17 August 2007

16 August 2007

Observing LocationBelvedere Castle, Central Park, New York, NY
Lat: 40° 46.753’
Long:73° 58.163
I used this location to get a better view of the low ISS pass to the north. It would be a good place to observe if it were not for the area lighting. The patio outside the Castle is well lit and there are big, bright lights mounted on the rocks below the Castle to the north that shine light upward over the face of the Castle. Just to the north of the Castle, across Turtle Pond, is the Delecort Theater which has stage lighting that is visible from the patio. There was also a stripe of orange light along the horizon from the SE through NE. Because of the ambient light and surrounding trees this location is better suited to daytime observing to the NE through SE.
Observational Period2023-2138 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions
Cloud CoverClear
Temperature81°F
WindCalm
HumidityModerate
Feels LikeComfortable

Walking into the park it was warm and humid but it felt cooler and dryer up at the Castle. I don't know if that was a change in overall weather conditions or if it was a ruesult of the increase in elevation and the somewhat more exposed location.

TransparencyGood
Seeing
InstrumentsNaked-eye - Charlie
Observing PartyCharlie Ridgway

TargetIridium 15 Flare
ConstellationLyr?
CategorySatellite
Time
yyyymmdd.hhmm		20070815.2023 EDT
CommentsI arrived at the Castle just in time to turn around and see the satellite begin to flare as it passed below Vega. It was moving north to south.
Mag:-8
Alt:68°
Az:108°
ESE

TargetISS/STS-118 Visible Pass
ConstellationUMa, Cam, Cas
CategorySatellite
Time
yyyymmdd.hhmm		20070816.2133 EDT
CommentsI did not see the satellite until 2135 EDT and am not sure if that is when it became bright enough to be visible or if it is when I first saw it after it came from behind the trees, but think it was the later scenario. I had the impression through most of the pass that I was seeing two points of light, one above the other. I suspect that this is caused by my glasses rather than me being able to see lobes of the ISS/STS-118 complex. The object maintained a fairly constant brightness as it passed across the sky until it reached Cassiopeia. While passing through Cassiopeia it brightened rapidly then dimmed rapidly and winked out.
Alt.Az.
Begins10°NW
Max. Alt.32° NNE
Ends31°NE

posted by Charlie at 12:58

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This is my personal record of my astronomical observations. It was written for my personal reference. The only reason it is in a blog is that a blog is a very convenient way to get the records formatted more or less uniformly and they will, hopefully, have greater longevity at Google where the servers are backed up than on my hard drive which never gets backed up. I occasionally include copyrighted material in my posts. I do this to make it convenient for me to access things I think I might want to refer to again. I think of this like making a photocopy of something I read that I put in a file where I can find it when I want it. As I understand copyright law, as explained in the DVD series Copyright Compliance by Chip Taylor Communications, this use is allowed under the Fair Use doctrine since I am not making any money on this blog, I don’t publicize the blog, and only occasionally post small excerpts of copyrighted works.


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