28 July 2006

Observing Location	Bryant Park, New York, NY
Observational Period	1230-1245 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Hot and humid. A light haze and breeze. Transparency Good Seeing Good
Instruments	Brunton 8x21 compact binocular w/gold shade #14 welder's glass - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target	Sunspots
Constellation	Gem
Category	Solar
Time	20060728.1230 EDT
Comments	Again today there is only one spot visible in my low magnification binocular, and it only barely. Group 901 appears to be shrinking. It is still near the meridian but now on the leading edge.   Groups Spots R North 1 1 11 South 0 0 0 Total 1 1 11 R = (Geoups * 10) + Spots)

---

The weather looked lousy out tonight so on my way home through Grand Central Terminal I stopped to do some stargazing in the ceiling.

The zodiacal constellations Cnc, Gem, Tau, Ari, Psc and Aqr are depicted as well as Ori, Tri, and Peg. The obsolete constellation Musca Borealis is also there.

I figured if Pegasus is there then Equuleus is probably there also. I may have found it, if so I did better than I do in a real sky, but it is hard to tell. I think I also located Andromeda and a brightening of the Milky Way where M31 should have been if I was seeing what I thought I was.

I started out doing the mental gymnastics trying to turn the stick diagrams in Planetarium around in my brain and the PDA around in my hand. Then I decided to try changing the view in Planetarium. I found that be setting Planetarium up for a Dob the figure matched the figure in the ceiling and it was a lot easier to star hop.

---

Observing Location	MetOval
Observational Period	2345-0130 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	We had severe thunderstorm warnings this afternoon into tonight. When I got home it was a little humid and mostly cloudy but not too hot. I had gone to the oval to read and while doing that noticed that the clouds had broken and I could see stars. When I got into an area behind the floodlights I could actually see a lot of stars. So when I finished the chapter I was reading I went home and got my PDA to do a naked eye limiting magnitude assessment. Transparency Excellent Seeing
Instruments	Naked-eye observing - Charlie I should have brought the binoculars with me as I detected M13 and M31 without them.
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Naked-eye Limiting Magnitude

North 4.35 East 4.42 Zenith 4.59 West 3.92 South 4.27 Object Mag Lyra, the Lyr Vega α Lyr 0.03 ε1 & ε2 Lyr 4.59 ζ Lyr 4.34 δ Lyr 4.22 Sheliak β Lyr 3.52 Sulafat γ Lyr 3.25 Cygnus, The Swan Sadr γ Cyg 2.23 δ Cyg 2.86 Deneb α Cyg 1.25 Omicron Cygni 3.8/7.0 Gienah Cygni η Cyg 2.48 Alberio β Cyg 3.05 Ursa Minor, The Little Bear Polaris α UMi 1.97 Yildun δ UMi 4.35 ε UMi 4.21 ζ UMi 4.29 Pherkad γ UMi 3.00 Kochab β UMi 2.07 Ursa Major, The Great Bear Alkaid η UMa 1.85 Mizar ζ UMa 2.23 Alcor 80 UMa 3.99 Alioth ε UMa 1.76 Draco, The Dragon Ed Asich ι Dra 3.29 ν Dra 2.73 η Dra 2.73 Aldhibah ζ Dra 3.17 Eltanin γ Dra 2.24 Rastaban β Dra 2.79 Grumium ξ Dra 3.73 Nodus Secundus δ Dra 3.07 Tyl ε Dra 3.84 χ Dra 3.55 Cassiopeia, The Queen Caph β Cas 2.25 Schedar α Cas 2.24 γ Cas 2.15 Ruchbah δ Cas 2.66 Segin ε 3.35 Achird η Cas 3.46 Cepheus, The King Alfirk β cep 3.23 Alderamin α Cep 2.45 the Garnet Star υ Cep 4.23 ζ Cep 3.39 δ Cep 4.07 ι Cep 3.50 Alrai γ Cep 3.21 Andromeda, The Chained Maiden Mirach β And 2.07 Almaak γ1 And 2.10 Alpheratz α And 2.07 δ And 3.27 ε And 4.34 υ And 4.10 Andromeda galaxy M31 Pegasus, the Winged Horse Algenib γ Peg 2.83 Markab α Peg 2.49 ξ Peg 4.20 Baham ν Peg 3.52 Enif ε Peg 2.38 Scheat β Peg 2.44 υ Peg 4.42 Matar η Peg 2.93 ι Peg 3.77 Delphinus, The Dolphin γ2 Del 4.27 Sualacin α Del 3.77 Rotanev β Del 3.64 Deneb Dulfim ε Del 4.03 Aquila, The Eagle Tarazed γ Aql 2.72 Altair α Aql 0.76 δ Aql 3.36 Deneb el Okab ζ Aql 2.99 Hercules, The Strongman Rasakgethi α Her 2.78 Sarin δ Her 3.12 ε Her 3.92 ζ Her 2.81 Kornephoros β Her 2.78 η Her 3.48 M13 π Her 3.16