20 August 2011

Observing Location	Coney Island Lighthouse, Norton's Point, Coney Island, Brooklyn, NY Lat. 40° 34' 35.09" Long. 74° 00' 42.41"
Observational Period	0845-0915 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Clear Temperature 73° F Wind Light Breeze Wind Chill Effect Heat Index -- Humidity 76% Barometric Pressure 30.00" Hg 2 KJFK METAR KJFK 201251Z 24004KT 8SM FEW018 SCT250 23/18 A3000 RMK AO2 SLP157 T02280183 Feels Like Warm Transparency Good Seeing II
Instruments	Celestron C70 Mini Mak spotting scope stock 25x-75x zoom eyepiece Kendrick filter cell with Baader AstroSolar filter film Sunset FO-2000 tripod Empire Magnetic POLYCAST Protractor Planetarium for Palm on Tungsten|T3 Celestron Outland 8x42 binocular
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

I was out at the Coney Island Lighthouse today with the Kings County Repeater Association to celebrate International Lighthouse/Lightships Day.

Google Earth graphic

Sky Safari v 2.1.2 graphic

Target Sunspots Constellation Leo Category Solar Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20110820.0845 EDT Distance Light Time 1.01 AU 8m 25s Angular Size 31' 37" Altitude 28° 01' Heliographic Latitude (B0) 6.85° Heliographic Longitude (L0) 80.33° Parallactic Angle (P) 17.62° Carrington rotation number (CR) 2113 Light Track graphic Comments I did not know if I would have internet access so didn't bring my iPad so my sunspot graphics from NASA were made later than they should have been. They are showing group 1274 on the limb which may not have been there at the time of my observations so their sunspot number may be higher than it was when I made my observation.   Groups Spots R North 1 8 18 South 1 1 11 Total 2 9 29 Official NOAA Sunspot Number 59 R = (Groups * 10) + Spots) 3D Sun graphic Solar Dynamics Observatory graphic from SWx Monitor Group 1271 Heliographic Latitude 10° Heliographic Longitude 53° Carrington rotation number (CR) 2113 Sunspots Counted 8 Mcintosh System Ehi Helio graphic Solar Dynamics Observatory graphic from SWx Monitor Group 1272 I could only find the largest spot of the group and its penumbra didn't appear to be extraordinary so there I didn't see a need to sketch it. Heliographic Latitude ° Heliographic Longitude ° Carrington rotation number (CR) 2113 Sunspots Counted 1 Mcintosh System Akx Helio graphic Solar Dynamics Observatory graphic from SWx Monitor

Target Moon Constellation Ari Category Lunar Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20110820.0900 EDT Lunation 1096 Phase Waning Gibbous Age 20d 18h 19m Distance Light Time (from earth) km 1.33s Elongation 105° 5' W % Illuminated 63.0%% Morning Terminator Colongitude (λ E) 168° Evening Terminator Colongitude (λ W) 348° Libration in Latitude -3° 56' Libration in Longitude -4° 5' Magnitude -10.6 Angular Size 30' 00" Altitude 40° 40' Light Track graphic Virtual Moon Atlas graphic Moon Atlas graphic Sky Safari v2.1.2 graphic Comments The Moon looked very nice appearing as a turtle shell sitting on the terminator. There was nice shadow along the western edge of Mare Imbrium with the terminator passing near Montes Apenninus.

Target Jupiter Constellation Ari Category Planet Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20110820.0900 EDT Object Class Classical Planet Elongation 107° 00' W Distance Light Time (from Earth) 4.56 AU 37 m 58s Distance (from Sun) 4.96 AU Angular Size 43.1"x40.3" Magnitude -2.6 Central Meridian I/II 96°/52° Altitude 37° 54' Starry Night Starter graphic Sky Safari v2.1.2 graphic Comments I knew that Jupiter was to the lower left of the Moon (~4.5°) so used my protractor to set its approximate elevation and just started sweeping the sky until I saw a spot of light. Sky Safari v2.1.2 graphic It resolved nicely to an obviously planetary image even at only 25x. I wasn't able to pick out any moons and was not able to locate the planet in the binocular. Jupiter is currently ~1.5° below the Ecliptic. Sky Safari v2.1.2 graphic

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Observing Location	TotL
Observational Period	2230-0030 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	3 Cloud Cover Clear becoming Scattreed Clouds Temperature ° F Wind Calm Wind Chill Effect Heat Index -- Humidity 79% Barometric Pressure " Hg 29.99 KNYC METAR 210251Z AUTO 21003KT 9SM CLR 24/20 A3001 RMK AO2 SLP153 T02390200 50006 TSNO Feels Like Mild Transparency Fair Seeing
Instruments	Naked Eye - Charlie Teleport 10" Donsonisn reflector – Peter 2" Pentax 40mm, 70° FoV, 31.8x 2" TeleVue Nagler 17mm, 82° FoV, 74.7x 1.25" TeleVue Nagler 13mm, 82° FoV, 97.7x 1.25" TeleVue Plossl 7mm, 82° FoV, 181.4x Binoculars - Jordan
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway Peter Tagatac Jordan Kushner Jordan's observing partner

When I arrived home from playing radio at the lighthouse event I found, as I knew I would, an email from Peter saying he was going up to TotL to observe. I figured it would be nearly 2300 EDT before I could get there and was tired so went up without any equipment.

The sky was starting to cloud up when I arrived and we didn't do that much observing after that. I got a look at some double stars in Lyra through Peter's telescope and found M31 in Jordan's hand-held binoculars and helped him find it himself. At the end of the night I looked at Jupiter in Peter's hand-held Nikon binoculars but they are too heavy for me to hold them steady enough to see the Galilean moons. The Moon was rising in haze.