4 May 2007

Observing Location	VP
Observational Period	1200-1215 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Broken Clouds Cirrus and Altostratus Temperature 65°F Wind Calm Humidity Low Feels Like Nice It is mostly cloudy this afternoon, but the clouds are thin and not a problem for solar observing. It was supposed to be food weather all weekend and I had hoped to have gotten a lot of observing in, especially them Moon and Mare Orientale, but it doesn’t look that way now. CSC says it will clear off tonight and it might be salvaged but tomorrow is looking abysmal as well as Sunday night and the next chance at the Moon looks like it will be early Monday morning. Transparency Fair Seeing II
Instruments	Brunton 8x21 compact binocular w/Welco gold shade 14 welder's filter - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target Sunspots Constellation Ari Category Solar Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20070504.1200 EDT Comments Distance Light Time 1.00 AU 8ms Angular Size 31'46.6" Altitude 63.4° Heliographic Latitude (B0) -3.84° Heliographic Longitude (L0) 268.59° Position Angle (P) -23.53° Carrington rotation number (CR) 2056   Groups Spots R North 0 0 0 South 1 1 11 Total 1 1 11 R = (Groups * 10) + Spots) With the small binocular I can only see one large spot with a hint of penumbra. Group 953 Heliographic Latitude -7° Heliographic Longitude 297° Carrington rotation number (CR) 2056 Mcintosh System Chx I can see the spot and get a hint of penumbra around it but can’t tell anything more about it.

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Observing Location	CSP
Observational Period	2030-0130 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Clear Temperature 50s F Wind Light Breeze gusting to Moderate Breeze becoming Calm Humidity Low Feels Like Cool Transparency Excellent Seeing II
Instruments	Canon 15x50 IS binocular - Charlie Takahashi 102 refractor - Peter
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway Peter Tagatac

It has been a long time since this session so I am sure I am forgetting things that weren’t in my notes, especially the weather.

We wanted to try for Mare Orientale but the Moon is rising later in the night so I suggested CSP which has a lower horizon and where we don’t have problems with breaking curfew. Peter doesn’t like the site because the park is cantilevered over the FDR Drive and there is a lot of vibration that bounces his scope around. I had suggested that we might try going down into the basketball court/skating rink or back into the trees where we are not over the highway. We agreed to give it a try. When I arrived there were some kids playing basketball on the court and I found Peter already set up over the highway and interpreting for the public. I thought we might move back later in the night after the kids left but we didn’t. I needed to get home at a somewhat reasonable hour as I had a commitment for a radio club work party the following morning so we started packing up around 0100 and were gone before 0200. It was a long walk up to the subway though and I didn’t get home much earlier than I had the previous night, which was very late.

Target Iota Cnc Constellation Cnc Category Double Star Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20070504.2030 EDT Comments A double star that is unequal in magnitude and yellow/turquoise, looking very much like Alberio.

Target Struve 1291 Constellation Cnc Category Double Star Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20070504.2040 EDT Comments We were not able to split this double in my binocular.

Target &signm;1 - σ4 Cnc Constellation Cnc Category Stars Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20070504.2045 EDT Comments There are lots of stars in Cnc that have subscripted names and I don’t know what the significance is. Are they just similar looking stars that appear to be doubles or are they really very wide doubles? One of these days I will need to do some reading on Cancer and see if my guidebooks contain any clues to the multiplicity.

Target φ1 & φ2 Cnc Constellation Cnc Category Stars Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20070504.2050 EDT Comments Another set of stars with subscripted names.

Target υ1 & υ2 Cnc Constellation Cnc Category Stars Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20070504.2200 EDT Comments Another pair of subscripted stars.

Target M44, Praesape, The Beehive Cluster, NGC 2632 Constellation Cnc Category DSO: OCl Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20070504.2215 EDT Comments The background stars look faint blue.

Target M67, NGC 2682 Constellation Cnc Category DSO: OCl Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20070504.2230 EDT Comments Peter says the surface brightness of this object is too low for me to see it but I think I say something there. I know it was in the FoV and I saw two faint but easily seen stars in the proper orientation and several fainter stars that came and went around those two.

Target Moon Constellation Sco Category Lunar Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20070504.2252 EDT Comments Lunation 1043 Phase Waning Gibbous Age 17.64d Distance Light Time (from earth) 399,348 km s Elongation ° % Illuminated 93.3% Morning Terminator Colongitude (λ E) Evening Terminator Colongitude (λ W) Magnitude -12.55 Angular Size 29'92" Altitude 1°35’ Starry Night Starter graphic The Moon rose to the lower left of Antares and the lower right of Jupiter. There was a lot of boiling along the western, lower limb which looks like an old dot matrix letter without anti-aliasing. We have been seeing flocks of birds passing between us and the Moon. They have thinned out now and are single birds, pairs of birds or small groups. They always fly south to north so must be “snow birds” that are migrating back up to Canada for the summer. The terminator is passing down through Endymion, Cleomedes, Mare Crisium, Mare Fecundlitatis, and Petavius. There is a nice ring of shadow inside the western rim of Mare Crisium. There is a single point of light on the eastern wall of Cleomedes. There appears to be a low point in the wall of Mare Crisium that is letting light through and casting shadows of two steep peaks in the area of Proclus. Dorsa Mason is very evident on the floor of Mare Fecunditatis. LAC plate 80 detail

I am sure we also looked at Venus, Saturn and Jupiter, although they don’t appear in my notes. We had wanted to try for (4) Vesta, which is supposed to be naked eye (from a dark sky – not from NYC) near Lyra, but forgot about it when it came to the end of the night.