26 July 2006

Observing Location	TotL
Observational Period	1815-2330 EDT
Instruments	Canon 15x50 IS binocular - Charlie Takahashi 22x60 binocular - Peter Fujinon 7x50 binocular - Peter
Atmospheric Conditions	The sky appeared blue over most of the vault except near the western horizon where there were some clouds and haze. As the sun got closer to setting the impression of haze reached all the way up to the zenith. By the time I left the whole sky was milky except in the Cygnus to Vega area. That area was hazy also but at least I could see the brighter stars there. The temperature was mild for the season but the air continued humid. Peter was complaining of the mosquitoes when we moved from the NE corner of the lawn to TotL proper. I wasn't bothered until around 2300 EDT when I was well bitten. Transparency Poor Seeing Fair
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway Peter Tagatac Kin Lee

Target	Sunspots
Constellation	Psc
Category	Solar
Time	2006 EDT
Comments	Group 901 is the only one visible. I can plainly make out a slightly elongated spot and get a hint of darkening behind that spot where SOHO shows two much smaller spots. It appears very close to the equator and possibly north of it but I am still calling it south until I can check online about it.   Groups Spots R North 0 0 0 South 1 1 11 Total 1 1 11 [ 27Jul06: I determined today that this spot is actually in the northerh hemisphere]

Target	Robins
Constellation
Category	Fauna
Time	20060726.2017 EDT
Comments	The hawk flew over heading east followed by a flight of robins. They did not seem to be harassing the hawk. Just after Peter declaired sunset bunches of them flew back across the lawn from the east and roosted in the dormitory trees.

Target	Hawks
Constellation
Category	Fauna
Time	20060726.2020 EDT
Comments	Two hawks flew over us from the west to the east, or maybe it was one hawk twice.

Target	Young crescent Moon
Constellation	Leo
Category	Lunar
Time	2006.0726.2023 EDT I initially had this down as 2018 EDT but Peter said that was before sunset and we hadn't found the Moon at that time. I picked this time off my wrist watch which keeps very accurate time but am assuming that I misread it by five minutes.
Comments	Not Seen I had given up on this one and was waiting for Jupiter to show up. The lower down the sun got the more apparent the haze got.. Although it wasn't the first crescent Peter and I have finally seen an old crescent of one lunation and a young crescent of the next lunation. On Monday morning we saw the last crescent Moon of Lunation 1034 at 28d7h22m. Last night we tried for the first crescent of Lunation 1035 but got clouded out. Tonight we finally saw a 1d19h56m. So our bracket duration was 2d14h59m. Peter found it first and as soon as he gave me a reference to it I found it.. The crescent appeared from around 2:30 to around 6:30. Shortly before setting I caught flashes of it naked eye but never saw it for any period of time. There appeared to me to be a ripple in the atmosphere that rose up repeatedly across the Moon, like an old rolling TV picture. As low as the Moon was there had to have been a lot of atmospheric disturbance from the heated roofs and air conditioner exhausts from all the buildings on the west side of the park.

Target	Jupiter
Constellation	Libra
Category	Planet
Time	20060726.2046 EDT
Comments	I switched over to Jupiter as soon as the Moon had dropped into the trees from my location, All four moons were out to the left, the two closest in, Io and Europa, were right on top of each other. In my binocular I could tell that there were two moons side by side. In Peter's binocular they were easily split, being lined up 11:00 to 5:00.

Target	Iridium 67
Constellation	Cyg
Category	Satellite
Time	20060726.2142 EDT
Comments	At Mag 0.3 this was not a spectacular flare but it was brighter than any of the stars in Cygnus. Moving W to E.

Target	Iridium 14 Flare
Constellation	Cygnus
Category	Satellite
Time	20060726.2148 EDT
Comments	This was a much brighter flare when it actually did flare. It appeared beneath Deneb and got most of the way to the right wing before it flared. It crossed above the break in the wing and dimmed quickly but remained visible until it was about under Alberio. Moving W to E.

Target	Iridium 20 Flare
Constellation	And
Category	Satellite
Time	20060726.2307 EDT
Comments	Not Seen Mag -2. The sky was white and bright low to the NE.

Target	Genesis 1
Constellation	UMi
Category	Satellite
Time	20060426.2322 EDT
Comments	I didn't get an alarm for this event but had set my binocular on Polaris when I got the alarm for the last Iridium flare and think I was looking through them when this pass occurred but I didn't see anything. I don't know how far it passed from Polaris or on which side so I might not have been looking in the right place.