21 June 2006

Observing Location	McGraw-Hill Plaza. Avenue of the Americas at 50 St, New York, NY
Observational Period	1130-1330 EDT
Instruments	Minolta X700 35mm SLR camera with 35-70mm zoom lens u Charlie Olympus Digital Elph camera - Peter
Atmospheric Conditions	Mostly clear and hot. The humidity wasn't bad. There was no wind, at least not down in the pit where we were. There is some haze out there though.
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway Peter Tagatac

Target	Sun aligns with the McGraw-Hill sun triangle
Constellation
Category	Solar
Time	20060621.1130 EDT
Comments	The Summer Solstice was at 0826 EDT this morning So this one of the days when the sun is to line up with an arm of the Sun Triangle in the sunken Plaza in front of the McGraw-Hill building in Rockefeller Center. But because we are in Daylight Saving Time it should occur at 1300.. Shortly before the appointed time a small crowd gathered under the sculpture. I waited until 1300 to move there and found that I had missed the event. It appears that either the triangle is not properly aligned or the sun is running fast. I had wondered if they had compensated for our displacement from the central meridian of our time zone (-1° 1 minute 8.78557206 seconds of longitude), which they should have, but the alignment didn't occur early enough to account for a failure to account for our displacement (-4 minutes 4.5858 seconds). The triangle at 1130 EDT when I arrived. Its shadow is well to the west of the pedestal. The sun is well to the east of the point of the triangle. At 1200 EDT the sun is getting closer to the point. According to the sun it is only 1100 but we had to go and monkey with time. This picture is sometime between 1200 and 1230 EDT. The shadow still shows the shape of the triangle but its base is now closer to the pedestal. At 1230 EDT the sun is closer still to the point of the triangle. Peter arrived sometime around 1230 EDT and here he is making a photograph up the Summer Solstice leg of the triangle. Looking up the face of the triangle at 1300 EDT. I am not lined up exactly with the base of the triangle as there is too much contrast between the bright sun and the silhouetted triangle to be able to see. It might be easier to do this with a digital camera but I doubt it. More haze would have been a big help. Another view at 1300 EDT, this time a little better centered on the face of the triangle with the sun off to the side as it was at that time. The triangle's shadow at the base of the pedestal shortly after 1230 EDT. A segmented vertical panorama of the Sun Triangle. The Sun Triangle sculpture in context. Peter has a different view of the event.

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Observing Location	Met Oval
Observational Period	2200-2230 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	It appeared to me that the sky must have cleared off. Although the oval is very light polluted I was seeing stars that I haven't seen from TotL on nights that were forecast to be better than tonight. Transparency Good Seeing
Instruments	Naked-eye Observing - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

I hadn't planned on observing so didn't have my Palm with me to help me identify the stars/Constellations I was not familiar with or to make noted about what I observed so had to reconstruct it from memory.

• Ursa Major
  • Dubhe. α UMa
  • Merak, β UMa
  • Phad, γ UMa
  • Megrez, δ UMa
  • Alioth, ε UMa
  • Mizar, &zets; UMa
  • Alkaid, &ets; UMa
• Ursa Minor
  • Polaris, &alpha” UMi
  • Kochab, β UMi
  • Pherkad, γ UMi
• Draco
  • Rasraban, β Dra
  • Eltanin, γ Dra
• Cygnus
  • Deneb, α Cyg
  • Sadr, γ Cyg
  • Alberio, β Cyg
• Libra
  • Vega, α Lib
  • Sulafat, γ Lyr
• Bootes
  • Arcturus, α Boo
  • Murfid, η Boo
  • ρ Boo
  • Seginus, γ Boo
  • Izar, ε Boo
• Corona Borealis
  • Alphecca, α CrB
• Libra
  • Zuben Elgenubi, α lib
  • Zuben Elschemali, β Lib
• Scorpius
  • Antares, α Sco
  • Alniyat, ο Sco
  • Dschubba, δ Sco
  • Graffias, &beta, Sco