18 August 2006

Observing Location	Bryant Park
Observational Period	1745 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	It had been cloudy all day and was supposed to be so into dark but it looks like the system got here earlier last night than forecast and is leaving earlier as well. There is a beautiful clear light blue sky out there.. It is mild and not at all humid. Transparency Good Seeing
Instruments	Gold shade 14 welder's glass - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target Sunspots Constellation Leo Category Solar Time 20060818.1745 EDT Comments I read in Peter's blog that he has been seeing the sunspots without magnification, something I haven't been able to do to date. I gave it another try tonight and still haven't seen them.

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Observing Location	TotL
Observational Period	2100-2145 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Cotton balls were moving in from the west while I was at Lincoln center kinda like last night. If they had been a little more densely packed I would have called it a mackerel sky. Mild with a light breeze; no humidity. Transparency Good Seeing
Instruments	Naked-eye observing - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Tonight was not a very good night. This morning it was overcast and the last forecast I saw was for it not to be great so I planned to attend an outdoor concert at Lincoln center.

When I went to dinner there was a nice clear, light blue sky. I couldn't tell if the lightness was from haze or normal low angle sun lightening. But there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Since I wasn't planning on astronomy tonight I had no equipment so continued to Lincoln Center for the concert.

This is Roots of American Music week at Lincoln Center Out Of Doors and tonight was blues night.

The first performer wasn't bad but it went downhill from there. After his set he became the announcer and derided the stage crew for being slow setting up the next performer. The second performer was a drummer accompanied by a base fiddle who gave a lecture on blues beats. Then there was a woman from West Virginia who you couldn't hear until her last song when they finally got her voice mic turned up. The last act was a big name singer from Detroit who sang songs where you just scream one word into the mic repeatedly. With each act more people left. I have never attended a weekend performance there where you could get a single seat let alone your entire row. I was one of the early leavers during the screaming.

I walked over to Central Park West to catch a bus uptown and had to run for it. He wasn't planning to stop but some guy saw me running along the side of the bus and started whistling. When I got on the driver said the bus route was ending in three more blocks. Another bus came along very shortly and it didn't reject my fare card as having just been used which was fortunate.

Up at TotL there were a good many stars but it looked like it was hazy. It still would have been a good night for the binoculars if not for the cops and mosquitoes.

There has been a much larger than normal police presence in the park lately. People think it is because of the play but I don't remember us ever having multiple scooters around the Lawn and cars and vans moving around. Tonight the guy on post was bored and was doing speed laps on the pedestrian walk around the oval. The third time he came around he and a conservancy scooter were riding side by side and the conservancy guy was telling him he didn't need calls about the scooter's excessive speed. That was the last I saw of him.

The Mosquitoes were very active tonight which is surprising since there was a breeze blowing. I have a big knot in my lower lip where one got me and also got bites on my face and arms.

On the way out of the park I was almost hit by a football some college kids were throwing around in the dark.

About the only thing that didn't happen was almost getting run down by a cyclist while crossing the park drive but I got there too late for that.

Target Iridium 45 Flare Constellation And, Lac, Peg Category Satellite Time 20060818.2135 EDT Comments CalSky has it listed for Pegasus which is where I saw it flare, but I first picked it up in Lacerta or maybe even Andromeda. It was not steady, possibly due to atmospheric conditions. I noticed tonight that CalSky was showing different times from Heavens Above. I think it happens when I have CalSky add an event to my Outlook calendar and the event is greater than 30 seconds past the hour. Outlook appears to automatically round up to the next minute. That may account for the late alarm I got the other night.

Target ISS Visible Pass Constellation CVn, UMa, Dra, Cam, Per, And Category Satellite Time 20060818.2138 EDT Comments I was surprised when I first saw the moving star over the Bearsford. I tracked it into the big tree to the west of TotL and saw it go through the bowl of the Big Dipper and come out over Dubhe. It continued across the sky and I lost it after it passed Almaak. It was listed as disappearing in Perseus.