1 November 2008

November

From the Latin word novem, "nine", because it had been the ninth month of the early Roman Calendar.

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Observing Location	VP
Observational Period	0845-0900 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Scattered Clouds Temperature 54° F Wind Calm Humidity Moderate Barometric Pressure 30.23" Hg Rising Feels Like Mild It is really quite pleasant out. There are streaks of altostratus that look like they are building into a stratus deck. Transparency Fair Seeing I
Instruments	Brunton 8x21 compact binocular w/Welco gold shade 14 welder's filter - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target Sunspots Constellation Lib Category Solar Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20081101.0845 EDT Comments The sun looked nice behind the thin clouds but they would have obscured any small spots, had there been any. Distance Light Time 0.992 AU 8m 15s Angular Size 32' 17.2" Altitude 12.9° Heliographic Latitude (B0) 4.30° Heliographic Longitude (L0) 247.29° Parallactic Angle (P) 24.35° Carrington rotation number (CR) 2076 Nothing Seen   Groups Spots R North 0 0 0 South 0 0 0 Total 0 0 0 R = (Groups * 10) + Spots)

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I checked out the STS-126 mission timeline and, given good weather, we should have a chance of seeing it at MECO as it passes NYC but the subsequent ISS passes prior to docking are both short and lot altitude so it is doubtful that we will have a chance of seeing the two craft flying in tandem.

Date	EST	Event
14Nov08	1955	Launch
	2003	NYC flyby
		MECO
16Nov08	1710	Docking
127Nov08	1049	Undocking
29Nov08	1314	Deorbit burn
	1418	Landing

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It seems like all of a sudden all of the trees in my neighborhood are at near peak fall coloring. It wasn't like this when I went out this morning.

?	could it be the return of milder weather after the recent rainfall or was it just their time to turn color