28 February 2006

I was supposed to attend a PHP meeting tonight. They will be talking about RSS, Atom and another similar technology. I was particularly interested in hearing this talk since I use RSS on my occultations web site.

But CSC says it is going to be clear tonight at sunset and the Moon is a 1.4% first crescent. If I can catch it it will be the first time I have seen the last crescent of one lunation and the first crescent of the next lunation. The elapsed time between the two events would be around 60h15m if I were to spot the Moon tonight right at sunset.

CSC graphic

NOAA says it is going to be cold out there with a wind blowing in my face.

NOAA graphic

The Sun is about 13° to the lower right of the Moon and Mercury is about 5° to the upper right of the Moon. Mercury is directly over the Sun by about 18°.

Distant Suns graphic

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Observing Location	TotL
Observational Period	1700-1800 EST
Atmospheric Conditions	Clear and cold. Lots of boiling on the limb of the Sun. Transparency Good Seeing Fair
Instruments	Canon 15x50 Image Stabilized binocular with Baader AstroSolar filter film - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target	Sunspots
Constellation	Aqr
Category	Solar
Time	20060228.1700 EST
Comments	SpaceWeather.com is showing one sunspot just rotating off of the eastern limb and a sunspot number of 11, but I wasn't able to find it.   Groups Spots R Northern Hemisphere 0 0 0 Southern Hemisphere 0 0 0 Total 0 0 0 NOAA Boulder Sunspot Number 11 R = 10 * Groups + Spots

Target	First Crescent Moon
Constellation	Psc
Category	Lunar
Time	20060228.1800 EST
Comments	I found the Moon again today by just sweeping the binocular across the area where I thought the ecliptic was. I had swept the area many times before but this time caught an out-of-focus glint of light. It wasn't really a glint; I think of that more as a specular feature and this was more of a brighter area in a bright sky. Focusing was a problem. I had focused on the Sun when I first got there. But I had changed the focus point several times while looking for Mercury and was guessing at where Mercury and the Moon would focus. I would focus on the tree branches then on a building and finally an airplane then move the focus point farther in that direction by an arbitrary distance. I didn't wait around after seeing both the crescent Moon and Mercury to see the earthshine and the old Moon in the new Moon's arms, but headed down to my PHP meeting. The time difference between sighting the last crescent and the first was 59 hours 27 minutes. That is based on when I documented first seeing the old crescent and not when I last saw it which I did not document so the time if probably more line 59h15m or maybe even less. Magnitude -5.5m Elongation 13.32° % Illuminated 1.4% Age 23h08m Sun's Altitude -3.44° It is interesting that Cartes du Ciel, which I think of as a star chart, does a better job of representing the moon as it will appear in the sky than does Virtual Moon Atlas. Cartes du Ciel takes phase rotation into account and shows where the illuminated section of the limb will be when where the craters and marea will be in relation to it. Cartes du Ciel graphic Virtual Moon Atlas always shows the moon with north at the top of the screen and just masks off the portion of the moon that is in shadow. The masking is very crude, being large squares that create a jagged arc when you zoom in on it. But the thing that annoys me most about the program is that they use the same picture for the whole lunar cycle so there is shadow on the western edge of all the craters even when the sun is off to the east and the shadow should be inside that side of the crater walls. Virtual Moon Atlas graphic

Target	Mercury
Constellation	Psc
Category	Planet
Time	20060228.1801 EST
Comments	Ben said in an email that I shouldn't have any trouble locating the Moon if I looked below an to the left of Mercury. But I only found Mercury by looking above and to the right of the Moon. Mercury just looked like a point of light. I could not discern any phase or color. Magnitude 0.6m % Illuminated 27.0%

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Observing Location	TotL
Observational Period	2115-2145 EST
Atmospheric Conditions	Cold but not too windy. Lots of broken stratus clouds. Transparency poor Seeing
Instruments	Naked-eye observing - Charlie I had the binoculars with me but it wasn't worth getting them out. The clouds were moving too fast to have enough time to study anything.
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

When I got out of my meeting the sky looked dark overhead on 57 St and Madison Ave so I grabbed a quick bite of dinner. Then I took the bus up to AMNH and walked into the park expecting to find Peter and maybe Kin there. On reaching The Great Lawn the sky appeared a little light. When I got up to TotL and looked south it was even worse. I spent 30 minutes watching the clouds pass in front of the stars and looking at the spatial relationships between them.

Mars is really moving away from the Pleiades. It is no longer in line with Betelgeus and Aldeberan. I estimated that it would form a right triangle with them in about a week but on stepping through the days in Planetarium it turns out to be two weeks. The Pleiades often look to me like a misshapen arrowhead or spear point and it is now pointing roughly at Mars. Betelgeuse, Mars and Capella are currently forming a large right triangle.

Betelgeuse	0.45m
Aldebaran	0.87m
Mars	0.80m
Capella	0.08m

Looking over at Saturn, it is forming a shallow arc with Castor and Pollux. It forms another shallow arc with Procyon and Sirius. Drawing straight lines between Castor and Saturn and Saturn and Sirius creates the short legs of another right triangle, the hypotenuse being between Sirisu and Castor.

Castor	1.58m
Pollux	1.16m
Saturn	-0.10m
Procyon	0.40m
Sirius	-1.44m