3 February 2006

Observing Location	Columbia University
Observational Period	EST
Atmospheric Conditions	The temperature was mild for this time of year, probably still in the 50s and there was no wind. The sky looked clear. I did not notice any boiling in either of the scopes. Central Park Time Local Wind Dir Speed Gusts Vis Miles Cloud Cover Temp °F Wind Chill °F 1851 W 8 -- 10 Clr 55 -- 1951 W 7 -- 10 Clr 54 -- 2051 W 7 -- 10 Clr 53 -- 2151 Vrbl 6 -- 10 Clr 52 -- Transparency Good Seeing Good
Instruments	Orion 12-14" Dobsonian reflector - Columbia I had trouble getting everything in focus in this scope. It definitely wasn't a flatfield scope. Peter explained from my description of it that it must have been a fast focal ratio scope, based on the length of the tube, and that they don't produce a flatfield image without the use of a "reverse barlow" adapter. [Looking in the Orion online catalog it appears that this scope was an Orion SkyQuest XT12 Classic Dobsonian, a 1500mm, f/4.9 with a 2" focuser.] Meade 10" LX2000R SCT (2500mm, f/10) - Columbia This scope is in the small dome and is pier mounted and isolated from the floor. The clock drive was even working so it was the best instrument tonight. Fujinon 16x50 binocular - Tom
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway Tom Clabough 2 Columbia grad students the public

This was the monthly Columbia astrophysics department public observing session. The weather was supposed to be bad so I had written it off and hadn't dressed for standing outside in the cold. I was at the library doing Windows Updates on my Tablet PC, which it appears CompUSA has finally managed to properly fix after a year (now maybe I can get some astronomy software loaded up and hook up to my scanner again to start adding pictures to the blog), and got an email saying there would be observing tonight. When I left the library the sky was a nice shade of dark blue with some puffy white clouds.

Naked-Eye Limiting Magnitude Observations	I didn't do a formal star count. From out on the roof I could make out five of the Pleiades and could occasionally get a sixth with difficulty. From inside the dome I could easily see six Pleiades and could see two of the False Kids in Auriga with the third just an occasional hint.

Target	Moon
Constellation	Tau
Category	Lunar
Time	20060204.1915 EST
Comments	They were looking at the terminator with an eyepiece producing less than 0.5° FOV. Midway down the terminator and just on the day side was a prominent crater with a central peak. Below that was an either very large crater with smooth floor and a slump or a maria with a ridge running through it. The ridge-like feature was very snake-like and I wondered if it might be the Serpentine Ridge but nobody knew lunar features. I was having a hard time getting my bearings due to the magnification, reversal and phase rotation. I am wondering if I was looking at the upper right quadrant of the moon thinking it was the lower right. I still need to get a better feel for what scope does what to the image. [The ridge is Dorsa Smirnov and it is on the floor of Mare Serenitatis. I think the crater with the central peak was probably Theophilus. So I was looking at the upper right quadrant.]

Target	The Pleiades, M45
Constellation	Tau
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	20060203.1925 EST
Comments	It was a nice view but I didn't have time to really study it. It filled the FOV.

Target	Saturn
Constellation	Cnc
Category	Planet
Time	20060203.1945 EST
Comments	I had identified CMi but couldn't remember the name of Procyon and asked the grad student. He gave me the name and said he wanted to know the name of the bright star to its left. I asked three times in different ways about the star to make sure he wasn't testing me then told him it was Saturn. He was glad to know that since he had been wondering where Saturn was. I told him it might be in the same FOV as M44, depending on the scope, so we went there next. The FOV was a little tight for a comfortable view of both Saturn and M44 but if you moved your eye around in the eyepiece's expansive exit pupil you could see both objects.

There was a large influx of people right about 2200 EST (one time for the session was being given out over the phone while an earlier time was posted in the email. A group of us went into the small dome to use the scope there. There were a bunch of kids hanging out in there because it was warmer than being outside, the same reason I initially went in there, and hogging the eyepiece time so some objects that we slewed to I never got to see. It got a little hectic moving the dome (you have to push it and try to keep from tripping over boxed telescopes and electrical conduit) and getting out of the way of kids so there weren't many notes made but this is the rough order of what we found.

Target	M42/M43
Constellation	Ori
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	20060203 EST
Comments	I have not been impressed by the nebulosity in this area so far this year. In previous years I have been able to see a cloud in the area naked-eye and it appears faint to me even in a large scope now.

Target	Double Cluster
Constellation
Category
Time	20060203. EST
Comments	The two clusters were way at the edges of the FOV and you didn't see all of either of them. They were crisp though.

Target	M36 & M37
Constellation
Category
Time	20060203. EST
Comments	As long as the dome was where we could see them I suggested that we take a look at the clusters in Auriga. First they found M36 but it wasn't the one that is supposed to be the best so went to M37 then the kids arrived and wanted to look and see Saturn so I never got to see either of these clusters.

Target	Mars
Constellation
Category
Time	2006 EST
Comments	I could get Mars to come to crisp focus, particularly around the 4:00 position, and was not able to see any detail.

Target	Saturn
Constellation
Category
Time	2006 EST
Comments	The moons around Saturn were very evident but I didn't see any detail on the disk or the planet itself.

This was a better night at Columbia. The student I was with was very amenable to trying to find whatever you wanted to see and knew how to use the scope. He was also good with the kids.

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Observing Location	TotL
Observational Period	2215-0045 EST
Atmospheric Conditions	When I left Columbia with Tom at 2145 EST it was clear out. I stopped off along the way at a newsstand to try and get a copy of Sky at Night and then tool the M4 bus across 110 St and down Fifth Ave to 86 St. By the time I arrived there the moon was behind a heavy haze. I continued into the park in case anyone was still there after observing. Peter and Kin were still there talking. They reported that the haze had just filled in recently. While we were talking it broke up a bit but there were always stripes of obscured sky. Central Park Time Local Wind Dir Speed Gusts Vis Miles Cloud Cover Temp °F Wind Chill °F 2151 Vrbl 6 -- 10 Clr 52 -- 2251 Vrbl 5 -- 10 Clr 52 -- 2351 Vrbl 3 -- 10 Clr 50 -- 2151 Vrbl 6 -- 10 Few050 50 -- Transparency Poor Seeing
Instruments	The Kite: 6" DIY Newtonian - Peter
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway Peter Tagatac Kin Lee

We didn't do much observing tonight owing to the heavy haze. It is the first time I have seen Peter since late December so it was nice to just catch up and I spent much longer there than I had planned since all I was wearing was a light sweater under foul weather gear.

Target	Raccoons
Constellation
Category	Fauna
Time	20060203.2215 EST
Comments	As I was arriving at TotL there were two raccoons climbing one of the trees inside the fence to the north of the path. We watched them for a while.

Target	Betelgeuse, Aldeberan and Mars
Constellation	Ori - Tau
Category
Time	20060203.2230 EST
Comments	A dog walker passed by and Peter pointed out this line of three equally bright red objects. They were about equally spaced across the sky in a fairly straight line. The line could be extended to the left to Procyon, but that isn't a red star. Object Mag Class Distance Betelgeuse 0.45 M2lb   Aldeberan 0.87 F9V 21° Mars 0.3 red 18°