I got home late last night after the monthly sea chanty sing and set the alarm clock for 0230 EDT intending to get up to try to see the launch of Soyuz TMA-13 from Baikonur delivering Expedition 18 to ISS. When the alarm went off I turned on the weather radio to start my morning ritual and after listening for a while I realized that they weren’t going to announce the Climatology report for another two hours and that wasn’t why the alarm had gone off. After waiting an eternity for Vista to boot I found that I did have an internet connection and eventually got connected to NASA TV and caught the last 15 minutes of the countdown and launch.
The Soyuz capsule seems to be much roomier than similar US capsules were. The commander has an L-shaped tool that appears to be about 15” long that he uses to throw switches on the control panel; not that there are that many switches that need to be thrown. The Russian capsules appear to be much more automatic than US capsules. Mostly what the commander did was write down meter readings that were relayed to ground control ever five minutes or so. The stack gets delivered to the launch pad complete only a few days before launch in contrast to the Shuttle that can spend months on the launch pad while the payload is installed.
TMA-13 is scheduled to dock with ISS at 0432 EST on 14Oct08. I have not found anything saying that there will be an visible passes before then and don't know if it is ever visible. It doesn't much matter though since we won't have an ISS visible pass until 20Oct08.
| Observing Location | Home |
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| Observational Period | 0645-0700 EDT |
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| Atmospheric Conditions |
| Cloud Cover | Clear |
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| Temperature | 54° F |
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| Wind | Calm |
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| Humidity | High |
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| Barometric Pressure | 30.51" Hg
Rising |
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| Feels Like | Mild |
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The air doesn’t feel as moist as the forecast says it is. The sky is a light gray.
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| Instruments | Naked-eye - Charlie
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| Observing Party | Charlie Ridgway
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| Target | Iridium Flare |
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| Constellation | UMa |
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| Category | Satellite |
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Time
yyyymmdd.hhmm | 20081012.0654 |
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| Comments | Not Seen
After having gotten to bed late last night and waking up a couple of hours later for the Soyuz launch I wasn't really interested in getting up when the alarm went off for this event but I did anyway. I needn't have bothered.
The sly is bright. If the flare is a mag -8 as Heavens Above is predicting I should have seen it. If it is a -6.9 like CalSky says I should probably still have seen it. But I don’t think I have ever seen a twilight flare.
| | Heavens
Above | CalSky |
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| Time | 0654:35 | 0654:36 EDT |
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| Alt. | 57° | 56.8° |
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| Az. | 11°
N | 10.5°
N |
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| Mag. | -8 | -6.9 |
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| Surface | | MMA1 |
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While I was standing around waiting for the flare I heard a loud twittering of birds in the holly tree behind me. I wondered if I had found a communal roost similar to the robin roost at the NW corner of the Great Lawn. At the end of observing I stood under the tree trying to see who was in there. I could see movement among the branches but couldn't identify any birds. While I stood there the volume dropped down in several steps and eventually the birds became silent (or all left). I saw a couple of sparrows fly out of the tree. Most of the calls were twitterings but there were six different sounds that I heard that all seemed to come from the same area of the tree and I suspect that there is at least one mockingbird in there.
| Observing Location | PSC |
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| Observational Period | 1045-1115 EDT |
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| Atmospheric Conditions |
| Cloud Cover | Clear |
|---|
| Temperature | 62° F |
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| Wind | Calm |
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| Humidity | Moderate |
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| Barometric Pressure | 30.54" Hg
Falling |
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| Feels Like | Mild |
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|
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| Instruments | SAR: Coulter CT-100 Newtonian reflector - Charlie
- Celestron Omni 20mm (21x)
- Celestron Omni 2x Barlow
- Baader AstroSolar filter film
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| Observing Party | Charlie Ridgway
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| Target | Sunspots |
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| Constellation | Vir |
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| Category | Solar |
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Time
yyyymmdd.hhmm | 20081012.1045 EDT |
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| Comments |
Distance
Light Time | 0.998 AU
8m 18s |
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| Angular Size | 32' 6.6" |
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| Altitude | 35.2° |
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Heliographic Latitude
(B0) | 6.03° |
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Heliographic Longitude
(L0) | 149.96° |
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Parallactic Angle
(P) | 26.25° |
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Carrington rotation number
(CR) | 2075 |
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I could see Group 1005 in the telescope.
C 2
y 3
c
l
e | | 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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C 2
y 4
c
l
e | | Groups | Spots | R |
|---|
| North | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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| South | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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| Total | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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T S
o p
t o
a t
l s | | Groups | Spots | R |
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| North | 1 | 2 | 12 |
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| South | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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| Total | 1 | 2 | 12 |
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| R = (Groups * 10) + Spots) |
- Group 1005
-
| Heliographic Latitude | 34° |
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| Heliographic Longitude | 110° |
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Carrington rotation number
(CR) | 2075 |
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| Mcintosh System | Bxo |
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| Observing Location | PKR |
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| Observational Period | 1145-1200 EDT |
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| Atmospheric Conditions |
| Cloud Cover | Clear |
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| Temperature | 65° F |
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| Wind | Light Breeze |
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| Humidity | Moderate |
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| Barometric Pressure | 30.54" Hg
Steady |
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| Feels Like | Warm |
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|
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| Instruments | Brunton 8x21 compact binocular w/Welco gold shade 14 welder's filter - Charlie |
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| Observing Party | Charlie Ridgway
|
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| Target | Sunspots |
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| Constellation | Vir |
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| Category | Solar |
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Time
yyyymmdd.hhmm | 20081012.1145 EDT |
|---|
| Comments |
Distance
Light Time | 0.998 AU
8m 18s |
|---|
| Angular Size | 32' 6.6" |
|---|
| Altitude | 40.5° |
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Heliographic Latitude
(B0) | 6.02° |
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Heliographic Longitude
(L0) | 149.41° |
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Parallactic Angle
(P) | 26.25° |
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Carrington rotation number
(CR) | 2075 |
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Nothing Seen
I brought the binocular out this afternoon to see if the spots I found in the telescope were big enough for me to see them in the binocular. They weren’t.
| | 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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In a news story posted yesterday the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, said that it is unlikely that the crew size on ISS will be increased next year. It appears that the Russians are the ones who have a concern of some kind that they will be raising with ESA next week.
Bravenet News story
| Observing Location | MO |
|---|
| Observational Period | 1900-2045 EDT |
|---|
| Atmospheric Conditions |
| Cloud Cover | Clear |
|---|
| Temperature | 62° F |
|---|
| Wind | Calm |
|---|
| Humidity | Moderate |
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| Barometric Pressure | 30.46" Hg
Steady |
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| Feels Like | Cool |
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At 2000 EDT the RH seemed to increase markedly but there was no chante in transparency. There was no boiling around the Moon.
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| Instruments | SAR: Coulter CT-100 Newtonian reflector - Charlie
- Celestron Omni 20mm (21x)
- Celestron Omni 2x Barlow
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| Observing Party | Charlie Ridgway
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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 | 20081012.1905 EDT |
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| Comments | I don’t detect any banding. Three moons were observed.
Object
Class | Classical Planet |
|---|
| Elongation | 84.4° E |
|---|
Distance
Light Time
(from Earth) | 5.14 AU
42m 47s |
|---|
Distance
(from Sun) | 5.14 AU |
|---|
| Angular Size | 38.3" x 35.8" |
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| Magnitude | -2.2 |
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Central Meridian
I/II | 206°/189° |
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| Altitude | 26.5° |
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| Moons |
Starry Night Starter graphic |
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|
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|
| Target | Moon |
|---|
| Constellation | |
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| Category | Lunar |
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Time
yyyymmdd.hhmm | 2008 EDT |
|---|
| Comments |
| Lunation | 1061 |
|---|
| Phase | Waxing Gibbous |
|---|
| Age | 13d 14h 57m |
|---|
Distance
Light Time
(from earth) | 373,900 km
1.25s |
|---|
| Elongation | 155.2° E |
|---|
| % Illuminated | 95.4% |
|---|
| Morning Terminator Colongitude (λ E) | 71.2° |
|---|
| Evening Terminator Colongitude (λ W) | 251.2° |
|---|
| Libration in Latitude | -3° 21' |
|---|
| Libration in Longitude | -5° 28' |
|---|
| Magnitude | -12.2 |
|---|
| Angular Size | 31.96' |
|---|
| Altitude | 23° 3' |
|---|
|
Virtual Moon Atlas graphic |
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| Terminator |
|---|
| In Sunlight | Feature
Diameter (km); Class | In Shadow |
|---|
| <<< | Anaximander
67; 5 | |
|---|
| <<< | Babbage
143; Y | |
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| <<< | Oenopides
67; VO | >>> |
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| | Harding
22 | >>> |
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| <<< | Lichtenberg
20; Y | |
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| <<< | Briggs
37; Y | |
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| | Eddington
118; O | >>> |
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| | Krafft
51; O | >>> |
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| | Cardanus
49; 2 | >>> |
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| <<< | Cavalerius
57; 1 | |
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| <<< | Hevelius
115; 5 | |
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| | Hedin
150; VO | >>> |
|---|
| | Riccioli
139; 3? | >>> |
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| | Grimaldi
172; 5 | >>> |
|---|
| | Rocca | >>> |
|---|
| <<< | Lacus Aestatis
90 | |
|---|
| <<< | Crüger
45; EO | |
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| <<< | Darwin
120; VO | |
|---|
| <<< | Byrgius
87; 3 | |
|---|
| <<< | Lagrange
225; VO | >>> |
|---|
| <<< | Piazzi
134; 1 | |
|---|
| <<< | Inghiraim
91; 2 | |
|---|
| <<< | Bailly
287; VO | >>> |
|---|
- Looks like a central peak in Babbage but it is another crater (Babbage A)
- I see a stripe of lighter color arcing past seleucus. It appears in the Rükl map along with another. They might be rays coming off Hedin or Olbers. Cherrington says:
- Lots of rays off Tycho, fewer from Copernicus, and fewer still from Aristarchus
- I see a small dark patch that might be shadow on the back side of Mons Rumker
- There is a wide light stripe going past Euclides that appears to end in a drowned crater to the NE. This would be Mons Riphaeus.
- Gassendi is not visible so much as a structure but as a very circular white spot with several chalky white smaller spots in and around it
- I think I see a stripe of darker color where Vallis Inghirami should be but it runs into the terminator too quickly to be certain of it.
- The mountains on Mare Imbrium can be identified as white spots but do not exhibit any relief.
- The bright white of Aristarchus makes it look like a recently disturbed area that hasn’t had as much time to become “tarnished” as the rest of the Moon.
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