5 August 2006

Observing Location	TotL
Observational Period	2045-0100 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Warm, humid, mostly clear; no haze; occasional light breezes. There was significant boiling all around the limb of the Moon. In about a half hour I was nearly completely clouded out. It seemed like the clouds formed on the NY shore of the Hudson River. I could see clear air low over the trees in the west and the clouds kept moving to the east, but the clear air never got here. Every time I got a target lined up the hole in the clouds would close and I would have to move to something else. I ended up giving up and moved to a bench under a street light where I set up on the Moon and read between breaks in the clouds. Around 2300 the clouds broke up in the south where the views of the moon were excellent. It remained partly cloudy to the north and east. Transparency Good Seeing Fair
Instruments	Canon mlnm15x50 IS binocular - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway It was a very quiet night in the park tonight. None of the usual dog walkers were around. Passers by Museum Michelle stopped by early but the sky was cloudy and she kept going. Hawaiian George was by around 2200 EDT and was surprised to find me there with all the clouds. I was reading at the time. He took a look at the moon through the clouds then rode two laps on his bicycle and stopped again because the sky was clearing a little. When the clouds filled in again he took another lap and headed home.

Target	Jupiter
Constellation	Vir
Category	Planet
Time	20060605.2050 EDT
Comments	Europa to the left alone; Io on the right close in; Ganymede farther our and Callisto just under it and much fainter. In an hour callisto had moved from 5:00 to 7:00 relative to Ganymede. Playing with Planetarium I determined that Ganymede was moving away from the planet and Callisto toward it..

Target	Moon
Constellation	Sgr
Category	Lunar
Time	20060805.2056 EDT
Comments	I see Lacus Excelencia, the target for SMART-1, easily tonight. It is much smaller than Mare Hymorum and looks like a tiny slice of pizza hanging beneath the large pie. Later in the evening it appeared more boxy and darker at the top. J Herschel is fully illuminated and Pythagoras it is in twilight. Three small craters around Sinus Iridum (Mairan, Dharp, and Bianchini) are very obvious as is Harpalus. They all appear to be young. The terminator is just outside Aristarchus. By 0030 EDT the Moon had lost its blue color cast and looked like it had been sepia toned. γ1 Sgr and γ2 Sgr, HIP88839, and 3 Sgr (HIP 87072) could all be seen in the same FoV with the Moon but none of the 8th magnitude stars close to the limb or the nearby DSOs were seen. When there were no clouds around the sky was black right up to the limb of the Moon. By 0100 the moon had assumed a creamy hue.

Target	Kemble's Cascade & NGC1502
Constellation	Cam
Category	Asterism
Time	20060805.2127 EDT
Comments	At <10° Alt, too low Then the clouds moved in. I got it just before leaving. I counted 15 stars including those in the bird's foot. I didn't see NGC1502, but didn't spend a lot of time searching for it.

Target	M31, Andromeda Galaxy
Constellation	And
Category	DSO
Time	20060805.2309 EDT
Comments	I could see M31 easily but could not find M32 or M110.

Target	M76, Little Dumbbell Nebula, NGC 650
Constellation	Per
Category	DSO
Time	20060805.2316 EDT
Comments	Not Seen One Planetarium catalog lists it as Mag 10.2 and another as Mag 12.0. Either way it is too faint for me to see even if it had been a star.

Target	NGC744
Constellation	Per
Category	DSO
Time	20060805.2323 EDT
Comments	Not Seen I identified all the stars around it. I guess based on the Planetarium symbology that it is a small globular cluster. Its integrated brightness is greater than the visual magnitude of a couple of the nearby stars that I did see.

Target	NGC869/NGC884, The Double Cluster, C14, the Sword-Handle
Constellation	Per
Category	DSO
Time	20060805.2334 EDT
Comments	NGC869 Two staggered pairs of stars. Lots of stardust twinkling faintly around the lower pair. I saw it but can't say what it looks like. NGC884 Beneath that is a W of brighter stars with stardust in and around it. Moore Stargazing: ...the Swoed-Handle, Chi-h Persei (Caldwell-14) or H. VI. 33-4 (not to be confused with the nebula in the Sword of Orion). The Sword-Handle is easy to locate as a misty patch. Gamma and Delta Cassiopeiae, in the W, show the way to it; all you have to do is to extend the line for about twice the distance between Gamma and Delta. The Sword-Handle is made up of two clusters close together; seen with any telescope it is a lovely sight, since the two clusters lie in the same low-power field.

Target	NGC957
Constellation	Per
Category	DSO
Time	20060805.2342 EDT
Comments	I think I was on it but the clouds covered it over while I was trying to confirm the star field. I tried waiting out the clouds but after a half hour they were more patient than I was.

Target	NGC6520
Constellation	Sgr
Category	DSO
Time	20060806.0019 EDT
Comments	Too dim that close to the Moon.

Target	Alpha Perseus Association
Constellation	Per
Category	Asterism
Time	20060806.0048 EDT
Comments	The sky was a dark charcoal gray. The stars are mostly bright and more widely spaced closer to α Per. Mostly blue-white but one golden one. It fills the FoV.