11 May 2008

Observing Location	Home
Observational Period	0245-0305 EDT When I went to bed I had set the alarm for 0230 EDT to get up to see a bright Iridium flare. My neighbor was entertaining one of his very vocally appreciative girlfriends so I had a lot of trouble getting to sleep and wasn't all that interested in getting ou at 0230 but did anyway. It was still noisy when I got back so I documented the observation and was still disturbed when I tried to get back to sleep at 0400 EDT.
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Clear Temperature 55°F Wind Calm Humidity Moderate Barometric Pressure 29.88" Hg Steady Feels Like Cool It seemed a little murky down around Jupiter. I could only find Nunki in the Teapot. Transparency Good Seeing II
Instruments	Brunton 8x21 compact binocular - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target Jupiter Constellation Sgr Category Planet Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20080511.0245 EDT Comments I had checked Planetarium and knew that the satellite should appear between Jupiter and Altair. When I left the apartment there was a bright object low over the buildings across the street that could only be Jupiter so I just moved up the block a bit to find a place where I could see all the sky above the houses and below the trees that included both Jupiter and Altair. Jupiter looks a little golden. I was not able to see any moons in the small hand-held binodular. Object Class Classical Planet Elongation 118.6° Distance Light Time (from Earth) 4.64 AU 38m 36s Distance (from Sun) 5.20 AU Angular Size 42.4"x39.7" Magnitude -2.4 Central Meridian I/II 126°/210° Altitude 18.6° Moons Starry Night Starter graphic

Target Aquila Constellation Aql Category Constellation Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20080511.0250 EDT Comments I could easily see Altair and Tarazed and then found the tip of the right wing, Deneb el Okab, and the heart, δ Aql.

Target Cygnus Constellation Cyg Category Constellation Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20080511.0250 EDT Comments I saw three bright stars in a large right triangle (Deneb, Sadr and Glenah Cygni) and had to look in Planetarium to see what they might be. After I knew what constellation I was in I could locate the break of the right wing.

Target Lyra Constellation Lyr Category Constellation Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20080511.1150 EDT Comments I saw and teo of the stars of the parallelogram, probably Sheliak and Sulafat.

Target Iridium 34 Flare Constellation Aql Category Satellite Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20080511.0302 EDT Comments I was checking the location where the flare should occur in Planetarium and when I looked up it was already in progress moving from horizontally R to L above and to the left of Jupiter and as bright as Jupiter and already fading. I followed it for a good while as it faded a good distance below Altair.   Heavens Above CalSky Time 0302:22 EDT 0302:23 EDT Alt. 28° 28.1 Az. 132° 131.6° Mag. -4 -4.2 Surface   MMA0 front antenna

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Observing Location	PSC The trees are in full leaf and the number of benches where I can see the sun at this time of day is now greatly diminished.
Observational Period	1300-1315 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Scattered to Broken Clouds Temperature 61°F Wind Gentle Breeze gusting to Moderate Breeze Humidity Moderate Barometric Pressure 29.86" Hg Falling Feels Like Fair The gusts make it feel cool. The clouds are cirrus thickening and lowering to stratus in anticipation of rain tomorrow. Transparency Fair Seeing I
Instruments	Brunton 8x21 compact binocular w/Welco gold shade 14 welder's filter - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target Sunspots Constellation Ari Category Solar Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20080511.1300 EDT Comments Distance Light Time 1.01 AU 8m 24s Angular Size 31' 42.9" Altitude 68.0° Heliographic Latitude (B0) -3.00° Heliographic Longitude (L0) 24.72° Parallactic Angle (P) -21.75° Carrington rotation number (CR) 2069 Nothing seen.   Groups Spots R North 0 0 0 South 0 0 0 Total 0 0 0 R = (Groups * 10) + Spots)

7 May 2008

Observing Location	TXM
Observational Period	1300-1315 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Scattered Clouds with Haze Temperature 73°F Wind Light Breeze Humidity Low Barometric Pressure 29.93" Hg Falling Feels Like Very Warm The sky is blue but has a bit of a disky brown tinge to it. The clouds ate cirrus. Transparency Good Seeing I
Instruments	Brunton 8x21 compact binocular w/Welco gold shade 14 welder's filter - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target Sunspots Constellation Ari Category Solar Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20080507.1300 EDT Comments Distance Light Time 1.01 AU 8m 24s Angular Size 31' 44.6" Altitude 67.0° Heliographic Latitude (B0) -3.44° Heliographic Longitude (L0) 77.62° Parallactic Angle (P) -22.71° Carrington rotation number (CR) 2069 Neither SOHO nor I are seeing anything today.   Groups Spots R North 0 0 0 South 0 0 0 Total 0 0 0 R = (Groups * 10) + Spots)

6 May 2008

Observing Location	VP
Observational Period	0915-0930 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Isolated Clouds Temperature 61°F Wind Light Breeze Humidity Moderate Barometric Pressure 30.00" Hg Steady Feels Like Mild Transparency Good Seeing I
Instruments	Brunton 8x21 compact binocular w/Welco gold shade 14 welder's filter - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target Sunspots Constellation Ari Category Solar Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20080506.0915 EDT Comments Distance Light Time 1.01 AU 8m 23s Angular Size 31' 45.2" Altitude 37.7° Heliographic Latitude (B0) -3.56° Heliographic Longitude (L0) 92.90° Parallactic Angle (P) -22.97° Carrington rotation number (CR) 2069 Nothing seen   Groups Spots R North 0 0 0 South 0 0 0 Total 0 0 0 R = (Groups * 10) + Spots)

5 May 2008

Observing Location	CDLD
Observational Period	0930-0945 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Clear Temperature 57°F Wind Calm Humidity Moderate Barometric Pressure 30.12" Hg Steady Feels Like Mild Transparency Excellent Seeing I
Instruments	Brunton 8x21 compact binocular w/Welco gold shade 14 welder's filter - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target Sunspots Constellation Ari Category Solar Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20080505.0930 EDT Comments Distance Light Time 1.01 AU 8m 23s Angular Size 31' 45.6" Altitude 40.4° Heliographic Latitude (B0) -3.67° Heliographic Longitude (L0) 105.98° Parallactic Angle (P) -23.18° Carrington rotation number (CR) 2069 Spaceweather shows Group 933 in the southern hemisphere but I can’t even find it in the high resolution SOHO image.   Groups Spots R North 0 0 0 South 0 0 0 Total 0 0 0 R = (Groups * 10) + Spots)

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Observing Location	White Plains Road @ Cross Bronx Expressway, Bronx, NY
Observational Period	1930-2015 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Scattered Clouds increasing to Broken Clouds Temperature 61°F Wind Calm Humidity Moderate Barometric Pressure 29.99" Hg Steady Feels Like Cool Transparency Poor Seeing
Instruments	Brunton 8x21 compact binocular - Charlie Naked-eye – Charlie Cokin P 003 Red photographic filter - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target First Crescent Moon Constellation Ari Category Lunar Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20080505.1930 EDT Comments Lunation 1056 Phase First Crescent Age 11h 11m Distance Light Time (from earth) 356,499 km 1.19s Elongation 8.3° E % Illuminated 0.4% Morning Terminator Colongitude (λ E) 227.4° Evening Terminator Colongitude (λ W) 47.4° Libration in Latitude -6° 09' Libration in Longitude -1° 33' Magnitude -4.9 Angular Size 33.52' Altitude 10° 48' Virtual Moon Atlas graphic I hadn’t really expected to see this moon, but went out this morning prepared to attempt it anyway. When I left the library it looked too cloudy (I was able to look directly at the sun without discomfort) to have a chance but after I got home I went back out anyway. Peter had sent an email saying that it would be a world record as well as a team and personal one if we got it. Conditions had further deteriorated by the time I got to my observing location and continued to get worse as I stood there waiting for the sun to set. After the sun was gone I thought I saw clear patches of sky through the binocular but when I looked naked eye it was evident that I was looking at stripes of darker or lighter cloud.

1955 EDT	Sunset Civil Twilight begins
2026 EDT	Civil Twilight ends Nautical Twilight begins
2103 EDT	Nautical Twilight ends Astronomical Twilight begins
2143 EDT	Astronomical Twilight ends
2144 EDT	Moon sets

3 May 2008

NASA is saying that the problems they have been having getting External Tanks produced on time is going to lead to a postponement of the HST Servicing Mission. While no new date has been announced BBC News reported on 1May08 that the launch is likely to slip 4-5 weeks which would place it in the late Sept08/early Oct08 timeframe. Spaceflight Now says that the likely launch date is 8Oct08 or possibly later, with STS-125 slipping from 16Oct08 to 15Nov08, STS-119 from 4Dec08 into 2009 with delays to subsequent launches.

NASA says that construction of the ISS is expected to be completed before the Shuttle fleet is retired before the end of FY10 on 20Sep10. The current flight schedule places the last construction flight in Jun10 so there are only about 100 days in the slush fund.

The ET that is intended for the ISS construction flight following the HST Servicing Mission (that would be STS-119) is going to be the rescue mission tank for STS-125 (the HST mission). If there is a problem with the Shuttle on the HST mission they can't go to ISS, where there are enough supplies for them to hang out for several months, and wait for rescue so a rescue mission would need to be launched quickly before the meager life support supplies on board the Shuttle run out.

STS-124 is expected to be launched on schedule at 1702:05 EDT on 31May08, with the launch window extending through 14Jun08 (launch occurring about 22 minutes earlier for each day of delay). Docking with ISS should occur around 1300 EDT on 2Jun08 and undocking around 1200 EDT on 10Jun08. If the launch goes off as scheduled it will be too early for us to see the fly-by. CalSky is predicting some possible visible passes before docking so it might be possible to see a tandem pass, but none of the passes predicted are really favorable. There may be some more ISS altitude boosts before the launch of STS-124 so it is still too early to tell. Landing at KSC is scheduled for 1137 EDT on 13Jun08. Master Flight Plan Launch Window

1 May 2008

May

Named for the Roman goddess Maia, who oversaw the growth of plants. Also from the Latin word matores, "elders," who were celebrated during this month.

Maies, month of the goddess Maia or of the elders (matores) or of growth.

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1 May

Ireland	Beltane
Isle of Man	Shenn da Boaldyn
Scotland	Bealtiunn
Wales	Galan-Mai

Reawakening of earth; return of warmth, life and vegetation

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I have been doing some reading on quantum physics and had to get out the dictionary to make sure I understood the meaning of nugatory, which the author uses a lot. On the opposite page was a table comparing french and American numbers with the similarly named numbers in the British and German systems. I knew that the British meant something different when they talked about a billion, but I wasn't aware how different things get. Each name change signifies an increase of by a factor of a thousand (3 zeroes) in the French/US system while the corresponding increase in the UK/German system is by a factor of a million (6 zeroes). Below 1,000 the systems are at parity.

French/US Equivalent	Zeroes	Name	Zeroes	UK/German Equivalent
10 hundreds 1,000	3	thousand	3	10 hundreds 1,000
1,000 thousands 1,000,000	6	million	12	1,000,000 thousands 1,000,000,000,000
1,000 millions 1,000,000	9	billion	12	1,000,000 millions 1,000,000,000, 000
1,000 billions 1,000,000,000, 000	12	trillion	18	1,000,000 billions 1,000,000,000, 000,000,000
1,000,000 trillions 1,000,000,000, 000,000	15	quadrillion	24	1,000,000 trillions 1,000,000,000, 000,000,000, 000,000
1,000 quadrillions 1,000,000,000, 000,000,000	18	quintillion	30	1,000,000 quadrillions 1,000,000,000, 000,000,000, 000,000,000, 000
1,000 quintillions 1,000,000,000, 000,000,000, 000	21	sextillion	36	1,000,000 quintillions 1,000,000,000, 000,000,000, 000,000,000, 000,000,000
1,000 sextillions 1,000,000,000, 000,000,000, 000,000	24	septillion	42	1,000,000 sextillions 1,000,000,000, 000,000,000, 000,000,000, 000,000,000, 000,000
1,000 septillions 1,000,000,000, 000,000,000, 000,000,000	27	octillion	48	1,000,000 septillions 1,000,000,000, 000,000,000, 000,000,000, 000,000,000, 000,000,000, 000
1,000 octillions 1,000,000,000, 000,000,000, 000,000,000, 000	30	nonillion	54	1,000,000 octillions 1,000,000,000, 000,000,000, 000,000,000, 000,000,000, 000,000,000, 000,000,000
1,000 nonillions 1,000,000,000, 000,000,000, 000,000,000, 000,000	33	decillion	60	1,000,000 nonillions 1,000,000,000, 000,000,000, 000,000,000, 000,000,000, 000,000,000, 000,000,000, 000,000

That means that as the names of the numbers get increasingly larger the disparity between their respective magnitudes becomes even greater.

Things like this can lead to the loss of satellites if you are not aware and attentive.

30 April 2008

Observing Location	E 172 St @ Howard Ave, Bronx, NY Lat.: 40° 49.908’ Long.: -73° 52.471’
Observational Period	1230-1245 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Scattered Clouds Temperature 52°F Wind Gentle Breeze Humidity Moderate Barometric Pressure 30.06" Hg Steady Feels Like Cool Transparency Good Seeing II
Instruments	Brunton 8x21 compact binocular w/Welco gold shade 14 welder's filter - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target Sunspots Constellation Ari Category Solar Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20080430.1230 EDT Comments Distance Light Time 1.01 AU 8m 22s Angular Size 31' 40.0" Altitude 64.5° Heliographic Latitude (B0) -4.17° Heliographic Longitude (L0) 170.42° Parallactic Angle (P) -24.13° Carrington rotation number (CR) 2069 Nothing Seen. There was nothing on SOHO either.   Groups Spots R North 0 0 0 South 0 0 0 Total 0 0 0 R = (Groups * 10) + Spots)

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Sunspots Observed

There were a few sunspots from Cycle 24 that appeared int eh SOHO images but they were all too small for me to see them with the binocular.

Observing Hours for the Year 2008

	Day			Night			Total
	Hours	Days	Avg	Hours	Days	Avg	Hours	Days	Avg
Jan	2.25	9	0.25	2.75	5	0.55	5.00	13	0.38
Feb	3.25	9	0.36	8.25	7	1.18	11.25	12	0.94
Mar	5.25	10	0.53	8.50	12	0.71	13.75	16	0.86
Apr	6.25	19	0.33	5.75	7	0.82	12.00	19	0.63
TOTAL	17.00	47	0.36	25.25	31	0.81	42.00	60	0.70