16 June 2006

Observing Location	TotL We started out in the NE corner of the Lawn for the planets then moved to TotL proper. At midnight the sprinklers at the edge of the lawn came on and we moved to the outside of the walk but the breeze was from the south and, light as it was, blew spray over us so we had to move back to the NE corner where we had started out. The police came by at 0055 EDT and reminded us that the park was closing in five minutes. They weren't as confrontational about it as they were last night. We were already packed up and were just sitting on the benched talking so headed out. It was a female officer again. The men tend not to give us any problems about staying past curfew. Gone are the days when we could stay there until 0200, 0300, or even 0430.
Observational Period	2030-0100 EDt
Atmospheric Conditions	While it was not as bad tonight as it was last night it wasn't as good as the forecasts were predicting either. The sky was murky although we could still see stars through it. The seeing wasn't stable. The temperature was in the low 70s and the breeze was light. Transparency Fair Seeing Fair
Instruments	SAR: Coulter CT-100 -Charlie I brought screwdrivers with me tonight and tried to adjust the collimation on SAR. I haven't made it any worse and it appears that I might have lessened the coma some although I have not eliminated it. At least a portion of the coma is coming from the eyepiece. The collar the eyepiece fits into was not properly drilled for its mounting screws so I had to drift one of the holes in the secondary cage to get both screws to hold the collar firmly. So the collar is not in exactly the right place. And when you tighten the thumb screw to hold the eyepiece in place it pushes the top of the eyepiece over to the side and the view gets worse. I should really replace the collar with a helical focuser. But to get a good one it will probably cost me as much as I paid for the telescope. And then it needs to be mounted which will probably require a bigger hole in the cage and new screw holes, all of which need to be properly aligned with the mirrors and is more than I can do with my hand held Dremel tool. For the time being I will live with the improved view Takahashi 102 refractor - Peter Fujinon 10x50 binocular - Peter Fujinon 17x60 binocular - Tom
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway Peter Tagatac Tom Clabough We again drew a large crowd of passers-by before sunset. Some people left and came back closer to the time when we expected to see the planets.. Everyone assumes we are there watching the hawks. It is probably fortunate for our personal observing that we don't have the notoriety of the Central Park bird watchers.

Target	Mercury
Constellation	Gem
Category	Planet
Time	20060616.2045 EDT
Comments	This was the first object to become visible after Jupiter, which was already visible naked eye when I arrived in the park. Peter found it in his binocular and I got it right away in my scope after I knew its azimuth. I wasn't able to see it naked eye for another 20 minutes. It is still just a small dot in my scope so I was not able to detect phase. Nearby Pollux and Castor became visible naked-eye at 2110 EDT.

Target	Saturn, Mars and M44
Constellation	Cnc
Category	Planet and Deep Sky Object
Time	20060616.2100 EDT
Comments	First Seen naked-eye. I was able to see all three objects in SAR's FOV. Saturn and Mars could be completely hidden behind the tip of my pinky at arm's length. When I looked the event up in Planetarium it looked like Mars was just leaving M44 tonight but it was actually over a half of a degree away already.

Target	Alberio
Constellation	Cyg
Category	Double Star
Time	20060616.2218 EDT
Comments	I tweaked the collimation on SAR and have reduced the size of the comet tails on the stars but have not eliminated them entirely. The stars of Alberio could be split and the color difference was obvious.

Target	ISS Visible Pass
Constellation
Category	Satellite
Time	20060616.2240 EDT
Comments	A fairly bright pass coming out of Manhattan south.

Target	Iridium 13 Flare
Constellation	Vir
Category	Satellite
Time	20060616.2319 EDT
Comments	A bright but not spactacular flare moving to the NW above Spica.

Target	Meteor
Constellation	Sco
Category
Time	20060617.0011 EDT
Comments	While looking into Virgo for the next ISS pass I saw a meteor streaking to the horizon below the claws of Scorpius. The radiant appears to have been somewhere in the north. A while later Tom saw another meteor that he described as a fireball also coming from the north and going to Manhattan south. The only stream that Planetarium identifies as being active is the Saggitarids and neither of these meteors were from there.

Target	ISS Visible Pass
Constellation
Category	Satellite
Time	20060617.0013 EDT
Comments	This was a low pass that began behind the big tree to the NW and ended behind the big tree to the NW.

Target	M379
Constellation	Cyg
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	20060617.0029 EDT
Comments	Seen in Peter's scope. It looked like a tall diamond with a very flat top laying on its side. It reminded me of the Manpower temporary agency logo.

Target	M29
Constellation	Cnc
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	20060617.0030 EDT
Comments	Seen in Peter's scope. It looks like a square with one additional star on each of two adjacent corners. Peter describes it as resembling a box with an open lid.