30 July 2006

Observing Location	Met Oval
Observational Period	1815-1830 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Hot, moderate humidity, light haze, dead air. Scattered clouds, mostly on the horizon. Transparency Fair Seeing Good
Instruments	Canon 15x50 IS binocular w/Baader AstroSolar filter film - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target	Sunspots
Constellation	Gem
Category	Solar
Time	20060730.1815 EDT
Comments	It took a little bit but I finally found Group 901. It wasn't where I was expecting it and looked more like a southern hemisphere spot again. I continued looking to see if anything new had rotated onto the earthward side of the sun and found another very small spot above "901", the real 901. This one is definitely a northern hemisphere group and what is assumedly 902 is definitely a southern hemisphere group. They appear to be lined up one over the other and about 2/3 the distance from the meridian to the limb. 901 is a single spot and small but very solid once it is found. The new spot is as big as 901 was yesterday. [17Aug06: Yesterday Universe Today published an article describing what I think is this tiny spot and saying that it may indicate the start of the next solar cycle.]   Groups Spots R North 1 1 11 South 1 1 11 Total 2 2 22 R = (Groups * 10) + Spots)

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Observing Location	TotL
Observational Period	2030-0030 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	It was hot and humid and cooled down to warm and humid. There was little air movement so there was a period when there were lots of mosquitoes. Clouds started moving in from the west at midnight and before 0030 EDT most of the sky was obscured but it was breaking up by the time I was packed and leaving.. For the most part the sky was clear but there was haze in the air and the sky was not as black as it could have been. Good Transparency Fair Seeing
Instruments	SAR: Coulter CT-100 - Charlie SAR started out the night providing pretty good views. There was the usual ghost image to the upper left of bright objects that isn't a problem when I am looking at stars, but it covered Ganymede when it was moving away from Jupiter. Then something happened and my bright stars had long double tails on them. I tried adjusting both cages on the bar and the eyepiece and wasn't able to get rid of them. I also noticed a gray arc in the upper right quadrant of the FoV where it was darker than the rest of the FoV but not so dark that I couldn't see brighter stars through it. It had a very sharp edge to it like the eyepiece wasn't lined up properly in the Barlow and I was seeing a field stop. Celestron 7x50 binocular - Kin
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway Kin Lee

Target	Moon
Constellation	Vir
Category	Lunar
Time	20060730.2040 EDT
Comments	A rim inside Mare Serenitatis [Dorsa Smirnov] looks very dark on the shadowed side and a central peak [Dorsa Azara] is just poking out of the shadow next to the terminator The terminator looks serrated with teeth of shadow extending into the light, or vice versa. Earthshine has turned the remainder of the disk a dark gray. I could see it against the background sky but could not see any detail on it.

Target	Jupiter
Constellation	Vir
Category	Planet
Time	20060730.2045 EDT
Comments	Calisto and Ganymede out to the left, Io close on the right Europa was up against the planet on the left side where all my flare is and couldn't be seen. At 2125 Io was approaching the limb but could still be cleanly split.

Target	Iridium 18 Flare
Constellation
Category	Satellite
Time	20060730.2109 EDT
Comments	Not Seen May have been too far south and behind the tree.

Target	Iridium 21 Flare
Constellation	Cyg
Category	Satellite
Time	20060730.2128 EDT
Comments	While waiting for this flare I saw another satellite track through on a parallel path. Initially I thought it must be the iridium but it was too early. While I was looking for a listing for it in my PDA the iridium started its pass and had already flared by the time I saw it.

Target	Unknown Satellite
Constellation	Dra
Category	Satellite
Time	20060730.2225 EDT
Comments	I noticed this satellite moving from north through east in Draco or Cepheus. There is nothing in Heavens Above or PocketSat+ that is going in the right direction to be the one we saw

Target	NGC457
Constellation	Cas
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	20060730.2359 EDT
Comments	Can see it with averted but can't describe it. It looks like a line of stars.

Target	M103, NGC581
Constellation	Cas
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	20060730.2309 EDT
Comments	Detected HIP 7232 looks funny, won't resolve like the other stars in the field

Target	NGC663
Constellation	Cas
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	20060730.2321 EDT
Comments	Not Seen

Target	NGC559
Constellation	Cas
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	20060730.2329 EDT
Comments	Not Seen The integrated magnitude is around the limiting magnitude of my scope for a star.

Target	The Engagement Ring
Constellation	UMi
Category	Asterism
Time	20060730.2345 EDT
Comments	Too big for the Barlow. It fits in the FoV but crowds the edges. It looks good at 20x but needs a darker sky.