21 June 2007

Observing Location	McGraw Hill Building, Rockefeller Center, New York, NY
Observational Period	1200-1315 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Clear Temperature 75°F Wind Calm Humidity Low Feels Like Very warm in the sun Excellent weather for an alignment. Transparency Good Seeing
Instruments	Nikon CoolPin 990 digital camera
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway Peter Tagatac Kin Lee

Target Sunspots Constellation Tau Category Solar Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20070620.1200 EDT Comments Distance Light Time 1.016221 AU 8ms Angular Size 31'31.6" Altitude 69.4° Heliographic Latitude (B0) 1.76° Heliographic Longitude (L0) 353.52° Position Angle (P) -7.07° Carrington rotation number (CR) 2058 Nothing was seen.   Groups Spots R North 0 0 0 South 0 0 0 Total 0 0 0 R = (Groups * 10) + Spots)

Target Sun Aligned with McGraw Hill Sun Triangle Constellation Tau Category Alignment Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 2007 EDT Comments The sun aligned with the McGraw Hill Sun Triangle sculpture at 1256 EDT today. It wasn’t as well attended as some of the other alignments I have done here although the weather was great for it. There were a couple of the requisite “Druids” on hand complete with stone encrusted jewelry. A few people dutifully arrived at noon as advertised on the descriptive plaques and wondered why the alignment wasn’t taking place. One guy asked it they didn’t have daylight savings time when the sculpture was installed that it was not properly aligned. The crowd gathered under the end of the sculpture so there wasn’t a good place to make pictures from there until after the moment had passed and most of them seemed to just evaporate. I spent most of my time behind the sculpture concentrating on the shadow but it was even hard to get a picture there since people needed to stand in the shadow to have their picture taken. 1200 EDT 1251 EDT 1254 EDT 1255 EDT 1257 EDT 1301 Evidence that NYC is not on its time zone’s central meridian.

Target STS-117 Landing Constellation Category Satellite Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20070620.1354 EDT Comments Kin had been jumping on the public Wi-Fi in the pit where the sculptute is mounted and found out that NASA has waved off the Shuttle landing attempts for today. Maybe we will have another chance to see t it and the ISS pass overhead again tonight.

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Observing Location	Bryant Park, New York, NY
Observational Period	1345-1400 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Clear Temperature 78°F Wind Light Breeze Humidity Low Feels Like Warm Transparency Good Seeing
Instruments	Canon 15x50 IS binocular w/Baader AstroSolar filter film - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target Venus Constellation Category Planet Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 2007 EDT Comments Object Class Classical Planet Phase Elongation ° % Illuminated % Distance Light Time (from Earth) AU ms Distance (from Sun) Au Angular Size " Magnitude Altitude ° Peter and I had tried to find Venus after the alignment but thought it was probably behind the Rockefeller Center buildings. When I got down to Bryant Park I gave it another try before going into the library for my lecture and wasn’t able to find it from there either although the sky was much more open there.

Target Summer Solstice Constellation Category Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20070621.1406 EDT Comments The arrival of summer went unheralded as I was negotiating security at the NYPL.

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I had thought that I might have another opportunity to see STS-117 and ISS fly overhead tonight but before I got on the subway I saw people with wet shirts and umbrellas. When I got home the sky was mostly obscured except over to the west and shortly after sunset we had a great thunderstorm with some heavy rain. I think later in the evening I might have seen Jupiter through the trees out my bedroom window, but NOAA was reporting that the skies were mostly cloudy to overcast all night.