16 May 2007

Observing Location	VP
Observational Period	1015-1030 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Overcast Temperature 76°F Wind Light Breeze Humidity Moderate Feels Like Hot and humid It was clear out when the alarm went off but by the time I left the house it didn’t look like I would be able to see anything so all I brought along was the Bruntons. It is what we would call Cloudy Bright in photographic terms. The clouds are too thick for me to see any spots. The Sun actually looks like Jupiter with bands running across it. Transparency Abysmal Seeing V+
Instruments	Brunton 8x21 compact binocular w/Welco gold shade 14 welder's filter - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target Sunspots Constellation Tau Category Solar Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20070516.1015 EDT Comments Distance Light Time 1.011073 AU 8ms Angular Size 31'41.3" Altitude 50.4° Heliographic Latitude (B0) -2.53° Heliographic Longitude (L0) 110.88° Position Angle (P) -20.64° Carrington rotation number (CR) 2056 I can find the sun, which is still casting shadows, through the clouds, but they are too thick for me to tell whether or not there are any spots there.   Groups Spots R North 0 0 0 South 0 0 0 Total 0 0 0 R = (Groups * 10) + Spots)

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Observing Location	SIBL
Observational Period	1115-1130 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Overcast Temperature 80°F Wind Gentle Breeze Humidity Moderate Feels Like Hot and humid It is too hot and humid to be sitting and walking around in the sun in my waterproof foul weather gear that I am supposed to need this evening. The clouds are thin enough here that I was able to see the spot through them. Transparency Poor Seeing III
Instruments	Brunton 8x21 compact binocular w/Welco gold shade 14 welder's filter - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target Sunspots Constellation Tau Category Solar Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20070516.1115 EDT Comments Distance Light Time 1.011077 AU 8ms Angular Size 31'41.2" Altitude 60.5° Heliographic Latitude (B0) -2.53° Heliographic Longitude (L0) 110.33° Position Angle (P) -20.63° Carrington rotation number (CR) 2056 I was surprised when I spotted Group 956 on Helio and it said it was a northern hemisphere spot but I checked on Active Region Explorer and it says the same thing (and that it is growing quickly), although it puts it closer to the equator than I did. Active Region Explorer says Group 955 is still hanging out on the western limb. All I can see of 955 in the high resolution SOHO image is a broad area of plage. 956 looks complex and large so I will need to get the Canons or SAR on it. It should still be there by Saturday for International Sidewalk Astronomy Day.   Groups Spots R North 1 1 11 South 0 0 0 Total 1 1 11 R = (Groups * 10) + Spots) Group 956 Heliographic Latitude 10° Heliographic Longitude 57° Carrington rotation number (CR) 2056 Mcintosh System Axx Through the moving clouds and in my moving low magnification binocular, I am just seeing one spot that shows no detail.

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It is New Moon at 1527 EDT (1927 UTC) today. While getting some Sun data out of Starry Night Starter I n0ticed the Moon depicted right near the Sun so I reset the time to the time of New Moon to see how they depict the conjunction.

Starry Night Starter graphic That shows that the Moon and Sun are not conjuncted in RA, which I understand to be the definition of the instant of New Moon. Stepping Starry Night Starter through time I found that the instant if New Moon in that program appears to be sometime around 1800 EST.
Starry Night Starter graphic

I have often felt that the ephemeris data given by Starry Night Starter did not agree with the data given by other programs like Virtual Moon Atlas and Meridian.