| Observing Location | McGraw Ave @ White Plains Rd
I moved around quite a bit to keep Venus in sight, from over the Cross Bronx Expressway to the Cross Bronx Expressway north service road and Leland Ave (Lat.: 40° 50' 4.77", Long.: -73° 51' 50.02") |
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| Observational Period | 1900-2030 EDT |
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| Atmospheric Conditions |
| Cloud Cover | Isolated Clouds |
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| Temperature | 80 |
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| Wind | Calm |
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| Humidity | Moderate |
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| Barometric Pressure | 30.10" Hg
Steady |
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| Feels Like | Mild |
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There was a general light haze and out on the western horizon up to ~20° thin stratus clouds. The humidity is just over the moderate threshold.
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| Instruments | Golden Gate 7x35 binocular
Unless otherwise noted all observations other than sunspots were made with the Golden Gate binocular.
Brunton 8x21 compact binocular w/Welco gold shade 14 welder's filter – Charlie
Cokin 003 Professional red filter - Charlie |
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| Observing Party | Charlie Ridgway
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| Target | Sunspots |
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| Constellation | Leo |
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| Category | Solar |
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Time
yyyymmdd.hhmm | 20080831.1900 EDT |
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| Comments |
Distance
Light Time | 1.01 AU
8m 24s |
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| Angular Size | 31' 44.8" |
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| Altitude | 4.5° |
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Heliographic Latitude
(B0) | 7.20° |
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Heliographic Longitude
(L0) | 339.81° |
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Parallactic Angle
(P) | 21.13° |
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Carrington rotation number
(CR) | 2074 |
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Nothing Seen
| | Groups | Spots | R |
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| North | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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| South | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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| Total | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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| R = (Groups * 10) + Spots) |
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|
| Target | First CrescentMoon |
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| Constellation | Leo |
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| Category | Lunar |
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Time
yyyymmdd.hhmm | 20080808.1910 EDT |
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| Comments |
| Lunation | 1060 |
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| Phase | Waxing Crescent |
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| Age | 1d 3h 11m |
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Distance
Light Time
(from earth) | 382,163 km
1.27s |
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| Elongation | 14.5° |
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| % Illuminated | 1.50% |
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| Morning Terminator Colongitude (λ E) | 279.8° |
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| Evening Terminator Colongitude (λ W) | 99.0° |
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| Libration in Latitude | 4° 43' |
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| Libration in Longitude | 5° 41' |
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| Magnitude | -5.4 |
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| Angular Size | 31.27' |
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| Altitude | 5° 41' |
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|
Virtual Moon Atlas graphic |
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Not Seen
Tonight being the night of the first crescent Moon and the sky appearing clear, I went out to try to make a sighting. Unfortunately this was a poor apparition, the Moon being below the ecliptic and only ~2.5° higher in elevation than the Sun. By the time the Sun had set behind buildings on my horizon the Moon was down into the clouds presenting a low contrast condition that my red filter could not overcome.
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| Target | Four Planet Gathering |
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| Constellation | Vir |
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| Category | Conjunctions |
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Time
yyyymmdd.hhmm | 20080831.1915 EDT |
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| Comments | When I checked Planetarium for Moon data I noticed that Venus, Mercury and Mars were sliding down the ecliptic ~23° behind the Moon and within the Golden Gate binocular’s 10° FoV.
Starry Night Starter graphic
Mercury is the low corner of the triangle and Mars the upper left.
Solar System Live graphic
I thought that these three planets might include a fourth, Earth, if viewed from somewhere else so I expanded the view on the orrery and found that when viewed from Neptune the Earth would also appear near Mercury, Venus and Mars.
Solar System Live graphic
Starry Night Starter graphic view from Neptune
1725
EST | I found Venus (Mag. -3.9> in the binocular and located it naked-eye four minutes later |
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1752
EST | Mercury (Mag. 0.0) became visible just above the horizon |
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I never found Mars (Mag. 1.7).
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|
| 1930 EDT | Sunset
Civil Twilight begins |
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| 1944 EDT | Moonset |
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| 1958 EDT | Civil Twilight ends
Nautical Twilight begins |
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| Target | Jupiter |
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| Constellation | Sgr |
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| Category | Planet |
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Time
yyyymmdd.hhmm | 20080831.2010 EDT |
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| Comments |
Object
Class | Classical Planet |
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| Elongation | 123.6° |
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Distance
Light Time
(from Earth) | 4.53 AU
37m 41s |
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Distance
(from Sun) | 5.16 AU |
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| Angular Size | 43.5" x 40.6" |
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| Magnitude | -2.5 |
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Central Meridian
I/II | 98°/42° |
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| Altitude | 25.4° |
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| Moons |
Starry Night Starter graphic |
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Jupiter looks large even to the naked eye.
| | Naked-eye | Golden Gate
7x35 | Brunton
8x21 |
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Jupiter
Mag. -2.5 | seen | seen | seen |
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| Jupiter moon | seen | seen | |
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Nunki
Mag. 2.05 | seen | seen | seen |
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ν1 Sgr
Mag. 4.86 | | seen | |
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ν2 Sgr
Mag. 5.00 | | seen | |
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|
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ξ2
Mag. 3.52 | | seen | |
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Sunspots Observed
I haven't seen a spot since 30Mar08.
Observing Hours for the Year 2008
| | Day | Night | Total |
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| Hours | Days | Avg | Hours | Days | Avg | Hours | Days | Avg |
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| Jan | 2.25 | 9 | 0.25 | 2.75 | 5 | 0.55 | 5.00 | 13 | 0.38 |
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| Feb | 3.25 | 9 | 0.36 | 8.25 | 7 | 1.18 | 11.25 | 12 | 0.94 |
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| Mar | 5.25 | 10 | 0.53 | 8.50 | 12 | 0.71 | 13.75 | 16 | 0.86 |
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| Apr | 6.25 | 19 | 0.33 | 5.75 | 7 | 0.82 | 12.00 | 19 | 0.63 |
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| May | 6.50 | 18 | 0.36 | 2.25 | 5 | 0.45 | 8.75 | 18 | 0.49 |
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| Jun | 5.25 | 20 | 0.26 | 12.00 | 8 | 1.50 | 17.25 | 21 | 0.82 |
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| Jul | 5.05 | 15 | 0.37 | 15.25 | 10 | 1.53 | 20.75 | 17 | 1.22 |
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| Aug | 5.00 | 18 | 0.31 | 2.00 | 3 | 0.67 | 7.50 | 18 | 0.42 |
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| TOTAL | 39.75 | 118 | 0.34 | 56.75 | 57 | 1.00 | 96.50 | 135 | 0.71 |
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Climate Summary for June 2008
Temperature
Precipitation
Cooling Degree Days
