7 July 2007

Observing Location	HOS
Observational Period	1100-1115 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Clear with haze Temperature 79°F Wind Calm Humidity Moderate Feels Like Warm and moist Transparency Good Seeing II
Instruments	Canon 15x50 IS binocular w/Baader AstroSolar filter film - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target Sunspots Constellation Category Solar Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 2007 EDT Comments Distance Light Time 1.066666 AU 8ms Angular Size 31'30.8" Altitude 59.1° Heliographic Latitude (B0) 3.54° Heliographic Longitude (L0) 142.29° Position Angle (P) +0.12° Carrington rotation number (CR) 2058 Group 961 is still there but even with the big binocular I can’t see it. The sun’s axis will be aligned with the celestial poles today at 1300. I am guessing that that is why the sun’s position angle went from negative to positive this morning. It was aphelion last night at 2000 EDT. The Sun should gradually ge3et closer and larger.   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	TotL east
Observational Period	2130-0045 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Clear with haze becoming Clear Temperature 78°F Wind Light Breeze Humidity Moderate Feels Like Very pleasant There was just the right combination of temperature, humidity and wind to make it a very pleasant night to be standing outside. It started off very hazy with and cleared off as the night progressed. Transparency Fair Seeing II
Instruments	Canon 15x50 IS binocular - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target Saturn Constellation Leo Category Planet Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20070707.2130 EDT Comments Object Class Classical Planet Elongation ° Distance Light Time (from Earth) AU hm Distance (from Sun) Au Angular Size 16.6" Ring Angular Size "x" Ring Inclination ° Magnitude +0.6 Altitude 11° Starry Night Starter graphic Saturn was just in the same FoV with Venus if you really mashed your eyes into the eyecups and stretched your eye’s limits. I concentrated on it until it sank into the trees. It had an orange hue to it. I was able to see it naked-eye just above the limit of the haze. I was not able to see any of its moons. Starry Night Starter graphic That is ψ Leo next to Saturn and ν Leo next to Venus, neither of which were seen.

Target Venus Constellation Leo Category Planet Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20070707.2130 EDT Comments Object Class Classical Planet Phase Waning Gibbous Elongation ° % Illuminated 30.2% Distance Light Time (from Earth) AU ms Distance (from Sun) Au Angular Size 35.0" Magnitude -4.5 Altitude ° Meridian graphic Venus was very bright and appeared flattened on the NW limb with a strong red chromatic aberration in the flare there. It looked like a bowler hat that is tipped over on its side. I watched it until it disappeared into the trees a good bit further south than where Saturn had disappeared.

Target Jupiter Constellation Oph Category Planet Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20070707.2330 EDT Comments Object Class Classical Planet Elongation ° Distance Light Time (from Earth) AU ms Distance (from Sun) Au Angular Size 44.4" Magnitude -2.5 Central Meridian I/II 339.67°/254.79° Altitude 26° Moons Starry Night Starter graphic All of the moons of Jupiter were arrayed on the western side of the planet. I didn’t realize it at the time, and wouldn’t have been able to have see it in my binocular had I known to look for it, but Ganymede’s shadow was transiting. I had a sense that Callisto was moving away from Jupiter and getting closer to Io, but looking at the locations of the bodies in Starry Night Starter I found that Callisto moved the least of all the moons and actually Io was moving away from it and Jupiter toward it. I created an Excel graph to show the relative motion of the planet and its moons. To get everything to display properly I had to enter the RA as negative values. Object 2130 RA 0030 RA Movement Jupiter 16h 39.225m 16h 39.175m 3.00s Io 16h 39.079m 16h 39.022m 3.42s Europa 16h 38.978m 16h 38.934m 2.64s Ganymede 16h 39.176m 16h 39.086m 5.40s Callisto 16h 39.107m 16h 39.092m 0.90s

Target Antares Constellation Sco Category Star Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20070707.2315 EDT Comments Antares looked like a glowing ember. I knew that there was a Messier object, M4, in the area below Antares but I couldn’t remember whether it was closer to ο Sco or to τ Sco so I didn’t spend a lot of time searching for it. It was not a night to look for globular clusters in the haze anyway.

Target ω1 Sco & ω2 Sco Constellation Sco Category Double Star Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20070707.2330 EDT Comments I could make out the double at about the same brightness level as I remembered Saturn having been.

Target ν Sco Constellation Sco Category Double Star Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20070707.2330 EDT Comments The double was easily seen with dark sky between the two components. I could detect a faint orange color in the secondary but George says he doesn’t see colors well and could not make it out.

Target Graffias Constellation Sco Category Double Star Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20070707.2330 EDT Comments If I had not known that this was a double star I probably whould have missed it. Graffias, β1 Sco, and β2 Sco are too close together to split cleanly in my binocular. Graffias looks slightly elongated and there is a bit of blue where the secondary is.

George arrived shortly after I did. We spent part of the night looking at the planets and the double stars in the head of Scorpius, but most of the time was spent in talking about or previous travels. George has been to most of the places I have been, and many more besides. He is leaving on Monday for a week in Tibet. Around midnight or so another bike rider stopped as we were talking about Chile and was telling us about his native Argentina. It turns out that when I was on my boat tour in Chile we used an airport that was actually across the border in Argentina and I have never known it. I knew we were at the top of the world on a road where you could look down on both sides so had been seeing Chile on the left and Argentina on the right.

When I arrived home I could the waxing Gibbous Moon shining down the street as I walked up toward my building. There was a ring of illuminated haze around it.