4 January 2007

Observing Location	SIBL
Observational Period	1345-1400 EST
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Clear Temperature 53°F Wind 7 MPH Humidity Low Feels Like Mild It was very cloudy this morning but all of that has burned off for a while. It is supposed to start raining tonight though and continue for the next week or so. Transparency Good Seeing II
Instruments	Brunton 8x21 compact binocular w/Welco gold welder’s filter - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target Sunspots Constellation Sgr Category Solar Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20070104.1345 EST Comments Distance Light Time 0.983 AU 8m11s Angular Size 32'32” Heliographic Latitude (B0) -3.41° Heliographic Longitude (L0) 49.46° Position Angle (P) +0.42° Carrington rotation number (CR) 2051 It was hard to hold the tiny binocular still enough to make a good observation. I could see the big spots but not the small ones.   Groups Spots R North 0 0 0 South 2 2 22 Total 2 2 22 R = (Groups * 10) + Spots) Group 933 Heliographic Latitude -6° Heliographic Longitude 30° Mcintosh System Hhx All I could see of this spot was the P spot surrounded by penumbra. Group 930 Heliographic Latitude -8° Heliographic Longitude 17° Mcintosh System Hhx This spot looks nearly as large as the P spot of group 933 and is surrounded by a broad penumbra.

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SpaceWeather.com says there is a new comet out there, C/2006 P1 (McNaught), that is visible naked-eye (from a dark sky site) and has the potential to get brighter. It makes its closest approach to Earth on 13Jan07.

SpaceWeather.com graphic

Here is the ephemeris.

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I see a new sky guide from Sky Publishing advertised in their Jan07 issue of S&T. It is called Binocular Highlights and is the same form factor as their Pocket Sky Atlas so will be easy to deal with in the field. It has information on observing 99 objects (Amazon says only 96) with binoculars (how big?) in light-polluted skies. There is a 1/3 page finder chart for the object(s) with the binocular FoV marked with a black background on a two-tone blue sky and a half page of text about the item(s).
ISBN. 978-1931559430, $24.95 (Amazon says it is not out yet but you can order it from them anyway for $16.47

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There are two stories in the news today about how this winter has been warmer than usual. CNN says this is the first time since 1877 that NYC has not had snow by this late into the winter. And the BBC says that the British meteorological service is predicting that 2007 will be the warmest year on record, exceeding the record just established for 2006.

BBC graphic But the Bush administration still says that there isn't any global warming going on. That would be bad for industry.

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Observing Location	SIBL
Observational Period	1800-1815 EST
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Clear Temperature high 50s F Wind Calm Humidity Moderate Feels Like Cool Transparency Good Seeing
Instruments	Naked-eye observing - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target Iridium 64 Flare Constellation Cam Category Satellite Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20070104.1812 EST Comments This Mag -8 flare was brighter than any of the building lights I could see. It started to brighten slowly then sped up and died out very quickly. I found that my PDA clock was two minutes different from my watch. The PDA had just been synchronized today and one of the things it does is reset its clock to my computer's clock, which is automatically synchronized with an internet time server. A subsequent check of my computer clock shows that at agrees with my watch which agreed with the actual flare.

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Observing Location	MetOval
Observational Period	2100-2145 EST
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Scattered Clouds becoming Broken Clouds Temperature 55°F Wind Calm Humidity Low Feels Like Chilly The clouds started to build while I sat there and eventually covered the Moon. They weren't that thick but the seeing wasn't that great so it didn't pay to fight it. The temperature was mild but when I got home the skin of my hands felt cold against other skin that wasn't exposed. I got out my IR thermometer and found that the temperature of the skin on the tops of my fingers was as low as 73°F. Transparency Good Seeing III
Instruments	Canon 15x50 IS binocular (hand held) - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target Moon Constellation Cnc Category Lunar Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20070104.2100 EST Comments Lunation 1039 Phase Waning Gibbous Age 15d11h58m Distance Light Time (from earth) 385,000 km 1.28s Elongation 161.42°W % Illuminated 97.4% Magnitude -12.3 Angular Size 31'04" Altitude 32.30° The terminator appeared to stretch from around Endymion in the N down to around Pontecoulant in the S. Rays are in evidence around Tycho, Copernicus, Kepler, and the single eat passing through Mare Serenitatis Plato and Grimaldi are the darkest features tonight. There are several chalky-white features tonight including Aristarchus, Proclus and Tycho. Less bright are the Riphaeus Mountains, Kepler and Copernicus. I was able to locate Theophilus and Cyrillus fairly easily but Catharina took a lot of looking. Nearby Fracastorius appears darker than Mare Nectaris which it adjoins. I found Beaumont. There is a slight hint of shadow developing on the eastern side of the Altai Scarp. Over toward the terminator Langernus, Vendelinus and Petavius were easily seen. I identified Reiner. Archimedes is very indistinct and looks more like a dome than a crater. Gassendi was also hard to locate.

I thought I should take these pictures since they may be the only snow I see this year.

And here is one to remind us of the Polar bears whose lives are being threatened due to shrinkage of the ice sheets up in Alaska (and Canada, but they are not our concern). The Department of the Interior assures us that this is not due to industrial activities on the North Slope and can’t comment on any relationship to global warming, which they say is out of their department's purview, both of which would be bad for business. But industry has nothing to worry about. The administration has a year to massage the science before anything will have to be done and Bush still has two years in office. And he is a lame duck so you know he will give away the store between the 2008 election and the end of his term.