6 January 2010

Observing Location	Bryant Park
Observational Period	1720-1845 EST
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Scattered Clouds Temperature 30° F Wind Gentle Breeze gusting to Moderate Breeze Wind Chill Effect 21° F Humidity Moderate Barometric Pressure 29.73" Hg Rising Feels Like Cold and a little raw Transparency Fair Seeing
Instruments	Naked-eye - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

1642 EST

Sunset
Civil Twilight begins

1713 EST

Civil Twilignt ends
Nautical Twilight begins

Target Iridium 61 Flare Constellation UMa Category Satellite Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20100106.1739 EST Comments Not Seen If the flare was visible at all it would have been in a small sliver of sky above 6 Ave beside the buildings of Rockefeller Center. I didn’t expect to see it and wasn’t disappointed.   Heavens Above CalSky Time EST 1739:41 EST Alt. ° 28.8° Az. ° 26.2° NNE Mag. 0.5 Surface   solar panels

Target ISS Visible Pass Constellation Category Satellite Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20100106.1743 EST Comments Not Seen I thought I might catch the ISS passing through some unobstructed sky on both sides of the Empire State Building but didn’t see anything. The only pass prediction I had with me was the one from CalSky which does not in any way agree with the one from Heavens Above. It is also too close in time to the second pass listed in the Heavens Above predictions. I have been back to CalSky and can not reproduce this pass prediction for either time. There is an obvious error somewhere (either at CalSky or in my copying and pasting the prediction into my calendar) and I was too late to see the real pass – the one listed on Heavens Above.     Starts Max. Alt. Ends H A e b a o v v e e n   s   Time 1701:04 EST 1702:27 EST 1703:50 EST Alt. 10° 13° 10° Az. SSE SE ESE Mag -1.0 C a l S k y Time 1743:28 EST 1748:11 EST 1749:33 EST Alt. horizon 36.3° 21.8 Az. 215.5° SW 137.7° SE/td> 84.1° E Mag 1.4 -3.7 -3.2

1747 EST

Nautical Twilight ends
Astronomical Twilight begins

Target Iridium 51 Flare Constellation Cam Category Satellite Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 201001061744 EST Comments Not Seen I thought that I might have a little better chance at this one since it was higher and brighter although farther west, but didn’t see anything.   Heavens Above CalSky Time EST 1744:45 EST Alt. ° 31.4° Az. 23.6° NNE Mag. -2.8 Surface   solar panels

Target Iridium 19 Flare Constellation UMa Category Satellite Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20100106.1748 EST Comments Not Attempted Given that I hadn’t seen the previous and much brighter flare and that this one also occurred during the brighter ISS pass I opted to concentrate on the ISS.   Heavens Above CalSky Time EST 1748:36 EST Alt. ° 33.6 Az. 19.2° NNE Mag. 0.7 Surface   solar panels

1820 EST

Astronomical Twilight ends

Target ISS Visible Pass Constellation Category Satellite Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20100106.1834 EST Comments Not Seen This pass was shorter than the previous one but I thought I might have a little better chance of seeing it since the western skyline is a little more open but I saw nothing. The only listing I have for this event is from a Heavens Above printout on 28Dec09. I checked CalSky on Monday or Tuesday but saw an entry in my calendar for the right time so didn’t copy anything I saw on the site.     Starts Max. Alt. Ends H A e b a o v v e e n   s   Time 1834:20 EST 1836:38 EST 1836:38 EST Alt. 10° 45° 45° Az. WSW WNW WNW Mag -2.3 C a l S k y Time 1832:40 EST 1837:01 EST 1837:01 EST Alt. horizon 46.0° 46.0° Az. 282.4° WSW 287.5°WNW /td> 287.5° WNW Mag 2.2 -3.3 -3.3