24 August 2011

Observing Location	BP
Observational Period	0745-0830 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Isolated Clouds and increasing Temperature 68° F Wind Light Breeze Wind Chill Effect Heat Index -- Humidity 70% Barometric Pressure 30.11" Hg 2 KNYC METAR 241151Z AUTO VRB06KT 10SM CLR 20/14 A3013 RMK AO2 SLP194 T02000144 10211 20194 53011 TSNO Feels Like Mild Transparency Fair Seeing II
Instruments	Celestron C70 Mini Mak spotting scope stock 25x-75x zoom eyepiece stock tabletop tripod w/geared Alt/Az adjustment Kendrick filter cell with Baader AstroSolar filter film Empire Magnetic POLYCAST Protractor Planetarium for Palm on Tungsten|T3
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target Sunspots Constellation Leo Category Solar Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20110824.0815 EDT Distance Light Time 1.01 AU 8m 25s Angular Size 31' 41.3" Altitude 22.6° Heliographic Latitude (B0) 7.01° Heliographic Longitude (L0) 25.00° Parallactic Angle (P) 18.90° Carrington rotation number (CR) 2113 Comments I got all set up to start observing and the Sun moved behind a building so I had to change location and wait for it to reappear. I can look in LightTrac to see when it is lined up with the (former) PanAm building and 25° in altitude to determine when I can start observing. LightTrac graphic   Groups Spots R North 1 7 17 South 1 1 11 Total 2 8 28 Official NOAA Sunspot Number 81 R = (Groups * 10) + Spots) 3D Sun graphic 3D Sun graphic Solar Dynamics Observatory graphic from SWx Monitor Optical Solar PAtrol Network (OSPAN) graphic from SWx Monitor Group 1271 This is a nice group with small spots near the large ones, penumbra and surrounding plage. Heliographic Latitude 16° Heliographic Longitude 65° Carrington rotation number (CR) 2113 Sunspots Counted 7 Mcintosh System Fhi Helio graphic Solar Dynamics Observatory graphic from SWx Monitor Group 1272 Again today I only saw one spot in this group so didn't sketch anything. That spot was hard to see and was not sighted until the end of the session. Heliographic Latitude -19° Heliographic Longitude 49° Carrington rotation number (CR) 2113 Sunspots Counted 1 Mcintosh System Axx Helio graphic Solar Dynamics Observatory graphic from SWx Monitor Group 1274 & 1275 Not Seen It looks to me like there is a spot forming in the plage on the limb to the left of these two small spots. Solar Dynamics Observatory graphic

The forecast for Hurricane Irene now has it passing over central Long Island Sunday evening. The map says it will still be a hurricane when it makes landfall again in Connecticut but the tabular data, which I have graphed in Numbers indicates that the likelihood is that it will only be a tropical storm when it passes here.

NOAA graphic

Either way we are still in for some high winds and a good bit of rain.