13 June 2006

Observing Location	Queens Hall of Science, Flushing, Queens, NY
Observational Period	1840-1925 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Comfortably warm with a variable, moderate breeze. Scattered clouds passing north to south right across the sun but otherwise clear and no haze. Minor boiling on the upper limb, none on the lower. Transparency Good Seeing Excellent
Instruments	Canon 15x50 IS binocular with Baader AstroSolar filter film- Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target	Sunspots
Constellation	Psc
Category	Solar
Time	20060613.1840 EDT
Comments	When I last saw the SOHO image on Space Weather they were still showing 893 but I can't find it even after prolonged observation. 892 The group has moved over to the western limb and will start to become foreshortened soon. It looks like there is penumbra or small spots beneath it but I can't make them out.   Groups Spots R North 0 0 0 South 1 1 11 Total 1 1 11

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Observing Location	Queens Hall of Science, Flushing, Queens, NY
Observational Period	2130-2230 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Conditions had gone downhill while I was in my meeting. There were clouds and haze low on the horizon. It appeared to be clear overhead though. The temperature was comfortable and the wind had died down some. Fair Transparency Good Seeing
Instruments	Canon 15x50 IS binocular - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target	Mercury
Constellation	Gem
Category	Planet
Time	20060613.2130 EDT
Comments	Not Seen I thought that I might have been seeing Mercury but it turned out to be Pollux without Castor. I was mistaking Saturn and Mars for Gemini. Seeing was really bad low fown and it was hard to figure out what stars I was actually able to see. Mercury was below the tree line. I had hoped to have gotten onto the hill next to the expressway but the fence I used last time was closed tonight so I wasn't able to take advantage of the additional elevation.

Target	Saturn, Mars and M44
Constellation	Cnc
Category	Planet and Deep Sky Object
Time	2006013.2130 EDT
Comments	Mars is a little closer to Saturn tonight but they don't look anywhere near as close in the eyepiece as they do in Planetarium, and they appear even farther apart naked-eye. They are fairly evenly spaced on opposing sides of M44. The cluster was very hard to see. Mostly it was only a star or two that would resolve and a faint wisp of lightness in the sky in that area. Once or twice the clouds/haze thinned enough that I got a momentary glimpse of the whole cluster.

Target	Jupiter
Constellation	Lib
Category	Planet
Time	20060613.2145 EDT
Comments	Two widely spaced moons were on each side of the planet. HIP 70714 and HIP 70501 were near the plane of the moons and looked like two more widely spaced moons.

Target	Iridium 34 Flare
Constellation	Leo
Category	Satellite
Time	20060613.2221 EDT
Comments	As with all recent flares in the 2200-2400 timeframe this one was in Leo. It was a Mag -6 event but was dimmer than it should have been because of the atmosphere. The satellite remained visible for about 22 seconds.