31 March 2010

Sunspots Observed

I got out with Peter and his refractor and 22x binoculars and see a lot more through them than I do through my hand held binocular.

Observing Hours for the Year 2010

	Day			Night			Total
	Hours	Days	Avg	Hours	Days	Avg	Hours	Days	Avg
Jan	0.00	0	0.00	12.50	8	1.56	12.20	8	1.56
Feb	2.25	3	0.75	3.75	5	0.75	6.00	8	0.75
Mar	8.25	6	1.38	13.75	9	1.53	22.00	12	1.83
TOTAL	10.75	10	1.08	30.00	22	1.36	40.50	28	1.45

27 March 2010

Observing Location	DR
Observational Period	1200-1330 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Scattered light cirrostratus Temperature 37° F Wind Gentle Breeze Wind Chill Effect Heat Index ° F Humidity Low Barometric Pressure 30.43" Hg Steady KNYC METAR 271551Z AUTO 10007KT 050V210 10SM CLR 03/M14 A3045 RMK AO2 SLP304 T00281139 Feels Like Crisp Transparency Good Seeing I-II
Instruments	West Marine 7x50 Raiatea binocular w/AstroSolar filter film– Charlie Takahashi 22x60 binocular w/orange solar filter- Peter Nikon 10x50 binocular - Peter
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway Peter Tagatac

Target Sunspots Constellation Psc Category Solar Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20100327.1200 EDT Comments Distance Light Time 1.00 AU 8m s Angular Size 32' 6.5" Altitude 49.3° Heliographic Latitude (B0) -6.77° Heliographic Longitude (L0) 344.46° Parallactic Angle (P) -25.89 ° Carrington rotation number (CR) 2095 In my binocular I saw group 1057 easily. After Peter told me where to look I saw group 1059 in his tripod mounted 22x binocular but could not find it in my binocular. I did not see anything naked eye but Peter reported seeing 1057 after he knew where to look for it.   Groups Spots R North 1 5 15 South 1 1 11 Total 2 6 26 R = (Groups * 10) + Spots) The sunspot number for yesterday being reported by Space Weather is 27. Group 1057 Heliographic Latitude ° Heliographic Longitude ° Carrington rotation number (CR) Mcintosh System This is a complex group. The P spot is faint and appears to have a smaller spot trailing it. The T spot appears to me to be two large spots with a common penumbra stacked vertically. They are preceeded by two small spots leading to the trailing spot of the P spot, so there are three small spots between the P and T spots unequally spaced. Group 1059 Heliographic Latitude ° Heliographic Longitude ° Carrington rotation number (CR) Mcintosh System This group is right on the E limb a little lower than the center of the disc. At present it appears to be a single light gray spot.

Target Venus Constellation Psc Category Planet Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20100327.1230 EDT Comments Object Class Classical Planet Phase Gibbous Elongation 18.11° E % Illuminated 95.2% Distance Light Time (from Earth) 1.6 AU 13m 19s Distance (from Sun) 0.723 AU Angular Size 10.5" Magnitude -3.9 Altitude 51.36° Meridian graphic Peter got Venus in his binocular and I could see it there and thought I could see an indication of phase on the E limb. He found it in his hand-held binocular but I was not able to do that with either his binocular or mine.

When looking close to the sun I get a lot of glare from the side of my binocular. The binocular needs internal baffeling as well as the edges of the lenses blackened. I also found that I could not focus on things close. At the closest focus rocks a long way off were in focus but a truck license plate a little closer was not. A robin nearby was very blurry. I don’t know what the minimum focus distance for this binocular is.

We saw three hawks spiraling up on the wind currents over Rumsey Fields area. It looked more like they were just enjoying the wind than that they were hunting. The markings looked very nice as the light passed through the wings when thy banked away from us and illuminated their backs as they banked back toward us.

On the way out of the park we stopped at two locations to search for garnets. There is a boulder N of Drip Rock that I think has a vein of garnet near its base and Peter has found them in a vein on Overlook Rock in the SE corner of the park.

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26 March 2010

It lookd like things had started to stabilize down on the Chile faults. There was a day last week when there were no temblors greater than magnitude 4.5, the minimum reporting level for USGS. The last magnitude 6.0 or greater quake was 10 days ago.

Now there has been another 6.2 quake and it was within 70 miles of the La Campanas Observatory and 85 miles of the European Southern Observatory at La Silla.

annotated Google Earth graphic

So far neither observatory has a press release on their web page saying how they fared. A 6.0 temblor has the potential to cause damage over a 100 mile radius from the focus.

This last quake (the dot in the red circle) is in an area that has not previously been shaken.

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Observing Location	TotL
Observational Period	2100-2130 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Broken Clouds Temperature 40° F Wind Light Breeze gusting to Fresh Breeze Wind Chill Effect ° F Humidity Moderate Barometric Pressure 30.05" Hg Rising 2 KNYC METAR 270051Z AUTO 02012G18KT 10SM CLR 04/M09 A3007 RMK AO2 SLP176 T00391094 Feels Like Chilly The weather instrument at the Central Park automated weather station must be pointing at a gap in the clouds because it definitely isn’t clear as it is reporting. Transparency Fair Seeing
Instruments	West Marine Raiatea 7x50 binocular - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

References Target M45, the Pliades, the Seven Sisters Constellation Tau Category DSO: OCl Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 2010 EDT Location Where is M31 graphic Catres du Ciel graphic Deep Sku Observer’s Guide: 10, 16, 17, 95, 98, 107, 112, 113, 114-5, 116, 119, 132, 175 The Observer’s Sky Atlas: E3 Magnitude 1.5 Surface Brightness 11/sq’ Size 100’ Visibility 6 Distance 400 ly Comments I could not see it at all naked-eye and only found it in the binoculars by sweeping the sky where I thought it should be.

References Target M44, Praesape, the Beehive Cluster, NGC 2632 Constellation Cnc Category DSO: OCl Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 2010 EDT Location Where is M31 graphic Catres du Ciel graphic Deep Sku Observer’s Guide: 111, 113, 117-8, 140, 175 The Observer’s Sky Atlas: E9 Magnitude 3.5 Surface Brightness 13/sq’ Size 80’ Visibility [6] Distance 580 ly Comments Faint

References Target M35, NGC 2168 Constellation Gem Category DSO: OCl Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 2010 EDT Location Where is M31 graphic Catres du Ciel graphic Deep Sku Observer’s Guide: 122, 177 The Observer’s Sky Atlas: E7 Magnitude 5 Surface Brightness 10/sq’ Size 30’ Visibility 5 Distance 3,000 ly Comments I may not have seen it. I found a scattering of stars above the foot of Castor but now that I see the cluster in Cartes du Ciel I think I may have been looking too close to the foot. This is an object that has always given me trouble.

Target Moon Constellation Leo Category Lunar Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 2010 EDT Comments Lunation 1079 Phase Waxing Gibbous Age 11d 6h 49m Distance Light Time (from earth) 358,012 km 1.19s Elongation 139.18° E % Illuminated 87.5% Morning Terminator Colongitude (λ E) 50.4° Evening Terminator Colongitude (λ W) 230.4° Libration in Latitude 4° 25' Libration in Longitude -1° 34' Magnitude -11.8 Angular Size 33.38' Altitude 58° 52' Virtual Moon Atlas graphic In Shadow Feature In Sunlight Terminator <’<< Pythagoras >>>   Aristarchus >>>   Mersenius >>> The Moon is close to Regulus tonight. It also forms a slight arc between Saturn and Mars.

Target Mars Constellation Cnc Category Planet Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 2010 EDT Comments Object Class Classical Planet Elongation ° Distance Light Time (from Earth) AU m s Distance (from Sun) AU Angular Size " Magnitude Central Meridian ° Altitude °

Target Saturn Constellation Leo Category Planet Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 2010 EDT Comments Object Class Classical Planet Elongation ° Distance Light Time (from Earth) AU h m Distance (from Sun) AU Angular Size "x" Ring Angular Size "x" Ring Inclination ° Magnitude Altitude ° Starry Night Starter graphic

20 March 2010

Observing Location	McGraw Hill Building, New York, NY
Observational Period	1245-1345 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Isolated Clouds Temperature 71° F Wind Calm Wind Chill Heat Index °F Humidity Low Barometric Pressure 29.99" Hg Steady KNYC METAR Feels Like Warm Transparency Good Seeing
Instruments	West Marine Raiatea 7x50 binocular- Charlie Naked-eye - Peter
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway Peter Tagatac

Target Sunspots Constellation Psc Category Solar Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20100320.1245 EDT Comments Distance Light Time 0.996 AU 8m 17s Angular Size 31' 10.2" Altitude 49.8° Heliographic Latitude (B0) -7.03° Heliographic Longitude (L0) 76.35° Parallactic Angle (P) -25.20° Carrington rotation number (CR) 2094 SOHO says there are spots on both limbs in the northern hemisphere but I can’t see either of them.   Groups Spots R North 0 0 0 South 0 0 0 Total 0 0 0 R = (Groups * 10) + Spots)

Target Sun Triangle Alignment Constellation Psc Category Solar Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20100320.1300 EDT Comments Distance Light Time 0.996 AU 8m 17s Angular Size 31' 10.2" Altitude 50.0° I measured the orientation of the Sun Triangle and if my compass is to be trusted it points to around 215° Magnetic or 228° True. That is 40° from due south where the sun should be at noon. Manhattan Island is oriented 29° from True North. If we add those 29°s to the 13°s of magnetic variation we come up with 42°. Subtract 2° from that for error in setting and reading my compass and you have 40°. I am not sure it makes any sense to do all that but the arithmetic seems to match up. May just be coincidence. The pit the triangle is mounted it is closed on weekends so we had to watch the alignment from above which was actually pretty good. As the time of alignment approached the shadow became more defined until it appeared to have a very sharp edge at abot 1302:55 EDT. Peter checked Planetarium and it says the Sun souths at 1303 EDT. Since they don’t give seconds it could be anywhere from 1302:45 to 1303:15 EDT. I checked Catres du Ciel and it says the Sun culminated at 1306 EDT. I have CdC set up for TotL so there would be a little difference but probably only seconds. I fiddled with Helio, which I have set up for 40° x -74° at the moment, and it shows the poles being lined up vertically at around 1303 EDT.

Vernal Equinox Cartes du Ciel graphic First Point of Aries Cartes du Ciel graphic

Target Venus Constellation Psc Category Planet Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20100320.1315 EDT Comments Object Class Classical Planet Phase Gibbous Elongation 16.41° E % Illuminated 96.1% Distance Light Time (from Earth) 1.62 AU 13m 29s Distance (from Sun) 0.723 AU Angular Size 10.4" Magnitude -3.9 Altitude 53.07° Meridian graphic I had forgotten to pick up the Palm when I left the house so was guessing about where Venus would be and swept the nearby sky looking for it but there was a stripe of cloud everywhere I looked. Peter had gorgotten his binodular so borrowed my and between both of our technologies we still couldn’t find Venus

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Observing Location	TotL
Observational Period	1800-2030 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Scattered Clouds Temperature 65° F Wind Calm Wind Chill Heat Index °F Humidity Moderate Barometric Pressure 29.96" Hg Steady KNYC METAR Feels Like Mild Transparency Fair Seeing II
Instruments	West Marine Raiatea 7x50 binocular – Charlie Galileoscope – Marcos Naked-eye - Tom
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway Marcos Rivera Tom Clabough

Tonight was International Sidwealk Astronomy Night. We didn’t think it was going to be a great observing night but Peter and I agreed to go out to participate in the event even if conditions were marginal. He wanted to go somewhere where we would have had a lot of pedestrian traffic and was leaning toward Central Park South but it is more work getting the scope there than it is to The Great Lawn so we agreed on either TPO or TotL at 1800 EDT. I arrived at TotL at 1800 and it was mobbed. I found Tom there and had recruited Marcos who had trouble finding parking and probably arrived around 1830 EDT. I kept scanning the walk leading into TotL and the area around TOP but didn’t see anything of Peter. It turns out he got stuck in traffic also and arrived at TPO right about the time we were leaving TotL.

Target Moon Constellation Tau Category Lunar Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20100320.1810 EDT Comments Lunation 1079 Phase Waxing Crescent Age 5d 1h 8m Distance Light Time (from earth) 380,395 km 1.27s Elongation 58.59° E % Illuminated 23.9% Morning Terminator Colongitude (λ E) 335.2° Evening Terminator Colongitude (λ W) 155.2° Libration in Latitude -4° 43' Libration in Longitude -6° 44' Magnitude -8.7 Angular Size 31' 32" Altitude 66° 06' Virtual Moon Atlas graphic I could see Cleomedes, Macrobius and Proclus around Mare Crisium. Palus Somni looked like a gray delta fanning out from Proclus. Up above Mare Serenitatis I could see Hercules and Atlas. Mare Nectaris was very distinctly circular beneath more irrefularly shaped Mare Fecunditatis. Tonight the Moon will be passing through the lower portion of M45 and the bright stars of the cluster looked very nice shining like a dipper ready to dip down through the dark portion of the Moon into the liquid illuminated it the bottom of the vessel. In the Galileoscope I could only see stars if I placed the Moon on the edge of the FoV. Virtual Moon Atlas graphic

Peter had asked me to research satellite passes which I dutifully did and put them into the Palm Desktop. But I forgot to sync the desktop with the Palm so I got to TotL without pass information. Tom had the information on the ISS pass but doesn’t use CalSky so didn’t know about the SkyMed 2 flare that preceeded it

Target ISS Visible Pass Constellation Category Satellite Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20100320.2010 EDT Comments     Starts Max. Alt. Ends H A e b a o v v e e n   s   Time 2012:51 EDT 2015:34 EDT 2017:28 EDT Alt. 10° 38° 16° Az. WNW SE SSE Mag -2.2 C a l S k y Time 2010:46 EDT 2015:33 EDT 2017:32 EDT Alt. horizon 38.2° 15.8° Az. 300.0° WNW 222.0° SW/td> 157.8° SSE Mag 2.4 -3.1 -2.5 This was a very long pass. At 2016:12.22 after already having flown through the legs of Orion ISS passed right above Sirius. There is always some discrepancy between Heavens Above and CalSky as to the brightness of the pass. Heavens Above is always more conservative. I think tonight’s pass was closer to the Heavens Above estimate than to that of CalSky, but with all the atmosphere up there I don’t think tonight would be a good night to try to make an evaluation.

Target Venus Constellation Psc Category Planet Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20100320.1855 EDT Comments Object Class Classical Planet Phase Elongation ° % Illuminated % Distance Light Time (from Earth) AU m s Distance (from Sun) AU Angular Size " Magnitude Altitude ° Meridian graphic

Target Mars Constellation Category Planet Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 2010 EDT Comments I picked up Venus by sweeping the horizon where I thought it would be. It was probably about 10 minutes before there was enough contrast for me to see it naked-eye. In the Galileoscope there was obviously more mass there than when looking at a star. Object Class Classical Planet Elongation 16.46° E Distance Light Time (from Earth) 1.62 AU 13m 29s Distance (from Sun) 0.723 AU Angular Size 10.4" Magnitude -3.9 Central Meridian ° Altitude 25.34°

Marcos got the Galileoscope on Mars but I didn’t look.

We didn’t have a lot of public interaction but there was enough to have made it worthwhile.

19 March 2010

Observing Location	DT
Observational Period	2145-2330 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Clear While technically it was clear it wasn’t really clear. We had thought it was going to be better than it was but there was a high haze or altostratus layer up there that was filtering out the fainter stars. Temperature 64° F Wind Calm We didn’t feel any wind but the flags on top of the Plaza were standing out. Wind Chill Heat Index °F Humidity Low Barometric Pressure 29.88" Hg Rising KNYC METAR Feels Like Mild Transparency Fair Seeing I-II
Instruments	West Marine Raiatea 7x50 binocular – Charlie Celestron 22x70 binocular - Peter
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway Peter Tagatac

Target &epsilon Aurigae Constellation Aur Category Variable Star Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20100319.2145 EDT Comments ε Aur was equal to and probably fainter than ζ Aur. Peter could see both of them naked eye but I needed the binocular to see anything other than Capella.

Target Saturn Constellation Vir Category Planet Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20100319.2200 EDT Comments Object Class Classical Planet Elongation 176.70° Distance Light Time (from Earth) 8.51 AU 1 h 11m Distance (from Sun) 9.50 AU Angular Size 19.5"x17.4" Ring Angular Size 44.1"x2.49" Ring Inclination -3.24 ° Magnitude 0.5 Altitude 28.72° Starry Night Starter graphic I thought I was detecting a moon close to the planet and close to the rings on the trailing edge of the planet. When we checked SatMoons on the Palm it indicated that Dione was there. While I was seeing Dione I did not see . I did not see brighter Rhea which is farther from the planet on the other side though.

This was intended to be a short session and environmental conditions did nothing to cause us to want to extend it. The views were not that good and the music coming from the Wollman skating rink was very loud and obnoxious.

Stellarium graphic Stellarium graphic Stellarium graphic Virtual Moon Atlas graphic

18 March 2010

Observing Location	Hudson River Park Lat.: 40.775674° Long.: -73.992251°
Observational Period	1015-1030 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Clear Temperature 56° Wind Calm Wind Chill Heat Index °F Humidity Moderate Barometric Pressure " Hg Steady KNYC METAR Feels Like Cool Transparency Good Seeing
Instruments	Naked-eye - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Psc Target Sunspots Constellation Category Solar Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20100318.1015 EDT Comments Distance Light Time 0.995 AU 8m 17s Angular Size 31' 11.3" Altitude 33.9° Heliographic Latitude (B0) -7.09 ° Heliographic Longitude (L0) 104.09° Parallactic Angle (P) -24.93 ° Carrington rotation number (CR) 2094 There are two spots there, SOHO says so. I didn’t expect to see anything without binoculars but was out in the sun so looked anyway   Groups Spots R North 0 0 0 South 0 0 0 Total 0 0 0 R = (Groups * 10) + Spots)

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Observing Location	Hudson River Park Lat.: 40.770551° Long.: -73.995520°
Observational Period	1300-1315 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Clear Temperature 66° Wind Calm Wind Chill Heat Index °F Humidity Low Barometric Pressure " Hg Falling KNYC METAR Feels Like Mild Transparency Good Seeing
Instruments	Naked-eye - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target Sunspots Constellation Psc Category Solar Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20100318.1300 EDT Comments Distance Light Time 0.995 AU 8m 17s Angular Size 31' 11.2" Altitude 49.2° Heliographic Latitude (B0) -7.09 ° Heliographic Longitude (L0) 102.14° Parallactic Angle (P) -24.95° Carrington rotation number (CR) 2094 Still 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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Observing Location	TotL
Observational Period	1830-2130 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Clear increasing to Scattered Clouds Temperature 62° F Wind Calm Wind Chill Heat Index °F Humidity Low Barometric Pressure " Hg Steady KNYC METAR Feels Like Cool Transparency Good Seeing I-II
Instruments	West Marine Raiatea 7x50 binocular - Charlie Galileoscope - Marcos
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway Marcos Rivera Tom Clabough

This was Marcos’ first session with his Galileoscope so it was mostly helping him to get accustomed to how it works.

We looked at

• Moon and saw mare Crisium, Proclus and earthshine
• M42 and noted nebulosity
• Venus which was just a dot of light but definitely planetary

Naked eye we observed two ISS passes, an Iridium flare, Pherkad and Mizar.

We moved down to TPO for the second ISS pass and from there observed Saturn which appeared to have a thin line bisecting the planet – the rings – and M45 which overflowed the eyepiece.

17 March 2010

Observing Location	BP
Observational Period	1700-1800 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Clear Temperature 60° F Wind Light Breeze Wind Chill Heat Index °F Humidity Low Barometric Pressure 29.91" Hg Rising KNYC METAR Feels Like Mild Transparency Good Seeing
Instruments	West Marine Raiatea 7x50 Binocular - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target Sunspots Constellation Psc Category Solar Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20100317.1700 EDT Comments Distance Light Time 0.995 AU 8m 17s Angular Size 31' 11.7" Altitude 22,5° Heliographic Latitude (B0) -7.11 ° Heliographic Longitude (L0) 113.57° Parallactic Angle (P) -24.83° Carrington rotation number (CR) 2094 No spots were seen although there was one there in the SOHO images.   Groups Spots R North 0 0 0 South 0 0 0 Total 0 0 0 R = (Groups * 10) + Spots)

I didn't see the Moon or Venus either.

16 March 2010

Observing Location	TotL
Observational Period	1800-2015 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Clear Temperature 60° F Wind Calm Wind Chill Effect Heat Index ° F Humidity Low Barometric Pressure 29.96" Hg Rising KNYC METAR 162251Z AUTO 02007KT 10SM CLR 15/M09 A2998 RMK AO2 SLP143 T01501089 Feels Like Warm Transparency Excellent Seeing I
Instruments	West Marine 7x50 Raiatea binocular with Baader solar filter film - Charlie Naked-eye - Tom Naked-eye - Ken
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway Tom Clabough Ken Brown

The Solar System is lopsided tonight. Five of the planets, the Sun and the Moon are all within 44° of each other centered on West. Could all that gravitational pull centered in one spot in the sky be what is causing all the earthquakes down in Chile?

Cartes du Ciel graphic Meridian graphic

Target Sunspots Constellation Psc Category Solar Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20100316.1805 EDT Comments Distance Light Time 0.995 AU 8m 16s Angular Size 32' 09" Altitude 10.19° Heliographic Latitude (B0) -7.13 ° Heliographic Longitude (L0) 126.60° Parallactic Angle (P) -24.70 ° Carrington rotation number (CR) 2094 I stopped down near TPO to observe the Sun since I knew I had a clear sightline from there and wasn’t sure I would have an unobstructed view from TotL-E. I sat on the benches at TotL-E and had an even better view from there. The present group of spots is big enough that people have seen it naked-eye. I looked with both my welders filters and the Baader film filter and couldn’t see it. In my 7x binocular I saw one spot.   Groups Spots R North 1 1 11 South 0 0 0 Total 1 1 11 R = (Groups * 10) + Spots) The sunspot number posted on Spaceweather for 15Mar10 was 28. Group 1054 Cycle 24 Heliographic Latitude 24 ° Heliographic Longitude 153° Carrington rotation number (CR) 2094 Mcintosh System Helio graphic

1838 EDT

The sun is starting to set into the trees across the Lawn

1840 EDT

A young hawk lands near 2^nd base of Ballfield 6. It kept trying to perch on branches that were laying on the lawn that wouldn’t stay still for him. He acted like something might be wrong with his left let.

1845 EDT

The temperature is dropping noticeably now that the entire disk of the sun is below the crown of the leafless trees.
I can look at the sun without a filter now.
There are many overflights of geese heading north.

Target Venus Constellation Psc Category Planet Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20100316.1855 EDT Comments Object Class Classical Planet Phase Gibbous Elongation 15.50° E % Illuminated 96.5% Distance Light Time (from Earth) 1.63 AU 13m 34s Distance (from Sun) 0.724 AU Angular Size 10.3" Magnitude -3.9 Altitude 15.22° Meridian graphic I found Venus in the binocular while sweeping the sky at 1855 EDT and then couldn’t recover it for a while so wasn’t sure I hadn’t seen a plane. At 1906 I got Venus naked-eye.

1902 EDT

Sunset
Civil Twilight begins

Target First Crescent Moon Constellation Psc Category Lunar Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20100316.1902 EDT Comments Lunation 1079 Phase First Crescent Waxing Crescent Age 1d 2h5m Distance Light Time (from earth) 398,570 km 1.33s Elongation 13.17° % Illuminated 1.3% Morning Terminator Colongitude (λ E) 287.3° Evening Terminator Colongitude (λ W) 107.3° Libration in Latitude -6° 12' Libration in Longitude -5° 19' Magnitude -5.2 Angular Size 30' 06" Altitude 10.57° Cartes du Ciel graphic Virtual Moon Atlas graphic Virtual Moon Atlas graphic Stellarium graphic Stellarium graphic I first saw the Moon in the binocular at 1908 EDT then briefly glimpsed it naked-eye as it was beginning to slide behind the Bearsford at 1922 EDT. By 1925 EDT it was totally behind the Bearsford’s SE tower. It looked like a smile with the left end a little higher than the right. I would guess that ~90° of limb were illuminated.

Target ε Aur Constellation Aur Category Variable Star Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20100316.1932 EDT Magnitude 3.03 nominal < 3.69 Distance 1630 ly Comments ε Aur was definitely the faintest of the Kids tonight.

1930 EDT

Civil Twilight ends
Nautical Twilight begin

While walking from TotL-E over to TotL I heard Tom calling my name. He and Ken had been sitting on the other end of the bench I was on and apparently hadn’t been aware of the First Crescent Moon. They were waiting for the ISS pass. We talked for a bit and I let then know about the COSMO SkyMed 3 flare and while we were talking my one minute warning alarm went off.

Target COSMO SkyMed 3 Flare Constellation Per Category Satellite Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20100316.1936 EDT Comments   Heavens Above CalSky Time EDT 1936:41 EDT Alt. ° 66.6° Az. ° 261.6° W Mag. -1.7 Surface   SAR panel I was still looking for Perseus when the flare occurred behind me. CalSky showed it at zenith in their diagram and I hadn’t written down a compass point in my notes, just an azimuth in degrees which I didn’t remember. If I hadn’t gotten delayed getting over to the top of the Lawn by Tom and Ken I would have had time to check my notes and might have had a better shot at it. Having a better handle on where constellations are relative to one another wouldn’t hurt either. I could see Auriga, Castor, Pollus and Mars but not much more.

We walked down to the SE corner of the Lawn to observe the ISS pass.

2000 EDT I am seeing more stars than are shown on the Mag 4 chart but since I don’t have the chart with me and forgot that I put them into the Palm I didn’t know where all the stars I should be looking for were. I saw three stars in the head and three in the Sword. I didn’t think to look at the shield but doubt that I would have seen more than three stars there had I looked. I am going to give it a 5 but it is probably somewhere near 4.5.

2001 EDT

Nautical Twilight ends
Astronomical Twilight begins

2011 EDT

Moonset

Target ISS Visible Pass Constellation Cep, UMi, Dra, UMa Category Satellite Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20100316.2007 EDT Comments     Starts Max. Alt. Ends H A e b a o v v e e n   s   Time 2010:04 EDT 2012:25 EDT 2012:11 EDT Alt. 10° 22° 20° Az. NNW NNE NE Mag -1.6 C a l S k y Time 2007:48 EDT 2012:24 EDT 2013:15 EDT Alt. horizon 22.1° 19.5° Az. 313.1° NW 24.2° NNE/td> 50.3° NE Mag 1.5 -2.7 -2.8 I picked it up bright rising through the trees in Manhattan west and we tracked it all the way over to UMa where it quickly faded as it entered Earth’s penumbra and then umbra.

2034 EDT

Astronomical Twilight ends

15 March 2010

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Barometric Pressure METAR Code

I have been reporting barometric pressure for some time now and as well as the actual inches of mercury have been including is statement as to the pressure trend (rising, steady, falling). So far this trend statement has been subjective based on what the pressure has been the past couple of hours before the observation. Tonight I investigated METARs -- routine meteorological observations reported at the end of each hour (51 minutes after the hour) -- and found that there are actually standards for making this assessment and the gradations are much finer than what I have heretofore reported. So wherever possible I will report by the following scale.

Rising higher than 3 hours ago	0	increasing then decreasing
	1	increasing then steady or increasing then increasing more slowly
	2	increasing steadily or unsteadily
	3	decreasing or steady, then increasing or increasing then increasing more rapidly
Steady same as three hour ago	0	increasing then decreasing
	4	steady
	5	decreasing then increasing
Falling lower than 3 hours ago	5	decreasing then increasing
	6	decreasing then steady or decreasing then decreasing more slowly
	7	decreasing steadily or unsteadily
	8	steady or increasing then decreasing or decreasing then decreasing more rapidly

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With all of the shaking that has been and is still going on in Chile and its movement to the east I was wondering how it might be affecting all of the big new telescopes down there.

I looked up their locations and plotted them in Google Earth along with the locations of the earthquakes greater than Richter magnitude 4.5 (automatically plotted based on a KMZ file from USGS.

Google Earth graphic

Based on the strength of the initial and strongest temblor and the descriptions of the Richter scale (below) it doesn't seem like any of the scopes should have been effected by the shaking but if any of them use polar alignment, which is doubtful in this day and age, they would probably need to be realigned or otherwise adjusted. There was also an elevation change across the continent so that probably needed checking out and possibly compensating for as well.

Richter Magnitude Scale for Earthquake Severity

The Richter Scale is a measure of the energy released beneath the Earth's surface at the epicenter of the earthquake.

Richter Magnitude	Descriptor	Probable Effects	Frequency
<2.0	Micro	microearthquakes not felt	~8,000/day
2.0 - 2.9	Minor	generally not felt but recorded	~1,000/day
3.0 - 3.9		often felt but rarely cause< damage	~49,000/year
4.0 - 4.9	Light	Noticeable shaking of indoor items, rattling noises Significant damage unlikely	6,200/year
5.0 - 5.9	Moderate	Can cause major damage to poorly constructed buildings over small regions. At most slight damage to well-designed buildings	800/year
6.0 - 6.9	Strong	Can be destructive in areas up to about 160 kilometres (100 mi) across in populated areas	120/year
7.0 - 7.9	Major	Can cause serious damage over larger areas	18/year
8.0 - 8.9	Great	Can cause serious damage in areas several hundred miles across	1/year
9.0 - 9.9		Devastating in areas several thousand miles across	1/20 years
10.0+	Epic	Never recorded	extremely rare none recorded
based on Wikipedia

Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale

The Modified Mercalli Intensity scale measures the impact of the earthquake at the surface of the Earth.

Category	Description	Corresponding Richter
I. Instrumental	Not felt by many people unless in favourable conditions.	1.0 - 3.0
II. Feeble	Felt only by a few people at best, especially on the upper floors of buildings. Delicately suspended objects may swing.	3.0 - 3.9
III. Slight	Felt quite noticeably by people indoors, especially on the upper floors of buildings. Many do not recognize it as an earthquake. Standing motor cars may rock slightly. Vibration similar to the passing of a truck. Duration estimated.
IV. Moderate	Felt indoors by many people, outdoors by few people during the day. At night, some awakened. Dishes, windows, doors disturbed; walls make cracking sound. Sensation like heavy truck striking building. Standing motor cars rock noticeably. Dishes and windows rattle alarmingly.	4.0 - 4.9
V. Rather Strong	Felt outside by most, may not be felt by some outside in non-favourable conditions. Dishes and windows may break and large bells will ring. Vibrations like large train passing close to house.
VI. Strong	Felt by all; many frightened and run outdoors, walk unsteadily. Windows, dishes, glassware broken; books fall off shelves; some heavy furniture moved or overturned; a few instances of fallen plaster. Damage slight.	5.0 - 5.9
VII. Very Strong	Difficult to stand; furniture broken; damage negligible in building of good design and construction; slight to moderate in well-built ordinary structures; considerable damage in poorly built or badly designed structures; some chimneys broken. Noticed by people driving motor cars.		6.0 - 6.9
VIII. Destructive	Damage slight in specially designed structures; considerable in ordinary substantial buildings with partial collapse. Damage great in poorly built structures. Fall of chimneys, factory stacks, columns, monuments, walls. Heavy furniture moved.	7.0+
IX. Ruinous	General panic; damage considerable in specially designed structures, well designed frame structures thrown out of plumb. Damage great in substantial buildings, with partial collapse. Buildings shifted off foundations.		6.0 - 6.9
X. Disastroud	Some well built wooden structures destroyed; most masonry and frame structures destroyed with foundation. Rails bent.
XI. Very Disasterous	Few, if any masonry structures remain standing. Bridges destroyed. Rails bent greatly.
XII. Catastrophic	Total damage - Everything is destroyed. Total destruction. Lines of sight and level distorted. Objects thrown into the air. The ground moves in waves or ripples. Large amounts of rock move position.
after Wikipedia

Gerassimos Papadopoulos and Fumihiko Imamura Tsunami Intensity Scale

Category	Wave Height	(a) effects on humans (b)effect on objects including boats (c) damage to buildings
I. Not Felt	0
II. Scarcely Felt	0	(a) Felt by few people onboard small vessels. Not observed on the coast. (b) No effect. (c) No damage.
III. Weak	0	(a) Felt by most people onboard small vessels. Observed by a few people on the coast. (b) No effect. (c) No damage.
IV. Largely Observed	0	(a) Felt by all onboard small vessels and by few people onboard large vessels. Observed by most people on the coast. (b)Few small vessels move slightly onshore. (c) No damage.
V. Strong	1 m	Felt by all onboard large vessels and observed by all on the coast. Few people are frightened and run to higher ground. (b) Many small vessels move strongly onshore, few of them crash into each other or overturn. Traces of sand layer are left behind on ground with favorable circumstances. Limited flooding of cultivated land. (c) Limited flooding of outdoor facilities (such as gardens) of near-shore structures.
VI. Slightly Damaging	2 m	Many people are frightened and run to higher ground. (b) Most small vessels move violently onshore, crash strongly into each other, or overturn. (c) Damage and flooding in a few wooden structures. Most masonry buildings withstand.
VII. Damaging	4 m	(a) Many people are frightened and try to run to higher ground. (b) Many small vessels damaged. Few large vessels oscillate violently. Objects of variable size and stability overturn and drift. Sand layer and accumulations of pebbles are left behind. Few aquaculture rafts washed away. (c) Many wooden structures damaged, few are demolished or washed away. Damage of grade 1 and flooding in a few masonry buildings.
VIII. Heavily Damaging	4 m	(a) All people escape to higher ground, a few are washed away. (b) Most of the small vessels are damaged, many are washed away. Few large vessels are moved ashore or crash into each other. Big objects are drifted away. Erosion and littering of the beach. Extensive flooding. Slight damage in tsunami-control forests and stop drifts. Many aquaculture rafts washed away, few partially damaged. (c) Most wooden structures are washed away or demolished. Damage of grade 2 in a few masonry buildings. Most reinforced-concrete buildings sustain damage, in a few damage of grade 1 and flooding is observed.
IX. Destructive	8 m	(a) Many people are washed away. (b) Most small vessels are destroyed or washed away. Many large vessels are moved violently ashore, few are destroyed. Extensive erosion and littering of the beach. Local ground subsidence. Partial destruction in tsunami-control forests and stop drifts. Most aquaculture rafts washed away, many partially damaged. (c) Damage of grade 3 in many masonry buildings, few reinforced-concrete buildings suffer from damage grade 2.
X. Very Destructive	8 m [12 m ??]	(a) General panic. Most people are washed away. (b) Most large vessels are moved violently ashore, many are destroyed or collide with buildings. Small boulders from the sea bottom are moved inland. Cars overturned and drifted. Oil spills, fires start. Extensive ground subsidence. (c) Damage of grade 4 in many masonry buildings, few reinforced-concrete buildings suffer from damage grade 3. Artificial embankments collapse, port breakwaters damaged.
XI. Devastating	16 m	(a) (b) Lifelines interrupted. Extensive fires. Water backwash drifts cars and other objects into the sea. Big boulders from sea bottom are moved inland.(c) Damage of grade 5 in many masonry buildings. Few reinforced-concrete buildings suffer from damage grade 4, many suffer from damage grade 3.
XII. Completely Devasating	32 m	(a) (b) (c) Practically all masonry buildings demolished. Most reinforced-concrete buildings suffer from at least damage grade 3.
based on About.com: Geology

14 March 2010

Daylight Saving Time just returned. 0200 EST became 0300 EDT. We are now UTC - 4 hrs

Blogger has some kind of DST rule that wouldn't let me post this at 0201 DST.

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CNN tells us that today is Pi day. That is the day of the year when the date is equal to the ration of the circumference to the diameter of a circle 3.14159. . ..

I crunched the numbers and found that if you use 3 as the month of the year, .14 as the day of the month and the rest of the decimal figures as the time of the day the actual instant of Pi would have been 0323:53.60527.

If, however, you get a little more literal and use the integer to designate the month and decimal portion of Pi to identify the date and time you find that the instant of Pi was actually 4Mar10 at 0556:48.1581.

Another possible interpretation would be 3Jan10 at 0556:48.1581, the third day of the year.

A slightly more accurate value for Pi:

3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510582097494459230781640628620899862803482534211706798214808651328230664709384460955058223172535940812848111745028410270193852110555964462294895493038196442881097566593344612847564823378678316527120190914564856692346034861045432664821339360726024914127372458700660631558817488152092096282925409171536436789259036001133053054882046652138414695194151160943305727036575959195309218611738193261179310511854807446237996274956735188575272489122793818301194912983367336244065664308602139494639522473719070217986094370277053921717629317675238467481846766940513200056812714526356082778577134275778960917363717872146844090122495343014654958537105079227968925892354201995611212902196086403441815981362977477130996051870721134999999837297804995105973173281609631859502445945534690830264252230825334468503526193118817101000313783875288658753320838142061717766914730359825349042875546873115956286388235378759375195778185778053217122680661300192787661119590921642019893809525720106548586327886593615338182796823030195203530185296899577362259941389124972177528347913151557485724245415069595082953311686172785588907509838175463746493931925506040092770167113900984882401285836160356370766010471018194295559619894676783744944825537977472684710404753464620804668425906949129331367702898915210475216205696602405803815019351125338243003558764024749647326391419927260426992279678235478163600934172164121992458631503028618297455570674983850549458858692699569092721079750930295532116534498720275596023648066549911988183479775356636980742654252786255181841757467289097777279380008164706001614524919217321721477235014144197356854816136115735255213347574184946843852332390739414333454776241686251898356948556209921922218427255025425688767179049460165346680498862723279178608578438382796797668145410095388378636095068006422512520511739298489608412848862694560424196528502221066118630674427862203919494504712371378696095636437191728746776465757396241389086583264599581339047802

Wikipedia

9 March 2010

A CNN article reports that parts of Chile were moved by nearly a foot by the 27Feb10 earthquake. In fact it appears that most of southern South America was moved to one extent or another.

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Observing Location	6 Ave @ 42 St
Observational Period	1900-1930 EST
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Clear Temperature 57° F Wind Calm Wind Chill Effect 57° F Heat Index ° F Humidity Low Barometric Pressure 29.97" Hg Rising Feels Like Mild Transparency Good Seeing
Instruments	Naked-eye - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target Iridium 11 Double Flare Constellation Cnc & CMi Category Satellite Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20100309.1924 EST   CalSky   1st Flare 2nd Flare Time 1924:55 EST 1925:10 EST Alt. 53.2° 48.2° Az. 141.2° SE 147.4° SSE Mag. 0.4 -3.8 Surface MMA1 solar panels Comments Neither of these flares were listed in Heavens Above. This is strange since the satellite is under command and the flare was high and at least the second flare was very bright. I did not see the first flare. The lights from the MetLife building were shining down on Bryant Park from over my head and there might have been enough glare from them to wash out a +0.4 flare. On the other hand it may not have appeared as a flare. The second flare was very bright even in the middle of the stream of light beaming down onto the park.

Target Iridium 45 Flare Constellation CMi Category Satellite Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20100309.1925 EST   CalSky Time 1925:10 EST Alt. 49.7° Az. 152.1° SSE Mag. -0.7 Surface solar panels Comments Not Seen This flare was to have occurred at the same time as the second flare from Iridium 11 which I did see. It was fainter by three magnitudes and was about 5° distant. I was concentrating on the Iridium 11 flare and missed this one. This is another flare that is not listed in Heavens Above.

6 Ave @ 42 St (SW corner) Mag. 2.3 I was looking down 6 Ave beneath the wash of lights from the MetLife building and they were severely impacting the visibility. I saw more stars than on the Mag 2 chart (Mintaka and Saiph) but not as many as on the Mag 3 chart (tip of the Sword, star to the fight of Rigel)

7 Ave @ 44 St (NW corner) Just to make sure I went to Times Square and could only find Sirius and Mars.