20 March 2007

20 March 2007

Observing LocationMcGraw Hill Building, Avenue of the Americas @ 47 St, New York, NY
Observational Period1200-1400 EST
Atmospheric Conditions
Cloud CoverClear
Temperature48°F
WindCalm
gusting to
Light Breeze
HumidityLow
Feels LikeEarly Spring

TransparencyGood
Seeing
InstrumentsNikon CoolPix 990 digital camera w/E63 wide angle converter – Charlie Nikon CoolPix 995 digital camera - Peter
Observing PartyCharlie Ridgway Peter Tagatac

TargetSun Aligns with McGraw Hill Sun Triangle
Constellation
CategoryAlignment
Time
yyyymmdd.hhmm
20070320.1303 EST
CommentsTonight is the Vernal Equinox so the sun whould align with the McGraw Hill Sun Triangle at noon today. But because we fiddled with the clock early this month it was due to happen at 1300 EDT. Because NYC is at longitude 74°W and the central meridian for out time zone is 75°W it should have happened about four minutes before the hour. But Peter and I both reconed that it happened about three minutes after the hour by our watches. My watch keeps good time and was reset to WWV on the 3rd of the month in preparation for the change to Daylight Saving Time so I am confident of when the event occurred. Peter says that it wouldn’t be exactly four minutes early because the meridians are a different distance apart at our latitude than they are at the equator and I need to factor in the cosine of the latitude (I think that is what it is). That is more math than I am interested in and even if I did factor it in, the time should still be before the hour rather than after it.

The gathering of people was small today. Nobody from AAA was there and only a handful of people from one of the Rock Center offices. I wonder if people will show up tomorrow because the signs about the sculpture say 21 March.

1205 EDT – First view from above.

1208 EDT – Looking from in front of the McGraw-Hill building to the east.

1209 EDT – Looking head on into the Sun Triangle from the south the way the Sun will do it when it souths.

1210 EDT – Sighting up the upper edge of the Sun Triangle to where the Sun will be at local noon. Lots of dust on the lens that doesn’t bother anything much until you look into the Sun.

1210 EDT – The shadow at the base of the triangle pylon. Peter has pointed out that during the Autumnal Equinox the shadow is out in front of the pylon.

1215 EDT

1230 EDT

1231 EDT

1232 EDT

1245 EDT

1255 EDT

1256 EDT – This is when the sun should have lined up with the triangle.

1300 EDT , Local Noon – This is when the Sun should line up with the triangle and the shadow should be at minimum if we were on our time zone’s central meridian.

1301 EDT

1303 EDT – The moment when the Sun was lined up with the triangle.

1306 EDT

1307 EDT – Already the shadow has expanded on the eastern side.

1314 EDT

1330 EDT

1345 EDT

Peter's posts of the event.

Previous Events




Observing LocationUnion Square Park, New York, NY
Observational Period1430-1445 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions
Cloud CoverClear
Temperature45°F
WindModerate Breeze
HumidityLow
Feels LikeVery Pleasant

TransparencyExcellent
SeeingI
Instruments Brunton 8x21 compact binocular w/Welco gold shade 14 welder's filter - Charlie
Observing PartyCharlie Ridgway

Target Sunspots
ConstellationPsc
CategorySolar
Time
yyyymmdd.hhmm
20070320.1430 EST
Comments
Distance
Light Time
0.906 AU
8m17s
Angular Size32'"
Altitude°
Heliographic Latitude
(B0)
-7.04°
Heliographic Longitude
(L0)
141.27°
Position Angle
(P)
-25.19°
Carrington rotation number
(CR)
2054

Nothing seen again today, but 944 should rotate back onto the disc tomorrow.

 Groups SpotsR
North0 0 0
South0 0 0
Total0 0 0
R = (Groups * 10) + Spots)




The sky is round, and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball, and so are all the stars. The wind, in its greatest power, whirls. Birds make their nests in circles, for theirs is the same religeon as ours . . . Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing and always come back again to Where they were.

Black Elk, Native American




On this date, in the year 1916, Albert Einstein published his General Theory of Relativity



Observing LocationTotL
Observational Period2045-0100 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions
Cloud CoverClear
Temperaturelos 30s F
WindCal,
gusting to
Moderate Breeze
HumidityHigh
Feels Likea raw cold

It was very clear but the sky looked a little gray. The air felt moist. I don’t know if the moisture was coming in off the ocean or if it was just from all of the ice that is still laying around melting, probably a combination of the two. The air was very stable supporting good high power views of Saturn.

TransparencyGood
SeeingI
Instruments Canon 15x50 IS binocular - Charlie
Teleport 10" Donsonisn reflector - Peter
Observing PartyCharlie Ridgway
Peter Tagatac

Peter has been talking about trying to do a Messier Marathon from the City and was planning to try it tonight. He had started before I arrived but kept getting interrupted by people who wanted to see something. He also likes to see people’s reaction when they see the planets so offers to show people things when they say something to him. One of the nearby lights to the west was out so it made the area a little darker than usual. Part way through the night he put a towel around one of the lamps and that improved the situation even more. There was a large police presence in the park tonight but they never bothered us … until around midnight. One of the female officers stopped on her way to the precinct and wanted to make sure we knew the park closes at 0100 EDT. Peter tried to reason with her but that was no use. She threatened us with misdemeanor summonses. Shortly after that dog walker stopped by and told us that he had been given a summons at the exit of the park. He said the police came up behind him blowing the siren and told him they needed to meet their quota. The cop didn’t sound all that friendly and after the dog walker’s experience it didn’t seem like a day to push our luck so we packed up and were down on the transverse road sidewalk by 0100 EDT.

With the exception of M44, all Messier objects were seen in Peter's scope. All Collinders and most NGCs were seen in my binocular.

TargetMoon
ConstellationPsc
CategoryLunar
Time
yyyymmdd.hhmm
20070320.2045 EDT
Comments
Lunation1041
PhaseWaxing Crescent
Age
Distance
Light Time
(from earth)
,000 km
s
Elongation°
% Illuminated%
Magnitude-
Angular Size'"
Altitude°
My Palm has died again so I can’t get statistics on any of the objects until I resurrect it.

I saw the Moon first from my subway station in The Bronx when I got home around 1800 EDT and again when I headed downtown around 1900 EDT. When I arrived at The Great Lawn it was setting next to the Bearsford and from TotL it was already below the tree line so I didn’t get a chance to observe it other than naked eye. It had a creamy appearance. When I saw it in the park earthshine was visible.

TargetVenus
ConstellationAri
CategoryPlanet
Time
yyyymmdd.hhmm
20070320.2045 EDT
Comments
Object
Class
Classical Planet
Phase
Elongation°
% Illuminated%
Distance
Light Time
(from Earth)
AU
ms
Distance
(from Sun)
Au
Angular Size"
Magnitude
Altitude°
Venus appeared to the upper left of the Moon on all occasions when I observed the former. It was very bright and also appeared a little creamy to the naked eye.

TargetM47, NGC 2477
ConstellationPup
CategoryDSO: OCl
Time
yyyymmdd.hhmm
20070321.2057 EDT
Commentslarge and bright

TargetM46, NGC 2437
ConstellationPup
CategoryDSO: OCl
Time
yyyymmdd.hhmm
20070320.2057 EDT
Commentsfaint and rich; bordering on resolving

TargetM50, NGC 2323
ConstellationMon
CategoryDSO: OCl
Time
yyyymmdd.hhmm
20070320.2107 EDT
Commentsloose; a few bright stars with dim stars around; runs off to the left (west)

TargetM93, NGC 2447
ConstellationPup
CategoryDSO: OCl
Time
yyyymmdd.hhmm
20070320.2113 EDT
Commentstwo bright stars, a line of dimmer stars with a scattering of even dimmer stars; very rich

Targetσ Orionis
ConstellationOri
CategoryDouble Star
Time
yyyymmdd.hhmm
20070320.2120 EDT
CommentsIt is actually five stars but I only saw three of them

Target Struve 761
Constellation
Category
Time
yyyymmdd.hhmm
20070320. 2120EDT
Commentsthis is a sliver of a triangle with a close double at the top forming the short side; left of σ Ori

TargetM41, NGC 2287
ConstellationCMa
CategoryDSO: OCl
Time
yyyymmdd.hhmm
20070320.2133 EDT
Commentsfairly dim; to the right of a bright star, 12 CMa

TargetColinder 132, NGC
ConstellationCMa
CategoryDSO: OCl
Time
yyyymmdd.hhmm
20070320.2142 EDT
Commentsvery large and sparse

TargetCR 140
ConstellationCMa
CategoryDSO: OCl
Time
yyyymmdd.hhmm
20070320.2144 EDT
Commentstwo rows of bright stars forming a right angle

TargetNGC 2451
ConstellationPup
CategoryDSO: OCl
Time
yyyymmdd.hhmm
20070320.2151 EDT
Commentsa crescent of stars with one bright orange one

TargetNGC 2477
ConstellationPup
CategoryOCl
Time
yyyymmdd.hhmm
20070320.2155 EDT
CommentsNot Seen

TargetSaturn
ConstellationLeo
CategoryPlanet
Time
yyyymmdd.hhmm
20070320.2213 EDT
Comments
Object
Class
Classical Planet
Elongation°
Distance
Light Time
(from Earth)
AU
hm
Distance
(from Sun)
Au
Angular Size"x"
Ring
Angular
Size
"x"
Ring
Inclination
°
Magnitude
Altitude°
We observed Saturn several times tonight as various groups of passers-by stopped for a look. At high power I could easily see the Cassini division, a band on the planet about half way between the rings and the south pole, a slight gray tinge at the north pole, the C ring in front of the planet and the planet’s shadow on the rings.

TargetCR69m ???
ConstellationPup ???
CategoryDSO: OCl
Time
yyyymmdd.hhmm
20070320.2310 EDT
CommentsI remember looking at this but my notes in the PDA have a garbled identification which is most likely CR 699 but I can’t find any information on that.
three bright stars in a right triangle with a dimmer star above and three dimmer yet stars above the right angle

TargetM105, NGC 3384 & NGC 3371
ConstellationLeo
CategoryDSO: Gal
Time
yyyymmdd.hhmm
20070320. 2320 EDT
Commentstwo unresolved bright spots below a line of three stars

TargetNGC 2264
ConstellationMon
CategoryDSO: OCl
Time
yyyymmdd.hhmm
20070320.2341 EDT
Commentsa bright star and two dimmer stars in a row; very dim stars splattered around the bright star
embedded in the Cone Nebula but no nebulosity was seen

TargetNGC 2254
ConstellationMon
CategoryDSO: OCl
Time
yyyymmdd.hhmm
20070320.23## EDT
CommentsNo time or notes so I don’t know if I actually saw anything

TargetNGC 2244
ConstellationMon
CategoryDSO: OCl
Time
yyyymmdd.hhmm
20070320.2353 EDT
Commentslooks like a bow tie
embedded in the Rosette Nebula but no nebulosity was seen

TargetCr 107 & Cr 106
ConstellationMon
CategoryDSO: OCl
Time
yyyymmdd.hhmm
20070320.2357 EDT
Commentsno notes

TargetM49, NGC 4472
ConstellationVir
CategoryDSO: Gal
Time
yyyymmdd.hhmm
20070320.2400 EDT
Commentsmy notes say it is just off FF but I have no recollection of what FF means
I attempted this object at the end of the night with my binocular but was not able to locate it

TargetM67, NGC 2682
ConstellationCnc
CategoryDSO: OCl
Time
yyyymmdd.hhmm
20070321.0005 EDT
Commentslarge with a lot of unresolved faint stars in the upper left corner
I subsequently found it in my binocular but only saw two or three faint, widely spaced stars

TargetM44, NGC 2632, Praesape, Beehive Cluster
ConstellationCnc
CategoryDSO: OCl
Time
yyyymmdd.hhmm
20070321.0010 EDT
Comments

Disclaimer
This is my personal record of my astronomical observations. It was written for my personal reference. The only reason it is in a blog is that a blog is a very convenient way to get the records formatted more or less uniformly and they will, hopefully, have greater longevity at Google where the servers are backed up than on my hard drive which never gets backed up. I occasionally include copyrighted material in my posts. I do this to make it convenient for me to access things I think I might want to refer to again. I think of this like making a photocopy of something I read that I put in a file where I can find it when I want it. As I understand copyright law, as explained in the DVD series Copyright Compliance by Chip Taylor Communications, this use is allowed under the Fair Use doctrine since I am not making any money on this blog, I don’t publicize the blog, and only occasionally post small excerpts of copyrighted works.


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