10 January 2007

Observing Location	Parkchester subway station
Observational Period	0610-0710 EST
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Scattered Clouds Temperature 33°F Wind Light Breeze Humidity Moderate Feels Like 28°F Wind Chill It was not a good morning for observing. I never found Mars. There were thick clouds on the horizon. Transparency Fair Seeing II
Instruments	Canon 15x50 IS binocular - Charlie Minolta X700 SLR w/500mm catadioptric lens - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

0427 EST	Jupiter Rises (-1.8m)
0522 EST	Pluto Rises (14.0m)
0542 EST	Mars Rises (1.5m) Astronomical Twilight Begins
0554 EST	Altair Rises (0.76m)

Target Moon Constellation Category Lunar Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20070110.0600 EST Comments 20d20h58m Lunation 1039 Phase Waning Gibbous Last Quarter -1d1h45m Age Distance Light Time (from earth) 400,000 km 1.33S Elongation 101.59° % Illuminated 60.0% Magnitude -10.5 Angular Size 29'55" Altitude 41.93° I stopped off along the way and made some pictures of the near-First quarter Moon as insurance in case they got the forecast for tomorrow wrong. The last time I made quarter moon photographs I was surprised that the terminator was not vertical when the first quarter Moon transited. I had figured that since the first quarter Moon was tipped to the east in the evening, today's near last quarter Moon, transiting in the morning, would be tipped to the west. But this Moon is also tipped to the east. I remembered back to yesterday afternoon when I rotated that first picture to vertical in Photoshop and I did it in two 10° increments followed by a few 1° increments. So what I am seeing is the tilt of Earth's axis. To prove this theory to myself I looked up the quarter moon closest to the equinoxes and solstices and found that at the time of transit: 2 0 0 7 Vernal Equinox Summer Solstice Autumnal Equinox Winter Solstice 20Mar07 1907 EDT 21Jun07 1306 EDT 23Sep07 0451 EDT 22Dec07 0208 EST First Quarter First Quarter First Quarter First Quarter 25Mar07 1917 EDT 22Jun07 1910 EDT 19Sep07 1900 EDT 17Dec07 1815 EST 2 0 0 8 Vernal Equinox Summer Solstice Autumnal Equinox Winter Solstice 20Mar08 0048 EDT 20Jun08 1859 EDT 22Sep08 1044 EDT 21Dec07 0804 EST First Quarter Last Quarter Last Quarter Last Quarter 14Mar08 1931 EDT 26Jun08 0646 EDT 22Sep08 0702 EDT 19Dec08 0649 EST 2 0 0 9 Vernal Equinox Summer Solstice Autumnal Equinox Winter Solstice 20Mar09 0644 EDT 21Jun09 0045 EDT 22Sep09 1618 EDT 21Dec09 1246 EST First Quarter Last Quarter Last Quarter Last Quarter 18Mar09 0648 EDT 29Jun09 1907 EDT 26Sep09 1926 EDT 24Dec09 1754 EST Cartes du Ciel graphics After I got everything nice and clean I figured I should extend the study out at least another year to show that the observation does repeat from year to year. And it does not. The terminator at time of transit on the equinoxes is always nearly vertical. The terminator of first quarter moons on the solstices always point in opposite directions. The terminator of last quarter moons on solstices also point in opposite directions. But the terminator of the last quarter summer solstice moon in 2008 points in the opposite direction from the similar moon a year later. And the same thing is true of winter solstice last quarter moons in 2009 and 2009. I am back to square one again. The only generalization I can draw is that the terminator of the quarter moon nearest an equinox will be vertical and that those of the quarter moons nearest the solstices will be inclined to one direction or the other at an angle of 20°-25°. I realized while creating the images in Cartes du Ciel that I have no idea how that program deals with time, specifically Daylight Saving Time. And the December events are Standard Time while all of the other events are Daylight Saving Time. I am going to treat the December events as though they were Dayling Saving Time just because it will be easier to recreate three images than nine.

0615 EST	Astronomical Twilight Ends Nautical Twilight Begins
0639 EST	Kaus Borealis, λ Sgr, Rises (2.82m)
0641 EST	Nash, γ Sgr Rises (2.98m)
0648 EST	C/2006 P1 (McNaught) Rises (2.8m)
0649 EST	Nautical Twilight Ends Civil Twilight Begins

Target C/2006 P1 (McNaught) Constellation Aql Category Comets/Asteroids/Meteors Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 2007 EST Comments Not Seen Where I wasn't able to see brighter Mars I was not surprised that I wasn't able to locate the comet again this morning.

0719 EST

Civil Twilight Ends sun Rises

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Observing Location	BPO
Observational Period	1630-1745 EST
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Scattered Clouds Temperature 33°F Wind 12 MPH gusting to 26 MPH Humidity Low Feels Like Cold There were low clouds on the eastern horizon. The wind was strong, buffeting the tripod and watering the eyes. Transparency Good Seeing II
Instruments	SAR: Coulter CT-100 Newtonian reflector - Charlie Celestron Omni 20mm Celestron Omni 2x Barlow Canon 15x50 IS binocular w/Baader AstroSolar filter film - Charlie Minolta X700 SLR w/500mm catadioptric lens and 2x telextender
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway Amy from CSP

Target Sunspots Constellation Sgr Category Solar Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20070110.1630 EST Comments Distance Light Time 0.983 AU 8m11s Angular Size 32'32” Heliographic Latitude (B0) -4.08° Heliographic Longitude (L0) 328.94° Position Angle (P) -2.52° Carrington rotation number (CR) 2052 By the time MTA eventually got me there the Sun was too low into the haze to see it well. I could see one large spot toward the center of the disk and a smaller spot preceding it. There was a new group shown on the SpaceWeather index map but I did not are it.   Groups Spots R North 0 0 0 South 2 2 22 Total 2 2 22 R = (Groups * 10) + Spots)

1647 EST	Sun Sets Civil Twilight Begins

Target Venus Constellation Cap Category Planet Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20070110.1655 EST Comments Object Class Classical Planet Phase Waning Gibbous Elongation 18.27° % Illuminated 95.3% Magnitude -3.9 Altitude 11.85° Distance Light Time (from Earth) 1.59 AU 13m15s Distance (from Sun) 0.728 AU I found Venus shortly after sunset and used it as a base for searching for the comet.

Target C/2006 P1 (McNaught) Constellation Aql Category Comets/Asteroids/Meteors Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20070110.1505 EST Comments It took longer after sunset today but I easily saw the comet when I slewed over it trying to see what Amy thought she might be seeing. It seemed to be much farther north tonight than it was last night but since I was not seeing it against background stars, and my geographic reference had changed, I can't be sure of that. It did move to the north faster than Venus seemed to. The tail seemed longer tonight and I estimated it at about 1.5°. It was visible naked-eye until 1730 EST when it set into the cloud bank at 0.75° altitude.

Target Iridium 81 Flare Constellation Category Satellite Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20070110.1713 EST Comments Not Seen I forgot about this Mag -5 flare.

1717 EST	Civi Twilight Ends Nautical Twilight Begins
1737 EST	C/2006 P1 (McNaught) Sets (2.6m)
1751 EST	Nautical Twilight Ends Astronomical Twilight Begins
1812 EST	Venus Sets (-3.9m)
1824 EST	Astronomical Twilight Ends