2 October 2006

Observing Location	PSC
Observational Period	1145-1200 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Mostly clear Temperature mid-60s Humidity Low Wind Light gusts Feels Like Cool but comfortable Transparency Good Seeing Good
Instruments	Canon 15x50 IS binocular w/Baader AstroSolar filter film - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target Sunspots Constellation Vir Category Solar Time 20061002.1145 EDT Comments Heliographic Latitude (B0) +6.65° Heliographic Longitude (L0) 209.67° Position Angle (PA) +26.06° Carrington Rotation Number (CR) 2048 Again today I could only see two spots. I think the contrast is too high for me to pick out the little spot over in the west. Looking in Space Weather yesterday I saw that all of the spots are in the southern hemisphere. I had wondered about that last night since I was having trouble rotating the Sun enough to get the faint upper spot, Group 914, into the northern hemisphere before the Sun would be setting.   Groups Spots R North 0 0 0 South 2 2 22 Total 2 2 22 R = (Geoups * 10) + Spots) Group 913 Heligraphic Latitude -5° Heliographic Longitude 170° McIntosh System Axx The lower spot is larger and appears more solid but not as much so as it did yesterday. I don't detect any penumbra or surrounding granular texture on the Sun. Group 914 Heligraphic Latitude -22° Heliographic Longitude 170° McIntosh System Axx I probably would have missed this spot if it hadn't been right over the other one or if I hadn't known it was there.

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Observing Location	TotL
Observational Period	1945-0115 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Light and Variable Temperature 60-59 Humidity Low-High Wind Calm Feels Like Cool and Raw When I arrived there were light streaks of cloud running E-W. Late in the evening the clouds pretty much dissipated but there was a light haze. I counted eight Pleiades and then, a little while later, only three, but still later my count went back up to seven. Transparency Variable Seeing Variable
Instruments	Canon 15x50 IS binocular - Charlie Hairy (The Kite): DIY 6" Newtonian Reflector - Peter Takahashi 22x60 binocular - Peter Fujinon 7x50 binocular - Peter Celestron 7x50 binocular - Kin
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway Peter Tagatac Kin Lee Billy from SC

My Palm is suffering a meltdown and needs to be replaced. The keyboard is going crazy and sometime doesn't show typed characters or sometimes shows them double or sometimes a character won't show and the previous character will be capitalized. Add that to the digitizer problems I have been having since soon after I got the unit. These problems are making the unit unreliable in the extreme. But on top of that it keeps turning itself on and killing the batteries. I really like having the thumbboard and can type faster on it than I can write and unfortunately Palm no longer markets a unit with a thumbboard. I will probably end up with a Tungsten X which is their top of the line model and will run Planetarium. But it has a different connector and will not work with my Power To Go battery pack.

As a result of not having my Palm working I didn't observe anything in my binoculars that I couldn't locate from memory. That list of items isn't as short any more as it once was but it is still comforting to have Planetarium there to confirm my memory and to identify things I stumble across..

Tonight I didn't make notes about anything I did observe. I started out with the binocular on the moon in case any passers by wanted to take a look, but was just enjoying the sky myself. Billy from Beaufort, SC, came by and took a look then stayed to talk for a good while. I showed him Alberio and a couple of other things and he left and I went back to enjoying the sky.

Peter arrived and we looked in UMi and Per to see how deeply we could see. I didn't see as much tonight as I did the last time we performed this exercise, although I did see a good bit, and it took a concerted effort to see a lot of what I did see.

Billy from SC came back once he saw the Moon in Peter's scope wanted to see everything, and wanted everyone walking by to see it too. He gathered a small crowd.

Kin left and Billy from SC left and Peter and I stuck it out. The police came by at 0100 EDT to kick us out but Peter talked to them while I was packing up my gear and showed them the Moon and bought time to look for another galaxy he wanted to try in Perseus.

To Jane: 'The Keen Stars Were Twinkling'
by Percy Bysshe Shelley

The keen stars were twinkling,
And the fair moon was rising among them,
Dear Jane!
The guitar was tinkling,
But the notes were not sweet till you sung them
Again.

As the moon's soft splendour
O'er the faint cold starlight of Heaven
Is thrown,
So your voice most tender
To the strings without soul had then given
Its own.

The stars will awaken,
Though the moon sleep a full hour later,
To-night;
No leaf will be shaken
Whilst the dews of your melody scatter
Delight.

Though the sound overpowers,
Sing again, with your dear voice revealing
A tone
Of some world far from ours,
Where music and moonlight and feeling
Are one.

Target Moon Constellation Category Lunar Time 20061002.1950 EDT Comments Lunation 1036 Phase Waxing Gibbous Age> 10.5 days Elongation % Illuminated 76.7% Magnitude Altitude 25.50 The terminator is just outside Mare Imbrium. The craters Sharp and Mairan on the western edge of Mare Imbrium well into the shadow but the tops of their walls are in morning light. The central peak in Gassende is visible although most of the crater floor is still in shadow. Three rays are visible out of Tycho.

Target Double Cluster, NGC869 & NGC884 Constellation Per Category DSO: OCl Time 20061002 EDT Comments The clusters looked nice in Peter’s scope filling the center of the FOV. NGC869 appears as a ring of bright stars filled with stardust. NGC884 is two bright stars surrounded by stardust. Of the two 884 is richer but 869 is easier seen and more spectacular, if that word can be used to describe it.

Target The Andromeda Galazy, M31, & M32 Constellation And Category DSO: Gal Time 20061002 EDT Comments Now that I know what I am looking for M32 is easy to identify in the telescopes. I don’t think I will ever see it in my binocular from NYC.

Target The Ring Nebula, M57 Constellation Lyr Category DSO: Supernova Remnant Time 20061002 EDT Comments I saw a smudge once in Peter's scope but neither of us saw it in my binocular.

Target Mesarthim, γ Ari Constellation Ari Category Double Star Time 20061002 EDT Comments I could not split it but the flare pattern around it indicated to me that it was a double star.

Target Castor and Pollux Ari Constellation Gem Category Constellationr Time 20061003.0113 EDT Comments As we were leaving we saw Castor and Pollux above the trees. They are laying there a little bit head down with Pollux rising after most of the rest of the constellation.