| Observing Location | Parkchester subway platform, #6 Line, The Bronx, NY |
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| Observational Period | 0445-0530 EDT |
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| Atmospheric Conditions | Clear with a few scattered light clouds on the eastern horizon.
| Transparency | Excellent |
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| Seeing | |
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| Instruments | Baked-Eye Observing - Charlie
- 80A filters for the Moon
- w/Baader AstroSolar filter for the sub
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| Observing Party | Charlie Ridgway
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I had planned to go back to CSP this morning to observe the Predides Meteors again. After dinner I set an alarm and lay down on the bed to take a nap. When the alarm went off I pushed the sleep button several times and finally decided to sleep a couple more hours and arrive at the park around 0300 EDT when I anticipated the meteors peaking. When that alarm came I decided it wasn't going to happen. Later I was woken up by a PDA alarm for Venus rising which I had planned to observe. I got up and got undressed and shortly after getting back into bed another alarm went off. I got the PDA out to turn off all further alarms and found one set for a Mag -10 Iridium flash and figured that would be worth seeing even if it wasn't a Mag -10 from here do got up and dressed again and lay back on the bed with an alarm set for 45 minutes prior to the flash. I ended up seeing the ISS, one of three Iridium flashes and Venus and Saturn.
| Target | ISS Visible Pass |
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| Constellation | Aur |
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| Category | Satellite |
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| Time | 20060813.0454 EDT |
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| Comments | I got to the corner just in time to see ISS passing over the avenue to the N and tracked it through Auriga and into the E. |
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| Target | Iridium 86 Flare |
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| Constellation | Psc |
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| Category | Satellite |
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| Time | 20060813.0510 EDT |
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| Comments | The satellite became visible as it was passing just above Algenib, γ Peg, and flared and dimmed before being lost in the glare of the moon as it passed several degrees below it. |
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| Target | Venus and Mercury |
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| Constellation | Cnc |
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| Category | Planets |
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| Time | 20060813.0515 EDT |
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| Comments | I scanned the horizon out toward the E to see what the Sun was doing and saw Venus and Mercury well up over a faint orange glow behind the apartment buildings. They look so nice rising together. Venus is so big and bright and Mercury looks so delicate by comparison. A short while later Venus was above a light stripe of cloud and Mercury was no longer visible. |
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| Target | Iridium 50 Flare |
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| Constellation | Cet |
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| Category | Satellite |
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| Time | 20060813.0521 EDT |
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| Comments | Not Seen
CalSky has this listed as a Mag -10 flare for TotL I thought this was a Mag -10 flare, which would be brighter than any flare I have ever seen or have seen listed in Heavens Above. It turns out that it was Mag -1.0 and I had just missed the miniscule period my PDA displays..
The sky was lightening with the approaching dawn and I didn't see anything in the neighborhood of Diphda, β Cet. |
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| Target | Iridium 56 Flare |
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| Constellation | Scl |
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| Category | Satellite |
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| Time | 20060813.0530 EDT |
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| Comments | Not Seen
Diphda, β Cet, was still my reference star and I had to really look to see it. It is Mag 2.04 and the flare was supposed to be Mar 0.9, brighter than the star but dimmer than the previous flare which was not seen in a darker sky. |
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| Observing Location | PSC |
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| Observational Period | 1250-1320 EDT |
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| Atmospheric Conditions | Clear with a few isolated teased cotton balls of cloud. Warm, with no perceptible humidity. No air movement at all. No boiling.
| Transparency | Excellent |
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| Seeing | Excellent |
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| Instruments | Canon 15x50 IS binocular w/Baader AstroSolar filter film - Charlie |
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| Observing Party | Charlie Ridgway
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| Target | Sunspots |
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| Constellation | Leo |
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| Category | Solar |
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| Time | 20060813.1250 EDT |
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| Comments | I looked for this spot without magnification both before and after observing it in the binocular and was not able to see it. Mostly what I saw was my own reflection in the filter.
- 904
- The p-spot appears to have consolidated into one large dark umbrs. The f-spot has seperated into two smaller spots with a light bridge between them. I looked for but did not find any pores between or around the two spots.
| | Groups | Spots | R |
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| North | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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| South | 1 | 3 | 13 |
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| Total | 1 | 3 | 13 |
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| R = (Geoups * 10) + Spots) |
I wonder if I am enumerating these spots properly. Reading the Firefly guide to the sun I get the impression that everything enclosed in a penumbra is one spot even though it might be divided by light bridges. If that is the case my sunspot count should be 2 and my Relative Sunspot Number (R) 12 rather than 3 and 13. |
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| Observing Location | Lexington Ave @ 60 St, New York, NY |
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| Observational Period | 2005-2035 EDT |
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| Atmospheric Conditions | It was mostly clear with some stripes of cloud spread around the sky, mostly to the north.
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| Instruments | Naked-Eye Observing - Charlie |
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| Observing Party | Charlie Ridgway
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| Target | Iridium 21 Flare |
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| Constellation | Lyr |
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| Category | Satellite |
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| Time | 20060813.2021 EDT |
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| Comments | I was headed for the subway when I got a 15-minute warning on my PDA so I waited across the street from the subway where I could see the sky high up to the east. Vega had just come out and the flare occurred to its south movibg to the south, around M57 I suspect. The sky was still blue so the flare didn't appear to be terribly bright (Mag -1.7). |
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| Observing Location | TotL |
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| Observational Period | 2200-2400 EDT |
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| Atmospheric Conditions | There weren’t many visible clouds but I think there were areas of light cirrus or haze. Other areas were crystal clear.
| Transparency | Good |
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| Seeing | Good |
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| Instruments | SAR: Coulter CT-100 - Charlie |
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| Observing Party | Charlie Ridgway
Kin Lee
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This morning I decided that it was time to work on SAR's collimation again. I put a drop od WD40 on each of the screws and let it soak a while then removed them one at a time so I wouldn't have to tough the mirror. I put more WD40 on a paper napkin and screwed each one through it between my fingers. It Broke loose a lot of rust and the screws turn freeer now. I did the same for the adjustment set screws. They appear to be aluminum and were not rusted but were coated with an oxidation product that the WD40 loosened up. When I rut it all back together I left the set screws sticking out of the back plate and tied up the mirror screws so it is flat against the back plate. It needs collimation for sure now.
Tonight I got some bright stars in the eyepiece and tried adjusting it to get the minimum amount of tails on them and wasn’t having much luck. When I moved west to try to see the Moon before going home I looked down through the secondary cage without an eyepiece and it was very obvious that things weren’t lined up properly. I worked on the collimation some more and have things lined up as best as I can get them. Stars still have two or more tails but the view of the Moon is very nice. At this phase the dark limb is on the side of the scope where all the flare is so I don’t know how much ghost image I have there. I am wondering it SAR is going to be a last half of the Moon only scope.
| Target | Moon |
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| Constellation | |
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| Category | Lunar |
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| Time | 20060813.2315 EDT |
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| Comments |
- The terminator is outside of Mare Serenitatis, Posidonus is illuminated.
- Plinius, just below the rim of Mare Serenitatis, is dark while Manlius, farther into the late afternoon, is bright.
- Eudoxus and Aristoteles are well defined.
- Mare Nectaris in shadow but the outside of the rim is not so you can see it is round. It takes a bite out of the terminator.
- Theophilus, Cyrillus and Catharina are in late afternoon shadow and are well defined: Theophilus has deep shadow on its floor with its central peak in sunlight, the others are in sunlingt
- The Altai Scarp (Rupes Altai) is visible.
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