4 July 2009

Observing Location	Bowery @ E 3 St., New York, NY
Observational Period	2100-2130 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Clear Temperature 74° F Wind Calm gusting to Moderate Breeze Humidity Moderate Barometric Pressure 29.83" Hg Feels Like Warm Transparency Excellent Seeing
Instruments	Naked-eye - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

It was early twilight when I saw a star up near zenith to the south that I assumed must be Vega, being the first star visible, but my memory tells me that Vega should be farther north at this time of year. I got out the Japanese astronomy diary Peter gave me which has a mini planisphere in it and it looked like it might have been Arcturus, but not reading Japanese or having used a planisphere in a while and not having sufficient light to read the few English characters on the small dial I couldn’t be sure. After a while the bright star on the left side of the diamond (ε Boo) appeared then finally the kite’s tail star (η Boo) which confirmed the ID for me. I arced back and found the handle stars of the Big Dipper and the pointers then Polaris and the guardian stars of UMi. Dropping down from Arcturus I found Spica. Then I saw something bright up north with 2 dim stars (β Lyr and γ Lyr) a way off that which I IDed as Lyra but it wasn’t as high in the sky as I remember it. Even lower was Deneb, the center of the Northern Cross (γ Cyg) and the brightest stars of the breaks of the wings (ε Cyg and δ Cyg) of Cygnus. Way out and very faint was Altair.

30 June 2009

Sunspots Observed

I was not able to do any solar observing this month. There have been a few days with sunspots but mostly small and short lived. At least one of the spots was a Cycle 24 spot.

Observing Hours for the Year 2009

	Day			Night			Total
	Hours	Days	Avg	Hours	Days	Avg	Hours	Days	Avg
Jan	0.50	2	0.25	0.25	1	0.25	0.75	2	0.38
Feb	2.75	11	0.25	2.50	9	0.28	2.25	14	0.38
Mar	0.00	0	0.0	4.00	7	0.57	4.00	7	0.57
Apr	0.25	1	0.25	0.75	2	0.38	1.00	2	0.50
May	1.25	2	0.63	0.25	1	0.25	1.50	3	0.50
Jun	0.00	0	0.00	0.50	1	0.50	0.50	1	0.50
TOTAL	4.75	16	0.30	8.25	21	0.39	13.00	29	0.45

29 June 2009

I am reading Connecting With the Cosmos by Donald Goldsmith and found a chart on safely estimating the altitude of the Sun in the first chapter. It is based on geometry using the length of the shadow cast by an object of a known height (h) - a gnomon. I created this table based on my own height. At some point I should probably revise it to the height of a tripod or something since I will be able to walk out to the end of its shadow to make a measurement where I can't do that with my own.

Length of Shadow		Altitude of Sun
x h	feet & inches	degrees
0.1	7”	84°
0.2	1’  2”	79°
0.3	1’  9”	73°
0.4	2’  4”	68°
0.5	2’ 11”	63.5°
0.6	3’  5”	59°
0.7	4’  0”	55°
0.8	4’  7”	51°
0.9	5’  2”	48°
1.0	5’  9”	45°
1.1	6’  4”	42°
1.2	6’ 11”	40°
1.3	7’  6”	37.5°
1.4	8’  1”	35.5°
1.5	8’  8”	34°
1.6	9’  2:	32&°
1.7	9’  9”	30.5°
1.8	10’  4”	29°
1.9	10’ 11”	28°
2.0	11’  6”	26.5°
2.2	12’  8”	24.5°
2.4	13’ 10”	22.5°
2.6	14’ 11”	21°
2.8	16’  1”	19.5°
3.0	13’  3”	18.5°
3.5	20’  2”	16°
4.0	23’  0”	14°
4.5	25’ 11”	12.5°
5.0	28’  9”	11°
5.5	31’  8”	10°
6.0	34’  6”	9.5°
6.5	37’  5”	9°
7.0	40’  3”	8°
8.0	46’  0”	7°
9.0	51’  9”	6.3°
10.0	57’  6”	5.7°
12.0	69’  0”	4.5°

17 June 2009

Scrubbed agin. Same old problem. Maybe they will have better luck on the next try (third times a charm) on 11Jul09.

13 June 2009

There is a story in the news of a German teenager being struck directly by a meteorite. This is the only instance I aware of that is given any credence that someone has been struck by anything from outer space that has not hit something else first. The only other instance of anyone ever being struck by a meteor is a woman in GA who was struck by a meteorite that came through her roof, bounced off the floor and then struck her in the hip causing a bruise and psychological trauma from all of the media attention.

The reports of this new incident say that the meteorite first struck the boy in the hand causing a 3" scar (burn or abrasion?) and then dug a foot-wide crater (how deep?) in the road (cement, asphalt, gravel, dirt? - there is a street lamp visible behind the boy in the picture so one would assume some kind of pavement although the area is heavily wooded and the street/road appears tan).

Is this a hoax? There is a picture of the boy but not the hand injury. The fourth article cited includes a picture of the boy's hand holding the meteorite over a macadam road. He has a bandage on his right thumb but there is no picture of the reported scar. The article does not mention a date so that the event can be corroborated with known meteorite entries or police blotter reports of others seeing a bright flash and hearing an explosive report. I wonder how a meteorite reported to be traveling at 30,000 MPH could hit a person at the end of an extremity and 'send them flying' while only causing a 3" scar and no reported bone or muscle damage.

[ In the article referenced below on Impact Lab there is a picture of the scar on the boy's left hand and an area of disturbed road surface. Still no information on when the event occurred. ]

• Space.com
• The Telegraph
• Fox News
• SkyNews
• Wired
• Discover Blogs/Bad Astronom
• Switched
• Impact Lab
• Russia Today
• Sky News
• Live Science

---

Oh yeah, NASA had to scrub the STS-127 launch of the Shuttle on the next ISS construction mission this morning. It is because of the same hydrogen fuel leak problem they had two missions ago on STS-119. The new launch date us not before next Wednesday and more likely not until mid-July.

---

There was supposed to have been a Mag. -8 iridium flare visible from here tonight but unfortunately the only thing to be seen was clouds.

6 June 2009

Why should I believe blindly and stop idly what I wish to believe, and subject the freedom of my intellect to someone else who is just as liable to error as I am? Galileo Galilei

1 June 2009

The Four Sweet Months First, April, she with mellow showers Opens the way for early flowers; Then after her comes smiling May, In a more rich and sweet array; Next enters June, and brings us more Gems than those two that went before; Then (lastly) July comes, and she More wealth brings in than all those three. Robert Herrick