31 July 2011

Observing Location	P84
Observational Period	1915-2045 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Clear becoming Scattered Temperature 83° F Wind light Breeze gusting to Gentle Breeze Wind Chill Effect Heat Index 84°F Humidity 49% Barometric Pressure 29.98" Hg 4 KNYC METAR 312251Z AUTO VRB03KT 10SM FEW100 28/17 A3001 RMK AO2 SLP151 T02830167 TSNO Feels Like warm Transparency Poor Seeing II
Instruments	Celestron C70 Mini Mak spotting scope w/ stock 25x-75x zoom lens Sunset FC 2000 tripod Kendrick 6004/Baader AstroSolar filter FAR Laboratories Helio-Pod Empire Magnetic POLYCAST Protractor Planetarium for Palm on Tungsten|T3 Celestron Outland 8x42 binocular
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target Sunspots Constellation Gem Category Solar Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20110731.1930 EDT Distance Light Time 1.02 AU 8m s Angular Size 31' 33.8" Altitude 19.9° Heliographic Latitude (B0) 5.75° Heliographic Longitude (L0) 336.64° Parallactic Angle (P) 10.64° Carrington rotation number (CR) 2113 Comments LightTrac graphic I arrived just as the Sun was sinking into a deck of clouds. After a little bit it descended into a break in the clouds that was about 1/2 Sun diameter high so I only had a couple of minutes of observing time for the whole disk as it passed behind the rent in the cloud. It wasnt too hard to figure out where the groups were on the disc and count the major spots but I could only estimate the number of spots I saw in group 2161. Once the sun fell below that window it was never seen again. My sunspot number is a good bit lower than it would have been if I had had an unobstructed view of the Sun so more time to count the spots in each group, particularly the complex group 1261. I could guess at the Mcintosh System designation for each group but that guess would be informed by what I observed yesterday and may not be valid today. I only saw obvious penumbra around the P spot of group 1260. Group 1261 is still more penumbra than umbra. I suspect that there was still penumbra around the spots of group 1263 but didn't depict it in my drawing. I did not have time to make detailed sketches of each individual group. I did not see group 1265.   Groups Spots R North 3 12 42 South 0 0 0 Total 3 12 42 NASA Sunspot Number 101 R = (Groups * 10) + Spots) Solar Dynamics Observatory graphic from 3D Sun Solar Dynamics Observatory graphic from SWx Monitor Group 1260 Heliographic Latitude 9° Heliographic Longitude 323° Carrington rotation number (CR) 2113 Mcintosh System   Helio graphic Solar Dynamics Observatory graphic from SWx Monitor Group 2161 Heliographic Latitude 22° Heliographic Longitude 336° Carrington rotation number (CR) 2113 Mcintosh System   Helio graphic Solar Dynamics Observatory graphic from =SWx Monitor Group 2163 Heliographic Latitude 37° Heliographic Longitude 359° Carrington rotation number (CR) 2113 Mcintosh System   Helio graphic Solar Dynamics Laboratory from SWx Monitor Group 2165 Not Seen Heliographic Latitude   Heliographic Longitude   Carrington rotation number (CR)   Mcintosh System   Solar Dynamics Laboratory graphic from SWx Monitor Yesterday Helio reported the latitude of all the spots as roughly the same, as it should. Today, no matter how I configure it for disk rotation, it reports the latitude of the spots increasing as you move across the disk to the east. Since I divide the Sun into quadrants when I am making my drawings so am going to configure Helio that way (disk rotation) from here out as well. But VMware doesn't seem to keep my settings or even remember what programs I have running when I suspend the VM so I will probably forget to reconfigure when I next run the program.

Target Tumbling Cosmos 2428 Rocket Booster Visible Pass Constellation   Category Satellite Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20110731.2008 EDT     Starts Max. Alt. Ends C a l S k y Time 2028:10 EDT 2036:08 EDT 2044:11 EDT Alt. horizon 47.4° horizon Az. 218.8° SW 298.8° WNW/td> 19.1° NNE Mag 6.4 4.7 6.4 Comments This is a naked eye tumbling "satellite" but the flash rate is 1/minute so the likelihood of my spotting it was low and the sky was still fairly bright so I didn't even attempt it.

2010 EDT

Sunset
Beginning of civil twilight

2041 EDT

Ed of civil twilingt
Beginning of nautical twilight

Target Iridium 23 Flare Constellation Lyr Category Satellite Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20110731.2042 EDT   Heavens Above CalSky Time 2042:48 EDT 2042:47 EDT Alt. 65° 65.3° Az. 91° E 90.7° E Mag. 0 0.3 Surface   MMA1 Comments The satellite appeared below and to the right of Vega, probably about as far away as M57, and was about nearly as bright as Vega. It was moving N to S and seemed to pulse in brightness but that was probably a result of its passing behind areas of more dense cloud.

Target Saturn Constellation Vir Category Planet Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20110731.2100 EDT Object Class Classical Planet Elongation 63° 54' E Distance Light Time (from Earth) 10.1 AU 1h 24m Distance (from Sun) 9.65 AU Angular Size 16.5"x14.6" Ring Angular Size 37.3"x5.4" Ring Inclination -8° 19' Magnitude 0.9 Altitude 22° 1' Star Walk graphic Comments The planet is getting farther away from Porrima, moving towards Spica. The portion of the rings on the eastern side of the planet looke wider and thicker than the side to the west. I can see a band of shadow on the rings next to the disk to the east. It appears to be wider at the bottom and tapers to a point as it reaches the upper edge of the rings. I had planned to stay until 2200 EDT when Astronomical Twilight ended to see if that would make a difference in my ability to see Saturn's moons but the clouds covered the planet around 2130 EDT and by 2145 EDT it was evident that they were only going to be moving further across the sky from NJ so I packed it in. I don't think I have enough aperture to see Saturn's moons but expect to have no problem spotting those of Jupiter. SkySafari v2.1.2 graphic

2118 EDT

End of nautical twilight
Beginning of astronomical twilight

2159 EDT

End of Astronomical Twilight

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Observing Hours for the Year 2011

	Day			Night			Total
	Hours	Days	Avg	Hours	Days	Avg	Hours	Days	Avg
Jan	0.00	0	0.00	2.00	1	2.00	2.00	1	2.00
Feb	0.00	0	0.00	2.00	1	2.00	2.00	1	2.00
Mar	0.00	0	0.00	7.00	3	2.33	7.00	3	2.33
Apr	0.00	0	0.00	8.25	2	4.13	8.25	2	4.13
May	1.25	3	0.42	16.00	5	3.20	17.25	7	2.46
Jun	0.00	0	0.00	4.00	1	4.00	4.00	1	4.00
Jul	3.50	4	0.88	14.00	5	2.80	17.50	8	2.19
TOTAL	4.75	7	0.68	53.25	18	2.96	58.00	23	2.52