24 May 2007

Observing Location	TotL
Observational Period	0845-0015 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Clear Temperature 79°F dropping to 71°F Wind Light Breeze becoming Gentle Breeze Humidity Low Feels Like very comfortable It was really mild after the sun went down and stayed comfortable all evening. The wind picked up out of the SW around 2330 EDT and the sprinklers came on at 0000 EDT. With the wind blowing across the entire length of the unobstructed Great Lawn it had great effect on the sprinklers and there was no place that was safe at TotL. I wasn’t happy with the views from SAR tonight and they went downhill markedly once the wind kicked up. Transparency Good Seeing II - III
Instruments	SAR: Coulter CT-100 Newtonian reflector - Charlie ~24mm Kellner w/helical focuser (18x) Celestron Omni 20mm (21x) Celestron Omni 2x Barlow
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway Kin Kee

Target Mercury Constellation Tau Category Planet Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20070524.2045 EDT Comments Object Class Classical Planet Phase Waning Gibbous Elongation ° % Illuminated 56.4% Distance Light Time (from Earth) AU ms Distance (from Sun) Au Angular Size 6.7" Magnitude -0.19 Altitude 12°11’ Meridian graphic As soon as I got to the Great Lawn I could see Mercury dimly in the twilight. Shortly after I got the scope set up and on it Kin arrived and had some trouble believing that that was what I was seeing. I was not able to detect any phase on it but it did look larger than your average star and somewhat orange. I couldn’t see them, but the planet was between the horns of Taurus. Starry Night Starter graphic

Target Venus Constellation Gem Category Planet Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20070524.2115 EDT Comments Object Class Classical Planet Phase Waning Gibbous Elongation ° % Illuminated 57.7% Distance Light Time (from Earth) AU ms Distance (from Sun) Au Angular Size 20.3" Magnitude -4.21 Altitude 25°13’ Meridian graphic Mercury dropped below the trees so I next moved to Venus, the next planet in order from the Sun and the next one up along the ecliptic. It was all flare in the eyepiece. It forms a nice downward pointing triangle with Castor and Pollux. Starry Night Starter graphic

Target M44, The Beehive Cluster, Praesape Constellation Cnc Category DSO: OCl Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20070524.2120 EDT Comments On the way up to Saturn I stopped at M44. The brighter stars were crisp at low power and it looked like some stardust around them. Many of the stars appear to be paired with other close starts. The center of the cluster looks like a house.

Target Saturn Constellation Leo Category Planet Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20070524.2130 EDT Comments Object Class Classical Planet Elongation ° Distance Light Time (from Earth) AU hm Distance (from Sun) Au Angular Size 17.4 " Ring Angular Size "x" Ring Inclination ° Magnitude +0.49 Altitude 41°39’ Starry Night Starter graphic Climbing farther up the ecliptic I came to Saturn which I only looked at briefly and did not notice any moons during that time. Saturn is still hanging out in front of Leo and it and the Moon are about equidistant on either side of Regulus. Starry Night Starter graphic After this I moved over to TotL proper.

Target Moon Constellation Leo Category Lunar Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20070524.2145 EDT Comments Lunation 1044 Phase Waxing Gibbous Age 8.26d Distance Light Time (from earth) ,000 km s Elongation ° % Illuminated 61.7% Morning Terminator Colongitude (λ E) Evening Terminator Colongitude (λ W) Magnitude -12.11 Angular Size 30.09' Altitude 46°43’ Virtual Moon Atlas graphic I didn’t get much time in actually observing the Moon. Once I got on it people started stopping by. I can see nice shadow behind the Apennine Mountains The Alpine Valley reminds me of the point of an insect pin. They were always very thin and black and that is the impression I get of the valley coming out of the Alps. I can’t see the valley in the Alps. Ptolemaeus, Alphonzus and Arzachel are prominent with Purbach, Regiomontanus and Walter mimicking them a little lower along the terminator. Purbach and Regiomontanus overlap as do Ptolemaeus and Alphonzus but Walter has a cluster of craters in place of Arzachel’s central peak. Albategnius of off to the day side of Ptolemaeus and Deslandres to the night side of Walter. I can identify Hell and Lexell on the floor of Deslandres.

While I was starting to observe the Moon one of the park maintenance guys stopped to ask what he had seen last week. It was a star right next to the Moon. He wasn’t sure when it was but from his description it sounded like it was probably the Moon next to Venus last Saturday night.

No sooner had he left that a cop came up on his scooter saying he knew he would find an astronomer here who could tell him what he had seen over the weekend in Florida. It was a bright object right next to the crescent Moon. Again Venus.

A couple of minutes later a Cushman cop stopped and I told him it was the Moon and Venus without him asking. It turned out to be Matt, the shop steward from the precinct. While we were talking an unmarked car pulled up with four plain clothes officers in it. They stopped and three of them talked to me and looked through the scope at Jupiter and the Moon while the boss talked with Matt. While they were there we heard a cop call in to Central that he was running down Riverside in persuit of a perp. There was a lot of confusion as to where the persuit was taking place and by the time Central got it out of the guy he had the perp. The plane clothes car left shortly before 2330 since it was getting close to the end of their shift. Then Matt’s former partner arrived in another Cushman and stayed for a short while until he needed to get back to the precinct for the end of his shift. Matt left for the same reason around 2345 EDT.

I tried to get back to observing but the wind had really picked up and was moving the scope and the air around.

At 0000 EDT the sprinklers came on right at my feet. I moved across the walk as quickly as possible and didn’t get too wet but with the wind coming out of the SW there was more water blowing across the sidewalk and into the north ballfields than was getting on the fields it was intended for. I picked everything up and at a more favorable alignment of the sprinkler heads made a dash for the benches to the east and packed up.

Target Jupiter Constellation Oph Category Planet Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20070524.2300 EDT Comments Object Class Classical Planet Elongation ° Distance Light Time (from Earth) AU ms Distance (from Sun) Au Angular Size 45.5" Magnitude -2.57 Central Meridian I/II 282.36°/172.71° Altitude 16°43’ Moons Starry Night Starter graphic The cops immediately saw that Antares just to the right of Jupiter was a red star. I had a lot of trouble finding Jupiter and had to go back to the Moon to get the scope focused on something then find some trees and use them for landmarks. Without the finder on the scope it is hard to get it pointed in the right chunk of sky. The view looked best to me with the Kellner but they liked it better with the Barlow which made the view soft.