13 May 2007

Observing Location	TXM: Taylor Ave, Cross Bronx Expressway, & McGraw Ave, Bronx, NY I am observing enough here, and anticipate that that will continue, that I am giving the location an acronym and will be adding it to my Locations list and map.
Observational Period	1000-1015 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Clear Temperature 60s F Wind Light Breeze Humidity Low Feels Like Mild Conditions were great but the Sun was still below the tree line from the benches near my bus stop and I could not locate any spots through the blowing leaves. Transparency Excellent Seeing
Instruments	Canon 15x50 IS binocular w/Baader AstroSolar filter film - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

---

Observing Location	HoS
Observational Period	1045-1100 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Clear Temperature low 60s F Wind Light Breeze Humidity Low Feels Like Mild Great conditions. Transparency Excellent Seeing I
Instruments	Canon 15x50 IS binocular w/Baader AstroSolar filter film - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Ari Target Sunspots Constellation Category Solar Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20070513.1045 EDT Comments Distance Light Time 1.010415 AU 8ms Angular Size 31'42.5" Altitude 55.1° Heliographic Latitude (B0) -2.87° Heliographic Longitude (L0) 150.29° Position Angle (P) -21.45° Carrington rotation number (CR) 2056 I found one group that looked like a single spot until I found a p spot a good distance ahead of the main spot.   Groups Spots R North 0 0 0 South 1 2 12 Total 1 2 12 R = (Groups * 10) + Spots) Group 955 Heliographic Latitude -9° Heliographic Longitude 188° Carrington rotation number (CR) 2056 Mcintosh System Bxo

---

Observing Location	HoS
Observational Period	1800-1815 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Clear Temperature 64°F Wind Calm Humidity Low Feels Like Warm It appears like it might be a bit hazy. Transparency Excellent Seeing
Instruments	Canon 15x50 IS binocular w/Baader AstroSolar filter film - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target Sunspots Constellation Ari Category Solar Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20070513.1800 EDT Comments Distance Light Time 1.010502 AU 8ms Angular Size 31'43.2" Altitude 21.6° Heliographic Latitude (B0) -2.84° Heliographic Longitude (L0) 146.29° Position Angle (P) -21.37° Carrington rotation number (CR) 2056 Nothing has changed since this morning save the rotation of the Sun as it moves to the west.   Groups Spots R North 0 0 0 South 1 2 12 Total 1 2 12 R = (Groups * 10) + Spots) Group 955 Heliographic Latitude -5° Heliographic Longitude 186° Carrington rotation number (CR) 2056 Mcintosh System Bxo

---

Observing Location	TotL
Observational Period	2045-0100 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Clear Temperature 64°-57°F Wind Light Breeze Humidity Low Feels Like Pleasantly cool Although it felt dry my bags felt moist at the end of the night. That may have been due to the moisture in the air from the lawn sprinklers. It didn’t apprear to be as transparent as it was supposed to have been but it was getting better around 0030 EDT when the police captain stopped on his way out to dinner to make sure I was aware that the park closes at 0100 EDT. Transparency Good Seeing II
Instruments	Canon 15x50 IS binocular - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway Peters friend the medical student

I see in Starry Night Starter that Mercury was just setting behind the buildings along CPW when I arrived. It shouldn’t be long before it will be observable. It will be right next to the young crescent Moon on the 17th so that might be a night to go to BP for a low western horizon, except that NOAA is saying 50% clouds and a chance of rain that night.

Target Venus Constellation Gem Category Planet Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20070513.2055 EDT Comments Object Class Classical Planet Phase Waning Gibbous Elongation ° % Illuminated 62% Distance Light Time (from Earth) AU ms Distance (from Sun) Au Angular Size 18.6" Magnitude -4.15 Altitude 27°58’ Meridian graphic There was a lot of flare but the disc looked flattened on the side toward the Sun, which is opposite to what it really is.

Target Saturn Constellation Leo Category Planet Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20070513.2055 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 +0.4 Altitude 55°7’ Starry Night Starter graphic I saw a moon about 5 saturn diameters above the ring plane that I assumed was Titan but find that it was Rhea. Titam was off the plane of the rings toward the west. At 2253 EDT I picked up another moon of Saturn off the leading edge of the rings which must have been Tital. My notes don’t say how far out ahead of the rings the moon was but Starry Night Starter does not show any field stars in that neighborhood. While observing Saturn a satellite lit up in the upper portion oif the FoV and had faded before it crossed the chord.

Target Meteor Constellation Leo Category Comets, Asteroids, Meteors Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20070513.2109 EDT Comments While looking between Leo and Gemini a meteor blazed across the FoV from E to W. It was yellow and filled the entire FoV so the tail must have been at least 4° long. It could have been either a Sagittarids or an Aquarids.

Target M51, Whirlpool Galaxy, NGC 5194 Constellation CVn Category DSO: SpGal Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20070513.2151 EDT Comments NS Starry Night Starter says the magnitude of this extended object is 8 which would be getting close to the limiting magnitude of my binocular with my eye when I am looking at stars.

Target M57, Ring Nebula, NGC 6720 Constellation Lyr Category DSL: PlNeb Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 2007 EDT Comments Not Seen I don’t think I have ever seen M57 from TotL with my binocular so it didn’t surprise me that I didn’t see it right above the trees.

Target M13, Hercules Cluster, NGC 6205 Constellation Her Category DSO: OCl Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20070513.2232 EDT Comments Not Seen This was a real shocker. I have never not seen M13 before. While we were looking I found that the stars didn’t want to focus for me and remembered that this evening the image stabilization was shutting down quickly so figured my batteries might be running down. After changing the batteries everything focused fine, but we still didn’t see M13. Later in the evening (20070514.0030 EST) I found it easily as a big bright cotton ball. I pointed the hand held binocular up there and dropped it right on the cluster. Even though two of us were looking for it I don’t think we were on the right chunk of sky during the first attempt.

Target Cygnus Constellation Cyg Category Constellation Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20070513.2303 EDT Comments I did some star hopping in and around Cygnus, primarily in the back end. ~4.75° above Deneb I found a golden star (30 Cyg) with a pair of gold stars oriented 11:00-5:00 (30 & 31 Cyg) to its 4:00. 31 Cyg has a faint blue star to its 4:00. There is what appears to be an open cluster of stars above and to the left of Deneb around ω1 Cyg, ω2 Cyg and 41 Cyg. North American Nebula, NGC 7000 and Pelican Nebula, IC 5070 – Not Seen Cartes du Diel graphic

2317 EDT – Infield sprinklers ON for the NE ballfield below TotL.

2319 EDT – Infield sprinklers OFF.

23-31 EDT – Infield sprinklers ON for the N ballfields above TotL.

Target Stock 1 Constellation Vul Category DSO: OCl Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20070513.2331 EDT Comments Large, sparse cluster of medium brightness stars

2334 EDT – Infield sprinklers OFF.

Target Meteor Constellation Cyg Category Comets, Asteroids, Meteors Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20070513.2336 EDT Comments A meteor appeared and quickly disappeared right below Deneb.

Target M29, NGC 3913 & Berk 86 Constellation Cyg Category DSO: OCl Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20070513.23.54 EDT Comments Cartes du Diel graphic

Target Jupiter Constellation Oph Category Planet Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 2007 EDT Comments Object Class Classical Planet Elongation ° Distance Light Time (from Earth) AU ms Distance (from Sun) Au Angular Size 44.9” Magnitude -2.53 Central Meridian I/II 19.87°/353.85° Altitude 17°52’ Moons Starry Night Starter graphic Jupiter looks very big and bright tonight. It is slightly lower in the sky than nearby Antares. There is a field star , HIP 83629, directly above the leading moon, Callisto, that looks like a 5th moon. I may see a gray stripe across the planet in the plane of the moons.

Target M4, NGC 6121 Constellation Sco Category DSO: GCl Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20070514.0003 EDT Comments Not Seen I don’t remember ever having seen this object with my binocular. Starry Night Starter says it is Mag 7.5 so might be pushing it for a globular.

Target Naked-eye Limiting Magnitude assessment Constellation Category Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20070514.0033 EDT Comments I could see all of the stick figure stars of UMi but could not locate Pherkad Minor even after I had seen it in the binocular and knew where to look for it. I counted seven stars in CrB. I could see all of the stars in the head of Leo in addition to the body stars.

0044 EDT – NE outfield sprinklers ON.