30 May 2011

Observing Location	41 St @ FDR Drive
Observational Period	0245-0320 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	clear at zenith, cloudy at horizon, very humid, warm Cloud Cover Scattered Temperature 74° F Wind Calm Wind Chill Effect Heat Index 75° F Humidity 82% Barometric Pressure 30.01" Hg 7 KNYC METAR 300651Z AUTO VRB03KT 9SM CLR 23/20 A3004 RMK AO2 SLP161 T02330200 TSNO Feels Like warm and close Transparency Poor Seeing
Instruments	Celestron Outland 8x42 binocular - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target ISS Visible Pass Constellation Aqr, Psc, Ari Category Satellite Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20110530.0316 EDT Starts Max. Alt. Ends H A e b a o v v e e n s Time EDT EDT EDT Alt. ° ° ° Az. Mag C a l S k y Time 0316:21 EDT 0316:21 EDT 0320:32 EDT Alt. 22.5° 22.5° horizon Az. 119.8° ESE 119.8° ESE 64.2° ENE Mag -2.1 -2.1 1.6 Heavens Above Graphic Comments Not Seen I was looking over an elevated portion of the FDR drive between two street lights into clouds.

0328 EDT

Beginning of astronomical twilight

0415 EDT

End of astronomical twilight
Beginning if nautical twilight

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Observing Location	Pier 84 (hereafter P84), Hudson River
Observational Period	0410-0500 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	hazy with clouds below ~30° Cloud Cover Scattered with haze Temperature 73° F Wind Gentle Breeze Wind Chill Effect Heat Index 74° F Humidity 87% Barometric Pressure 30.03" Hg 8 KNYC METAR 300851Z AUTO VRB06KT 7SM CLR 23/21 A3005 RMK AO2 SLP167 T02280206 55007 TSNO Feels Like warm and close Transparency Poor Seeing
Instruments	Celestron Outland 8x42 binocular - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

0415 EDT

End of astronomical twilight
Beginning of nautical twilight

Target Moon Constellation Ari Category Lunar Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20110530.0425 EDT Lunation 1093 Phase waning Crescent Age 27d 1h 33m Distance Light Time (from earth) 399,991 km 1.33s Elongation 29° 03' W % Illuminated 6.3% Morning Terminator Colongitude (λ E) ° Evening Terminator Colongitude (λ W) ° Libration in Latitude ° Libration in Longitude ° Magnitude -6.6 Angular Size 29' 55" Altitude 5.59° Virtual Moon Atlas graphic Comments Looking east I saw the old Moon in the new Moon's arms just above the top of a northern Times Square building as it began it's daytime transit of the celestial sphere.

Target Lacrosse 3 Flare Constellation Cyg Category Satellite Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20110530.0447 EDT Heavens Above CalSky Time EDT 0447 EDT Alt. 72.9° Az. 84.5° Mag. 0.2 Surface SAR antenna Comments Not Seen The sky had brightened enough that my only reference star was already gone.

Target ISS Visible Pass Constellation Boo, Dra, UMi, Cam, Per, Aur Category Satellite Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20100530.0447 EDT Starts Max. Alt. Ends H A e b a o v v e e n &nbso; s   Time EDT EDT EDT Alt. ° ° ° Az. Mag C a l S k y Time 0447:44 EDT 0450:32 EDT 0455:44 EDT Alt. 6.7° 31.6° horizon Az. 260.9° W 331.4° NNW 48.5° NE Mag -1.8 -3.0 4.5 Heavens Above graphic Comments I saw two close points of golden light appear out to the west. In the binocular they were of unequal brightness. As I remember it the fainter was slightly above and trailing the brighter. They gave the appearance of being about as far apart as the width of a paper match. They remind me of naked-eye observing Alcor and Mizar. I tried to make a movie of them but could not find them in the camera LCD screen. When I went back to the binocular I couldn't find them there either. I suspect that I caught them when they poked above the clouds at or near culmination and ducked back down while I was trying to photograph them. I have a request in to NASA for relative position information. This was an extended departure of a Shuttle from ISS as they were experimenting with new hardware that will allow autonomous docking of the next generation of spacecraft, if we ever build it. The event, Sensor Test for Orion RelNav Risk Mitigation (STORRM), included the Shuttle backing off from ISS and re-approaching the orbiter in a trajectory similar to that of an Orion capsule.

0458 EDT

End of nautical twilight
Beginning of civil twilight

0528 EDT

End of civil twilight
Sunrise

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Observing Location	TotL
Observational Period	2030-2330 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Broken becoming<>Scattered Temperature 84° F falling to 79° F Wind Calm Wind Chill Effect Heat Index ° F Humidity 55% Barometric Pressure 30.09" Hg increasing to 30.13" Hg 2 KNYC METAR Feels Like Clammy and hot when you are walking around with the pack on your back Transparency   Poor Seeing II-III
Instruments	Celestron C70 Mini Mak Celestron 25x-75x stock zoom eyepiece 18mm 1.25" Kellner Celestron 15mm 1.25" Plossl Celestron 9mm 1.25" Plossl Celestron 6mm 1.25" Plossl Celestron 4mm 1.25" Plossl
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

  The objective tonight was to observe Saturn with the Celestron C70 Mini Mak Spotting Scope in the stock configuration and then with the 1.25" adapter and the eyepieces for my Dobsonian scope to determine if and how usable it will be for nighttime astronomy.  I was also using the gifted tripod for the first time.

The tripod first.  I was expecting a good bit of shake and it did not let me down.  It damps fairly quickly after you let go of the focuser.  There is nothing on the bottom of the center post to keep it from coming out of the base when you pull it up but it needs to be at full height all the time so I only have to remember about that once.  Even at maximum extension the tripod is not tall enough to get the eyepiece at a comfortable observing height so I might be better off all around observing from my stool where I won't need to use the center post extension and the scope will be more stable.

The scope does not have any kind of finder so I anticipated having some trouble finding stars but I had not anticipated spending half of my observing time just trying to get Saturn in my lowest power eyepiece.  The rubber armor over the OTA has grooves in it that look like they were made to hold an empty stick pen barrel or fat straw and they will be my first finders but I suspect that I am going to want something bigger so it is easier to see through.  Locating terrestrial objects was a good bit easier but still not a fast process.

the biggest problem with trying to find stars is getting the initial focus.  I think I figured out that turning the focuser up (anti-clockwise) brings the focus to distant objects and turning it down (clockwise) focuses on near objects.  I don't have a sense yet of how far from the end of travel infinity focus is.  Focusing is difficult.  I am used to fling past the focus point and then back focusing until sharp focus is achieved.  But when you go past the focus point with Cassigrain telescopes you often have to back focus farther than you have come.  There must be a horrendous amount of slop in the focuser threads of these types of focusing mechanisms.

I started out looking at the GE building to get the scope focused on something even if it was something a lot closer than Saturn.  I hoped it would get me in the ballpark so I would at least see a fussy tennis ball when I found Saturn.  The sign on the top of the GE building looked very crisp at 25x and at 75x it was still sharp enough to pick out the ends of the neon tubes making up the sign.  I think the scope will do fine for stationary birds but it will not work for anything in motion.  Point sources of light quickly become donuts as the move out of focus.  This might be a problem when observing birds with rippled water behind them where there are a lot of specular highlights.  The easiest eyepiece to focus is the 18mm Kellner because you can get rough focus with the telescope focuser and then rock in fine focus with the helical focuser built into the eyepiece.

Eyepiece stats:

Eyepiece	Magnification	Field Of View
Celestron 25x-75x Zoom	25x 75x	° °
18mm Kellner	41.6x	°
Celestron 15mm 1.25" Plossl	50x	°
Celestron 9mm 1.25" Plossl	88.3x	°
Celestron 6mm 1.25" Plossl	125x	°
Celestron 4mm 1.25" Plossl	187.5x	°

Celestron 25x-75x zoom eyepiece

@ 25x - sharp nut a tiny Saturn; will be good for M45 and maybe the Double Cluster or Kemble's Cascade
@ 75x - nice size planet but a little soft; hard to focus; small FoV

18mm Kellner

crisp image; the helical focuser makes it easy to get the sharpest focus possible

Celestron 15mm 1.25" Plossl

not as crisp or easy to focus as the 18mm Kellner

Celestron 9mm 1.25" Plossl

I definitely saw separation between the disk of the planet and the left and right extents of the rings

Celestron 6mm 1.25" Plossl

a very unforgiving eyepiece; it was gard to find the planet even though I had it centered in the 9mm eyepiece just before changing eyepieces

Celestron 4mm 1.25" Plossl

hard to find the exit pupil; a very dark, murky FoV when there is nothing bright in it; very small FoV makes finding things difficult; might work for the Moon but unusable even for the planets

2018 EDT

Sunset
Beginning of civil twilight

2039 EDT

Arcturus first seen naked-eye

2046 EDT

Saturn first seen naked-eye but it was some time before it could be reliably recovered

2051 EDT

End of civil twilight
Beginning of nautical twilight

Target Saturn Constellation Vir Category Planet Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20110530.2130 EDT    Object Class Classical Planet Elongation 121° 15' E Distance Light Time (from Earth) 9.07 AU 1h15m Distance (from Sun) 9.63 AU Angular Size 18.3"x16.3" Ring Angular Size 41.4"x5.28" Ring Inclination -7° 19' Magnitude 0.7 Altitude 47° 52' Starry Night Starter graphic Comments I could not see detail in the rings or on the disk of the planet but I was able to see space between the disk and the rings at the sides of the planet.  I didn't see any moons and don't know if that was because of observing conditions or equipment limitations.

2131 EDT

End of nautical twilight
Beginning of astronomical twilight

2218 EDT

End of astronomical twilight

 

Target Iridium 86 Flare Constellation Hya Category Satellite Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20110530.2237 EDT °   Heavens Above CalSky Time 2237 EDT EDT Alt. 18.0° ° Az. 262.8° W Mag. -3.8   Surface     Comments It appeared moving S to N over CPW and quickly grew very bright and was white to slightly blueish.

Target Iridium 72 Flare Constellation Cas Category Satellite Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20110530.2317 EDT   Heavens Above CalSky Time 2317 EDT EDT Alt. 5.1° ° Az. 22.1° NNE ° Mag. -2.1   Surface     Comments Not Seen I don't know if it was below the treeline or if it wasn't bright enough to burn through the schmutz.