31 March 2006

The weather is not looking good for the Pleiades occultations on Saturday night.

Saturday, 1Apr06	1600	1700	1800	1900	2000	2100	2200
The Weather Channel	Thunder Showers		Partly Cloudy			Mostly Clear
Weather Underground	Showers	Chance of Rain					Partly Cloudy
AccuWeather		Rain	Mostly Cloudy		Partly Cloudy
Forecasts as of 2400 EDT 30Mar06

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Observing Location	White Plains Road and Mcgraw Avenue, The Bronx, NY
Observational Period	0430-0500 EST
Atmospheric Conditions	This is not an ideal location for stargazing being located at an entrance/exit to I-95 and well lit with street lamps, but even getting there my impression was that transparency was below what was forecast. Looking to the S and W the only objects I could locate were Arcturus, Jupiter, Altair and Tarazed. On the way home I saw Vega, Deneb, Sadr, 18 Cyg, and ε Cyg. I don't think it was as transparent as it was supposed to have been.
Instruments	Canon 15x50 Image Stabilized binoculars - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target	ISS and Progress
Constellation	Aql
Category	Satellite
Time	20060331.0445-0453 EDT
Comments	ISS: Seen Progress: Not Seen ISS is due to make a visible pass followed one second later by Progress which will dock with ISS tonight to exchange crews. Progress is dark enough that it is not supposed to be visible from here although it is visible from Washington, DC. It was real rough getting up for this event this morning but I eventually did it. I saw ISS shining brightly and climbing steeply above White Plains Road. At that time it was taking about four seconds to transit my 4.5° FOV. At its zenith in Aql it was already dimming and its apparent speed had increased to three seconds o transit the FOV. It continued to dim as it moved eastward into a rapidly brightening sky and when it disappeared behind the Parkchester buildings along McGraw Ave its apparent speed had slowed to four seconds to transit the FOV. I was not able to discern any lightening or darkening of the sky trailing the ISS. On two occasions I stopped tracking the ISS and counted off a second to see if I could identify anything centered in the FOV. Even when the ISS was moving at its fastest both it and Progress should have been in my FOV at the same time. Being a capsule type craft it is a lot smaller than either ISS or a Space Shuttle and it is also painted black. It does not have the solar panel arrays which are what make the ISS shine so brightly.

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The weather forecasts have changed a little but not gotten much better.

Saturday, 1Apr06	1600	1700	1800	1900	2000	2100	2200
The Weather Channel	Scattered Thunder Showers		Mostly Cloudy			Partly Cloudy
Weather Underground	Rain Showers			Rain Showers			Chance of Rain
AccuWeather	Mostly Cloudy					Partly Cloudy
Forecasts as of 1200 EST 31Mar06

There is a large low pressure system out over the midwest that is what is going to cause out weather tomorrow. There is supposed to be a high pressure gradient between here and there that caused the posting of fire weather warnings for NYC for this afternoon. The warnings have since been dripped and it isn't very windy here at all,

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Here is the weather summary for tomorrow as of midnight tonight

Saturday, 1Apr06		1600	1700	1800	1900	2000	2100	2200
The Weather Channel		Partly Cloudy
Weather Underground		Chance of Thunderstorms			Chance of Rain			Partly Cloudy
AccuWeather		Mostly Cloudy
NOAA	Cloud	83%	80%	79%	76%	75%	73%	71%
	PoP	60%	30%	20%	14%	14%	14%	10%
	Wind	14 W	14 W	14 W	13 WNW	13 WNW	13 WNW	11 WNW
	Temp	65	63	60	57	55	53	52
Forecasts as of 2400 EST 31Mar06

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2006 Observing Statistics

	Day			Night			Total
	Hours	Days	Avg	Hours	Days	Avg	Hours	Days	Avg
Jan	3.50	4	0.88	14.00	6	2.92	21.00	9	3.33
Feb	1.00	1	1.00	10.25	6	1.71	11.25	6	1.88
Mar	3.75	3	1.25	14.00	10	1.40	17.75	13	1.37
TOTAL	8.25	8	1.03	41.75	22	1.90	50.00	28	1.79

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Clear Sky Clock Accuracy for the Month of March 2006