point. I switched over to pen and paper to make my notes but, since I didn’t have my observing backpack, didn’t have a flashlight to see where and what I was writing. So it ended up being a very short observing session with me packing it in after making an all-around NELM assessment. Transparency Good Seeing Fair Temperature 34°F Wind Speet 10 mph Wind Gusts 26 mph Wind Chill 6°F
Instruments	Canon 15x50 Image Stabilized binocular - Charlie I had traveled light so didn't have my tripod. I hung the binocular around my neck but never really used it. It was more to say that I am not there taking pictures of the skyline. If it hadn't been so windy I would have stayed longer and looked at some of the easier to locate targets.
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Naked-eye Limiting Magnitude Observations

N 4.60 E 4.51 Zenith 3.69 W 3.21 S 4.08 Star Magnitude Cetus, The Sea Monster Menkar α Cet 2.34 Kaffaljidhma γ Cet 3.47 δ Cet 4.08 Diphda β Cet 2.04 Aries, The Ram Hamal α Ari 2.01 Sharatan β Ari 2.64 Pegasus, The Winged Horse Scheat β Peg 2.44 Matar α Peg 2.93 μ Peg 3.51 λ Peg 3.97 Markab α Peg 2.49 Homam ζ peg 3.41 ι Peg 3.77 Pisces, The Fish γ Psc 3.70 Cygnus, The Swan Deneb α Cyg 1.25 Sadr γ Cyg 2.23 Gienah Cygni ε Cyg 2.48 ζ Cyg 3.21 Cepheus, The King ζ Cep 3.39 Alderamin α Cep 2.45 η Cep 4.18 Alfirk β Cep 3.23 Alrai γ Cep 3.21 Cassiopeia, The Queen Caph β Cas 2.28 Schedar α Cas 2.24 ζ Cas 3.69 Achird η Cas 3.46 γ Cas 2.15 Ruchbah δ Cas 2.66 Segin ε Cas 3.35 Auriga, The Charioteer δ Aur 3.72 Capella α Aur 0.08 Menkalinan β Aur 1.90 θ Aur 2.65 Al Anz ε Aur 3.30 Haedi ζ Aur 3.69 Hoedus II η Aur 3.18 ν Aur 3.97 τ Aur 4.51 Hassaleh ι Aur 2.69 Taurus, The Bull Alnath β Tau 1.65 ζ Tau 2.97 Aldeberan α Tau 0.87 θ1 Tau 3.84 θ2 Tau 3.40 Hyadum I γ Tau 3.65 Hyadum II δ1Tau 3.77 δ3 Tau 4.30 Ain ε Tau 3.53 τ Tau 4.27 ο Tau 3.61 ζ Tau 3.73 Gemini, The Twins Castor α Gem 1.58 Pollux β Gem 1.16 ι Gem 3.78 Mebsuta ε Gem 3.06 Tejat Posterior μ Gem 2.87 Propus η Gem 3.31 1 Gem 4.16 Orion, The Hunter Betelgeuse α Ori 0.45 Bellatrix γ Ori 1.64 π2 Ori 4.35 π3 Ori 3.19 π4 Ori 3.68 π5 Ori 3.71 Mintaka δ Ori 2.25 Alnilam ε Ori 1.69 Alnitak ζ Ori 1.74 Rigel β Ori 0.18 Ursa Major, The Great Bear Merak β UMa 2.34 Dubhe α UMa 1.81 Ursa Minor, The Little Bear Polaris α UMi 1.97 Kochab β UMi 2.07 Pherkad γ UMi 3.00 Perseus, The Hero γ Per 2.91 τ Per 3.93 Miram η Per 3.77 δ Per 3.01 μ Per 4.12 48 Per 3.96 HIP 20070 & HIP 20156 4.60 + 5.46 Mirfak α Per 1.79 ι Per 4.05 Algol beta; Per 2.09 Gorgonea Tertia ρ Per 3.32 Andromeda, The Chained Maiden Alpheratz α And 2.07 δ And 3.27 Mirach β And 2.07 Almaak γ And 2.2/4.9

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I gave Nvu another try editing the table for the NELM assessment. It was really nice being able to see exactly where the cursor was and to hit tab to add another row to the table. But I don’t think it likes you to enter escape sequences on the fly. I figured out a workaround that looked like it would still save me time. But when I looked at the code it is mangled again. Nvu breaks table rows and combines the beginning of one row with the end of the previous row. And it breaks tags in the middle. It wouldn’t be quite as bad if it did the same thing to each table row. Then I could bring it into Word or Notepad and quickly clean it up. But it doesn’t. Some lines get broken in one place and some in another. The code is still valid and is much more compact than the code I write by hand, but it isn’t as easy for me to go in and make necessary corrections or alterations. I am going back to writing the page by hand in Notepad.