5 March 2006

Observing Location	TotL
Observational Period	2015-2200 EST
Atmospheric Conditions	Both CSC and NOAA said it was going to be good tonight and start to cloud up around midnight. I think the clouds moved in a little early but it wasn't bad. When I got home I looked at the satellite loop and could see a band of clouds moving into the area that will be followed by some clearing before the major cloud gets here. Since the cloud and thin haze that was there didn't adversely affect my observing I am going to say that CSC was accurate again tonight. I was using my PDA almost continuously and that and the temperature drained the fully charged battery in about an hour which was when the clouds started to arrive. I stuck it out for another 30 minutes and as I was packing up some strong gusts of wind came through. During the time I was there I observed the tops of the trees to be in perpetual motion. The wind was out of the NW so was at my back most of the time and not a real problem. Time Local Wind Dir Speed Gusts Vis Miles Cloud Cover Temp °F Wind Chill °F 1951 EST NW 12 20 10 Clr 40°F 31°F 2051 ESt W 12 -- 10 Clr 39°F 32°F 2151 EST W 9 20 10 Clr 38 28 Transparency Good Seeing Good
Instruments	Canon IS 15x50 binocular -- Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Canon 15x50 IS Binocular Limiting Magnitude Observations

My goal tonight was to look into M45 and see how deeply I could see with my binocular and how that compares to the assessment I made with SAR. To do this properly I should be making the observations simultaneously so that the conditions match up all along the way. But since I only have one tripod that will not happen. Someday maybe I will repeat the process with both sets of optics on the same night but for now this will have to do. Star Mag. M45, The Pleiades Maia 3.87 Taygeta 4.30 Electra 3.72 Celaeno 5.45 Asterope 5.76 Sterope II 6.43 TYC 1800-1908-1 7.33 TYC 1800-1974-1 7.58 TYC 1800-1961-1 8.10 TYC 1803-188-1 8.11 TYC 1799-73-1 8.27 TYC 1803-486-1 8.06 Alcyone 2.85 TYC 1800-2201-1 6.27 TYC 1800-1607-1 8.19 TYC 1800-1567-1 7.28 HIP 17692 6.99 HIP 17684 6.98 TYC 1800-1630-1 7.76 TYC 1800-2192-1 7.79 Atlas 3.62 Pleione 5.05 TYC 1800-901-1 7.95 TYC 1804-265-1 7.52 HIP 17862 6.62 TYC 1800-985-1 7.53 TYC 1804-163-1 7.44 HIP 17832 6.47 HIP 17900 6.17 HIP 17923 6.73 HIP 17999 6.95 M44, Beehive Cluster 39 Cnc 6.39 HIP 42523 6.61 TYC 1395-2003-1 7.94 HIP 42578 6.83 HIP 42600 6.77 ε Cnc 6.29 HIP 42549 6.42 TYC 1395-2006-1 7.59 TYC 1395-1677-1 7.46 TYC 1395-1993-1 7.45 TYC 1395-2711-1 7.29 HIP 42497 6.59 TYC 1395-2003-1 7.94 HIP 42485 6.65 TYC 1395-1928-1 7.44 TYC 1395-2445-1 8.47 HIP 42673 6.90 HIP 42542 6.76 TYC 1395-2198-1 7.64 TYC 1395-2366-1 9.23 TYC 1395-2404-1 11.75 impossible TYC 1395-2311-1 10.71 doubtful TYC 1395-2210-1 8.03 TYC 1395-1721-1 7.93 TYC 1395-1886-1 8.42 TYC 1395-744-1 8.31 TYC 1398-50-1 8.99 TYC 1398-99-1 10.09 doubtful TYC 1398-266-1 8.15 TYC 1398-128-1 7.75 TYC 1398-75-1 9.22 TYC 1398-161-1 9.38 TYC 1395-814-1 8.14 TYC 1398-266-1 8.15 TYC 1398-158-1 9.99 doubtful Orion's Sword θ1 Ori 4.98 θ2 Ori 4.98 TYC 4774-934-1 6.20 TYC 4774-935-1 8.38 TYC 4774-849-1 8.44 HIP 26314 6.56 TYC 4778-1369-1 7.34 TYC 4774-809-1 8.06 Nair al Saif 2.75 HIP 26199 4.78 HIP 26197 5.67 TYC 4778-1358-1 7.14 TYC 4778-1350-1 8.26 TYC 4778-1370-1 7.44 HIP 26314 6.56 TYC 4778-1369-1 7.34 HIP 26258 6.75 45 Ori 5.24 42 Ori 4.58 HIP 26137 6.80 TYC 4774-925-1 7.31 TYC 4774-927-1 7.17 HIP 26233 6.57 HIP 26234 6.24 HIP 26257 6.56 TYC 4774-921-1 7.12 TYC 4774-917-1 7.54 TYC 4774-919-1 7.75 TYC 4774-65-1 7.58 TYC 4774-189-1 8.08 Faintest Star Observed Optics Mag. Binocular 9.38 Telescope I am having trouble writing here that I saw Mag 9 stars but the number of times they appear in the list leads me to believe that it might be so. The Mag 11 is probably me tapping the wrong star and the same for the 10s, but I don't think I would have tagged 7 stars wrong and all within the same cluster and none in the others. I just can't bring myself to claim anything fainter than 9.5 though. This needs further study.

Target	Saturn
Constellation	Cnc
Category	Planet
Time	20060305. EST
Comments	Saturn is still in the same FOV with M44, Praesape, the Beehive Cluster. Saturn looked very crisp and bright and obviously not round.

Target	Moon
Constellation	Tau
Category	Lunar
Time	20060305. EST
Comments	I could just fit the Moon and Aldeberan in the same FOV. The terminator was going down through the middle of Mare Serenitatis. Other than the marea, the main features of note were the triplet of craters slightly south of the equator and a way off the terminator, Theophilus, Cyrillus and Catharina. It appeared to me that Theophilus intruded into Cyrillus as far as the later's central peak. I did not note the smaller craters around the walls of Catharina that are depicted in the LAC atlas charts. There were a couple of craters farther south that were very dark with shadow on their floor. About 2145 EST a band of cloud passed over the moon. At that time it was in a halo of illuminated cirrus clouds. The outer edge of the illumination had a deeb red tinge to it.

Target	Mars
Constellation	Tau
Category	Planet
Time	20060305. EST
Comments	Mars was above the Cyclopse. It looked very bright and orange.