26 February 2006

Observing Location	CSP
Observational Period	0500-0700 EST
Atmospheric Conditions	Cold! It was around 20°F but the wind chill factor was down around 8°F. I was dressed for the weather but my feet still got cold before the end of the two hours. I don't know if they were too warm and were sweating that made them cold or if the wool socks and insulated boots just aren't up to the job when I am standing still. My nose would get cold when the wind would blow around the edges of my hood. And my eyepieces kept fogging up from the moisture in my exhaled breaths. Central Park Time Temper- ature Wind Wind Chill Direction Sustained Gusts 0451 19°F Vbl 7 MPH 21 MPH 3°F 0451 19°F W 8 MPH -- 9°F 0451 18°F W 14 MPH 22 MPH 1°F LaGuardia Airport Time Temper- ature Wind Wind Chill Direction Sustained Gusts 0451 21°F NW 23 MPH 30 MPH 3°F 0451 20°F NW 22 MPH 29 MPH 2°F 0451 20°F NW 21 MPH -- 4°F NOAA does not provide Wind Chill values on their observed conditions web pages so I had to use their calculator at http://www.srh.noaa.gov/elp/wxcalc/windchill.html. I used wind gusts when present, sustained wing when there were no gists recorded. Transparency Good Seeing Good
Instruments	Canon 15x50 Image Stabilized binocular w/Baader AstroSolar failter film- Charlie Takahashi Flourite Apochromatic Binocular 22x60 w/Thousand Oaks solar filter - Peter
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway Peter Tagatac

Nothing was where it belonged again. This time it was not only the paucity of recent observing sessions but the fact that I rarely see the morning stars. I saw a bright star high up to the NE and finally picked up on the four stars beneath it and figured out it was Vega and Lyra. Just below that were four stars that I made into a W and thought I had Cassiopeia until I realized it was the body of Cygnus. Scorpius looked real nice low on the horizon just like we used to see it at nigiht over the trees and apartment buildings to the east at TotL and I knew when I saw the sting that Sagittarius whould be right nextdoor but I couldn't find it naked-eye. There was a jumble of stars up high in the ESE that I figured must be Ophiuchus since it didn't seem to have much pattern to it.

Target	Jupiter
Constellation	Sgr
Category	Planet
Time	20060226.0500 EST
Comments	Antares and Dschubba were pointing at Jupiter and looked very nice. Working back along the scorpions curving body I found the sting slightly above the horizon. Going back to Jupiter with the binoculats I found a cluster of stars next to it that I could not identify. There was nothing as bright as they were in Planetarium and the pattern didn't match what was being shown in Jup. And they looked to bright to be moons anyway. I didn't know what I had although I was sure I had Jupiter. Peter set me straight. Cartes du Ciel graphic Distant Suns graphic

Target	Venus
Constellation	Sgr
Category	Planet
Time	20060226.0515 EST
Comments	Venus looked very yellow and was showing phase. There was a broad, flat triangle of bright stars just above the planet. TYC 6299-02608-1 7.57m 55 Sgr 5.06m HIP 97063 5.49 Cartes du Ciel graphic

Target	C/2006 A1 (Pojmanski)
Constellation	Cap
Category	Comet
Time	20060226.0530 EST
Comments	Not Seen The sky was light enough that I wasn't able to find any stars other than Dabiah (β Cap), Mag 3.05, and HIP 100325, Mag 6.09. Since we were able to see a 6.09m star nearby, and a 7.57m star slightly higher (and in a sligntly darker sky) it seems like we should have seen the comet which has a brightness estimated at around 5.3m. But there was nothing there. It must be because the brighness as spread over a greater surface area than is the brightness of an equally bright star. In the image below you can see the Sun in the lower left corner and Venus in the upper right. Pojmanski is the circle on the right with the line heading off at a 45° angle that doesn't connect to anything. Carted du Ciel graphic Cartes du Cciel graphic

Target	Last Crescent Moon
Constellation	Cap
Category	Lunar
Time	20060226.0632 EST
Comments	I took a chance and det ly binoculars just above the band of clouds and panned from near the sun to the south and bumped into the Moon right over the Roosevelt Island lighthouse. There wasn't much contrast difference between it and the background sky but it was enough that it could be seen naked-eye once you knew what to look for and where to look for it. I only saw about 90° of arc of the sunlit linb. Magnitude -6.0m % Illuminated 3.7% Elongation 22.25° Altitude 2.00° Age 27d21h16m Sun's Altitude -1.32° I think this is the oldest crescent I have ever seen but Peter thinks we have seen older ones, or at least thinner. I only remember successfully observing one old crescent and it wasn't even the last crescent of the lunation, we were doing a dry run that day for the real thing the following day when we got clouded out.

Target	Sunspots
Constellation	Aqr
Category	Solar
Time	20060226.0650 EST
Comments	I was not expecting to see any sunspots and was neither surprised nor disappointed. I waited a while for the sun to get up into more stable air before concluding that the sun was a bland white disk as far as I could tell with my binocular and white light filter.