9 December 2006

Observing Location	Bryant Park, New York, NY
Observational Period	0200-0215 EST
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Clear Temperature Wind Calm Humidity Low Feels Like Cold I had planned to observe from the front of the NYPL but found that the Sun was too far west to be seen from there so had to move into the park behind the library (which is built over part of the library's stacks). Even from there I was having trouble seeing the Sun and found that on my only reasonable sight line the Sun was setting into the exhaust from a chimney and the heat made observation impossible. I waited until the Sun moved past the chimney but there was still air movement from the roofs of the buildings it was setting into. It seems strange for the Sun to be dropping behind buildings this early in the day, but my calendar reminds me that the earliest sunsets of the year occur between 1Dec and 14Dec at 1628 EST. Transparency Good Seeing IV
Instruments	Canon 15x50 IS binocular w/Baader AstroSolar filter film - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target Sunspots Constellation Oph Category Solar Time 20061209.1400 EST Comments Heliographic Latitude (B0) -0.21° Heliographic Longitude (L0) 31.28° Position Angle (P) +12.58° Carrington rotation number (CR) 2050   Groups Spots R North 0 0 0 South 1 1 11 Total 1 1 11 R = (Groups * 10) + Spots) With the poor seeing I am sure that there was one large spot there but not much more than that. I did look for other spots around Group 930 and elsewhere. Although I was not able to see any, I would be pushing it to say that there were none. Group 930 Heliographic Latitude -8° Heliographic Longitude 13° Mcintosh System Hhx The umbra appears very round and surrounded by a very broad penumbra. I did not detect any smaller spots in the group.

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Observing Location	Robert Wagner Park, New York, NY
Observational Period	1900-2200 EST
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Clear Temperature Wind Light Breeze Humidity Moderate Feels Like Cold There were a couple of thin clouds out over the harbor but they were higher then the Space Shuttle was supposed to be. Focusing on a star just to get the binoculars focused I observed considerable scintillation. Transparency Good Seeing III
Instruments	Canon 15x50 IS binocular - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target Launch of Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-116) Constellation Cet & Scl Category Satellite Time 20061209.2055 EST Comments I started out the session in the Winter Garden at the World Financial Center listening to the NASA broadcast being rebroadcast on the amateur radio. Shortly before 2030 EST I moved outdoors and began walking south looking for a place from which to make my observations. I ended up, as I thought I would, at Wagner Park just north of Pier A, the old fireboat pure that separates Battery Park from Wagner Park. In hindsight I probably should have gone all the way down to Battery Park. I told everyone who passed about the event but most of the people in the area were foreigners who had limited command of the English language and weren't sure what I was trying to communicate. A Russian couple who has a relative who works for the Russian space industry decided to stay to see the event. I unplugged the headphones from the radio so we could all hear the countdown. The HoSARC Repeater timed out within the last minute of the countdown and when I realized it and switched to another Repeater I found that the launch had already taken place. When they called two minutes to Main Engine Cutoff (MECO) I started scanning the skies from west to east. I quickly came across an orange spot that I suspected was the Shuttle but I wasn't certain enough of that to stay with it. A few moments later I easily saw it naked-eye and was sure that is what it was and confirmed it with the binocular. Naked-eye it looked like a moving Aldeberan. In the binocular I could see a fan of orange light that appeared to break into individual rays of light as they moved away from the direction of travel. I probably observed the craft through the binocular for 30-60 seconds before it disappeared behind the hose tower of the fireboat pier. MECO did not occur until after it had gone behind the firehouse so had I been south of Pier A I would have definitely seen the shuttle longer and might have observed MECO and possibly separation from the external tank. Once I had positively identified the Shuttle I alerted the Russians and they saw it naked-eye. I hurried off to my sea chanty sing and reported over the repeater frequency that I had observed the Shuttle and one of the guys ran up to his roof to see it but this was already well after MECO.