It took me 30 minutes to get the Orion EZFinder Deluxe realigned with the Mini Mak after having last used it on the mortar. Later in the evening I found that it was off when sighting objects low in the W. I sighted in on a nearby lamp post then refined my settings on the top of a distant building. Until now I have been using the circle with dot reticle but think I like the circle over crosshairs better. I tried doing a drift test to confirm that the circle is 1° but have not done the calculations on it yet.
Just before the fireworks started I got Mars through the trees in Manhattan NE.
Exoplanets
Nearly twice as many exoplanets were discovered this year than last year (196 vs 108) and over 1/4 (27.37%) of all known exoplanets were discovered this year.
The rate of discovery has continued to accelerate.
Taking a longer view nearly half (41%) as many exoplanets have been discovered in the first year of this decade (2011-2020; 196 exoplanets) as in all of the prior decade (2000-2010; 471 exoplanets).
Of the known exoplanets, 149 (20%) are within the habitable zone of their exosun and 223 (31%) are members of multi-exoplanets systems.
Method of discovery:
| Method | Discoveries |
|---|---|
| Radial Velocity | 457 |
| Transiting | 200 |
| Microlensing | 14 |
| Direct Imaging | 28 |
| Eyeball Observation | 0 |
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 |
| Aug | 2.75 | 7 | 0.39 | 6.50 | 2 | 3.25 | 9.25 | 8 | 1.16 |
| Sep | 0.50 | 1 | 0.50 | 4.50 | 1 | 4.50 | 5.00 | 2 | 2.50 |
| Oct | 3.50 | 4 | 0.88 | 11.50 | 4 | 2.88 | 15.00 | 7 | 2.14 |
| Nov | 6.50 | 5 | 1.30 | 13.75 | 5 | 2.75 | 20.25 | 9 | 2.25 |
| Dec | 2.00 | 3 | 0.67 | 26.50 | 6 | 4.42 | 28.50 | 6 | 4.75 |
| TOTAL | 20.00 | 27 | 0.74 | 116.00 | 36 | 3.22 | 136.00 | 55 | 2.47 |
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