29 March 2006

Observing Location	TotL
Observational Period	2130-2230 EST
Atmospheric Conditions	I received email from CSC saying that conditions would be spectacular between 1100 and 1800 EST today. So far I don't think they are as good as predicted. Transparency is good by not 100%. Conditions are supposed to continue clear with a slight decrease in transparency through the night but unfortunately I have a meeting to attend tonight. When I got out of my meeting I looked up and could see Castor, Pollux and Saturn framed by the buildings of Broadway down in SoHo so headed up to TotL for a little observing. Conditions in the park were very good but there was nobody there observing and I didn't have any equipment with me. I think CSC had a good forecast for tonight.
Instruments	Naked-eye observing - Charlie and Tom
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway Tom Clabough

I expected that there would be others in the park but found myself alone. I had been talking to a couple of friends on the amateur radio on the way in so continued my conversation while counting stars. After a while Tom came walking up the west side of the lawn and we stood there observing for a bit before walking back the way he had come to see Jupiter rising. I got as much radio done as I did astronomy. But part of the radio conversation was about astronomy.

Naked-eye Limiting Magnitude Observations	I never got around to identifying what stars I was seeing but did count 48 easily seen stars.

Target	Saturn
Constellation	Cnc
Category	Planet
Time	20060309.2130 EST
Comments	Saturn, to me, looked double. I don't know if it was light refracting off the top of my bifocal or if I was seeing it through the bifocal lens with one eye and the upper portion of the lens with the other, or what. It is nice and bright and seems to be getting farther from Castor and Pollux.

Target	Mars
Constellation	Tau
Category	Planet
Time	20060309.2200 EST
Comments	There were two bright "stars" over the trees north of Orion and I thought one of them was Mars and the other Aldeberan but I couldn't get the Palm to work to conform what we were seeing. Tom felt the lower "star" was Mars and I thought that was Aldeberan and the upper "star" was Mars. All we could see of Orion was Betelgeuse, Alnitak, and Alnilam, the rest of the constellation being below the trees or lost in the schmutz. Auriga was behind the large tree to out west. It turns out the lower "star" was Mars and the upper one Alnath. Mars has moved away from Aldeberan a good bit since the last time I observed them. Advancing Planetarium a day at a time I see that Mars will be centered between Taurus' horns, right next to HIP 25695, a close binary system, on Sunday night. It is 8° between horn tips so I will not be able to see everything in one FOV.

Target	Jupiter
Constellation	Lib
Category	Planet
Time	20060309.2215 EST
Comments	Very bright next to the top of one of the tall buildings along Fifth Avenue near the Met. It may have been a little golden.