1 October 2009

October. This is one of the pecularly dangerous months to speculate in stocks in. The others are July, January, September, April, November, May, March, June, December, August and February. Pudd'nhead Wilson Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens)

30 September 2009

Sunspots Observed

I was not able to do any solar observing this month. There have been a few days with sunspots and some of them are starting to appear in the southern hemisphere which is new.

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
Jul	0.50	1	0.50	0.50	1	0.50	1.00	2	0.50
Aug	0.50	2	0.25	15.50	5	3.10	16.00	6	2.67
Sep	1.00	1	1.00	27.00	7	3.86	28.00	8	3.50
TOTAL	6.75	20	0.34	51.25	34	1.51	58.00	45	1.29

25 September 2009

Observing Location	Rutherfoord Observatory, Columbia University, New York, NY
Observational Period	2000-2215 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Isolated Temperature 60° F Wind Moderate Breeze Humidity Moderate Barometric Pressure 30.32" Hg Rising Feels Like Cool Transparency Good Seeing II
Instruments	12” Dobsonian 14” MCT 10” MCT 4” Dobsonian
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway Columbia University graduate students general public

This was a public observing night at Columbia. I did a few sky tours and pointed out satellites,

Target Iridium Flare Constellation Category Satellite Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20090925.2013 EDT Comments I did not see two flares as CalSky predicted but rather one prolonged bright flare. I suspect that there was no observable decrease in brightness between the first and second flares.   1st Flare 2nd Flare Time (EDT) 2013:53 2014:37 Alt. 55.0° 42.7° Az. 133.5° SE 149.2 SSE° Mag. 0.8 -0.5 Surface MMA1 Right Antenna Solar Panel

Target ISS Visible Pass Constellation Category Satellite Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20090925:2023 EDT Comments I hadn’t set an alarm and missed the pass by about four minutes but with the new construction I think the pass occurred below the local horizon.     Starts Max. Alt. Ends H A e b a o v v e e n &nbst s   Time 2021 EDT 2023 EDT 2024 EDT Alt. 10° 29° 27° Az. WNW SW SSW Mag -1.7 C a l S k y Time 2019 EDT 2023 EDT 2024 EDT Alt. horizon 28.6° 26.1° Az. 297.7° WNW 223.8° SW 199.8° SSW Mag 2.4 -2.6 -2.8

Double Cluster, NGC869 & NGC 884 Target Constellation Per Category OCl Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20090925 EDT Comments Seen in the 12” Dob. They had a low power eyepiece in the scope and it didn’t work well with my glasses. When I took the glasses off the focus was so far off all the stars looked like little Ring Nebulas. Once most of the people ad left I focused and the NGC 869 looked like a big ring of bright stars with a few dimmer stars in the center while NGC 884 was much more consolidated.

Target M57, Ring Nebula, NGC 6720 Constellation Lyr Category PlNeb Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20090925 EDT Comments Seen in the 10” MCT. The eyepiece was tiny and so was M57. It was easiest seen with averted vision and I did not see a darkening at it’s center.

Target Alberio Constellation Cyg Category Star Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20090925 EDT Comments Seen in the 14” MCT. The color difference between the two stars was obvious. I asked Neil why there are no green stars, noting that Alberio is the closest to a green star that I remember observing. He said it was a question he had also asked and had researched. His explaination, as I understand it, was that there are stars emitting in the green band but that they don’t emit enough energy at that wavelenhth and our eye isn’t sensitive enough at that wavelength for us to perceive them as green. He couldn’t remember any common stars that are good green emitters.

Target Jupiter Constellation Cap Category Planet Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20090925 EDT Comments Object Class Classical Planet Elongation ° Distance Light Time (from Earth) AU m s Distance (from Sun) AU Angular Size "x" Magnitude - Central Meridian I/II °/° Altitude ° Moons Starry Night Starter graphic Seen in the 4” Dob. Two of the inner moons were close together and close to the planet. There was one outer moon on each side of the planet. The view was too small to show detail on the planet.

Target Moon Constellation Sgr Category Lunar Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20090925 EDT Comments Seen in the 4” Dob. The Moon was located in the steam above the spout of the teapot but there was too much light-pollution and thin clouds down that way to see any of the stars. The phase is approaching First Quarter but the Moon still has a concave terminator. I couldn’t see much in the way of features other than the major maria due to scope shake and/or poor seeing. Lunation Phase Age Distance Light Time (from earth) ,000 km s Elongation ° % Illuminated % Morning Terminator Colongitude (λ E) ° Evening Terminator Colongitude (λ W) ° Libration in Latitude ° Libration in Longitude ° Magnitude - Angular Size '" Altitude ° Virtual Moon Atlas graphic

Target M31 & M32 Constellation And Category Gal Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20090925 EDT Comments Seen in the 12” Dob. I had tried to find this earlier in the evening when nobody was minding the scope and it had drifted off the Double Cluster but wasn’t able to see μ And in the Telrad so didn’t have any success. One of the other amateurs did find it and M32 was off at the edge of the field. It wasn’t all that impressive. Visual Oservation of Deep-Sky Objects

Target Owl Nebula, NGC 457 Constellation Cas Category OCl Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 2009 EDT Comments Seen in the 12” Dob. AKA the ET Cluster. There are two bright stars representing the eyes and strings of bright stars representing the torso, legs and wings/arms. There are fainter stars scattered around the bright strings. Visual Observation of Deep-Sky Objects

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Observing Location	TotL
Observational Period	2030-0100 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Isolated Temperature 58° F Wind Moderate Breeze Humidity Moderate Barometric Pressure 30.35" Hg Steady Feels Like Cool Transparency Good Seeing II
Instruments	Teleport 10" Donsonisn reflector – Peter 2" Pentax 40mm, 70° FoV, 31.8x 2" TeleVue Nagler 17mm, 82° FoV, 74.7x 1.25" TeleVue Nagler 13mm, 82° FoV, 97.7x 1.25" TeleVue Plossl 7mm, 82° FoV, 181.4x
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway Columbia University graduate students general public

Target Uranus Constellation Psc Category Planet Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20090925.2300 EDT Comments Peter had located a new starhop to get here and talked me through it in the binoculars. Leave λ Psc in the Circlet of Pisces anddrop directly down about one FoV to locate a hockey stick The hockey stick is composed of 20 Psc, 24Psc, 27 Psc and 29 Psc. 27 Psc and 29 Psc, forming the bottom of the hockey stick, are the brightest stars. Beneath the bottomof the hockey stick ate two bright stars, 30 Psc and 33 Psc. Follow back up the handle of the hockey stick and drift off on a shallow diagonal to the right a little farther than the distance between 24 Psc and 20 Psc to a soft point of light Cartes du Ciel graphic Object Class Classical Planet Elongation ° Distance Light Time (from Earth) AU h m Distance (from Sun) AU Angular Size " Magnitude - Altitude °

Target Jupiter Constellation Cap Category Planet Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20090925.2325 EDT Comments By this time one of the moons, Io, was nearly tangent the surface of the planet. Iota Cap could be seen close by to the left of the planet. Object Class Classical Planet Elongation ° Distance Light Time (from Earth) AU m s Distance (from Sun) AU Angular Size "x" Magnitude - Central Meridian I/II °/° Altitude ° Moons Cartes du Ciel graphic

Target Owl Cluster, NGC 457 Constellation Cas Category OCl Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20090925 EDT Comments AKA the ET Cluster . The view was larger in Peter’s scope so there were more stars and I was seeing more color differences.

19 September 2009

Observing Location	North-South Lake, Catskill State Park, Haines Falls, New York, NY Lat.: 40° 11’ 44.7" Long.: -74° 2’ 29" Alt.: 624m
Observational Period	1930-0140 EDT 0300-0600 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Clear Temperature 52° dropping to 39° Wind Humidity High Barometric Pressure 30.25" Hg Rising Feels Like Very Cool The nearest location that has historical weather data is Poughkeepsie, NY which is on the Hudson river and likely to have moister air and possible warmer temperatures than we had up at the lake. Transparency Excellent Seeing II
Instruments	Naked-eye – Charlie Teleport 10" Donsonisn reflector – Peter 2" Pentax 40mm, 70° FoV, 31.8x 2" TeleVue Nagler 17mm, 82° FoV, 74.7x 1.25" TeleVue Nagler 13mm, 82° FoV, 97.7x 1.25" TeleVue Plossl 7mm, 82° FoV, 181.4x - Peter Maksutov GoTo scopes – Tom, Rich & __
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway Peter Tagatac Tom Haberly Rich Rosenberg __ (AAA member)

It was supposed to e a very clear night with no moon and AAA had scheduled a dark sky observing event at North-South Lake which Peter wanted to attend and was recruiting people to go up there with him. Since I wanted to observe and am optically challenged at the moment I opted to tag along.

Peter had packed is Coulter CT-100 so that I could do some independent observing but didn’t realize that the mounting shoe for the tripod geared head wasn’t attached to the scope rail (Were the screws to hole the coffee cans there? I don’t remember them but didn’t check the scope itself.) I observed a bit with his binoculars and through the other scopes but most of the time just looked up at all the stars.

I started out making notes about the noctilucent cloud experiment but Peter got ahead of me on observing and I gave up on the note taking. This record is reconstructed from Peters Planetarium Log of the object seen and is incomplete as sometimes he wrote in his book and other common items and items observed in other scopes were not recorded.

It is a long way up to the park but it is a lot darker than TotL and, like Custer Institute at Southhold, is worth doing once or twice a year to get under a dark sky. The sky was not totally black but I was seeing stars down to Mag. 5 and peter was probably going a bit deeper. The Milky Way was visible all night although most of the time not horizon to horizon. Observing is done from a parking lot on the edge of the lake where there are no lights visible other than the very occasional vehicle or lights used by other observers. The local horizon is ~10° due to trees on all sides.

Target CARE Noctilucent Cloud Experiment Constellation Sgr Category Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20090919.1952 EDT Comments While looking into Sgr I saw a flare that was nothing like I have ever seen before. It was very bright and beneath it there seemed to be an illuminated area of cloud or nebulosity that fanned out all the way down to the top of the handle of the Teapot and at one point became bifurcated by a dark lane extending downward. Peter speculated that it was a government experiment that Joe Rao had blogged about at ANMH. On the way home we read the blog on his iPhone and everything down to the last paragraph where it talks about seeing a sinuous vapor trail sounds right. Joe Rao blog announcing the event another blog with pictures of exactly what we saw minus the bright light from the rocket engines above the cloud log with time the event actually occurred Launch on YouTube Cartes du Ciel graphic

Target Jupiter Constellation Cap Category Planet Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20090919.2013 EDT Comments At the time of our observation Io was just starting to separate from the limb of the planet. Io’s shadow was visible in the Equatorial Zone. There was a light spot in the South Equatorial Band where the Great Red Spot was. I also observed the planet in one of the GoTo scopes under high power with a blue filter and was unable to see either the moon’s shadow or the Great Red Spot. I was able to see moons on both sides of the planet in the hand held binocular but could not hold it steady enough to tell how many moons I was seeing and didn’t count them when I was at the telescopes. I was able to see ι Cap (Mag. 4.28) ata distance of 20’ away just below and to the right of Jupiter naked-eye. Cartes du Ciel graphic Object Class Classical Planet Elongation ° Distance Light Time (from Earth) 4.2116 AU m s Distance (from Sun) 5.0301 AU Angular Size 46.8" Magnitude -2.8 Central Meridian I/II/III 257.74 °/150.75°/256.44° Altitude 30° 40’ Moons Cartes du Ciel graphic

Target Iridium 77 Flare Constellation Aqr Category Satellite Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20090919.2032 EDT Comments Alt. 32.6° Az. 134.6° SE Mag. -3.3 This flare did not appear to be as bright as the advertised Mag -3.3.

Target M30, NGC 7099 Constellation Cap Category GCl Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20090919.2242 EDT Comments Cartes du Ciel graphic Belt of Venus sketch Mag.: 7.50 Surface Brightness: 11.00 Angular Size: 8.9’ x 8.9’ Description: !,B,L,lE,gpmbM,st 12...16 Wm. Herschel saw very elliptical shape

Target M55, NGC 6809 Constellation Sgr Category GCl Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20090919.2247 EDT Comments Cartes du Ciel graphic Belt of Venus sketch Mag.: 7.00 Surface Brightness: 13.00 Dimensions: 19.0’ x 19.0’ Description: pB, Lm R, vRi, vgbM

Target NGC 7009, Saturn Nebula Constellation Aqr Category PlNeb Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20090919.2322 EDT Comments Cartes du Ciel graphic Belt of Venus sketch Mag.: 8.30 Surface Brightness: 6.20 Dimensions: 0.5’ x 0.4’ Description: ! ! ! vB, S, elliptical Saturn Nebula; H IV l; bright blue-green disk

The nebula looked elongatedon one direction but did not appear to me to have bulges reminiscent of rings.

Target M73, NGC 6994 Constellation Aqr Category OCl Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20090919.2340 EDT Comments Cartes du Ciel graphic Belt of Venus sketch Mag.: 8.90 Surface Brightness: 10.88 Dimensions: 2.8’ x2.8’ Description: Cl, eP, vlC, No neb 4 or 5 Mag. 10 stars; Messier saw nebulosity but there is none at this time An asterism of four stars. I saw two stars solidly and one that drifted in and out.

Target M71, NGC 6838 Constellation Sge Category GCl Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20090920.0004 EDT Comments Cartes du Ciel graphic Belt of Venus sketch Mag.: 8.3 Surface Brightness: 12.00 Dimensions: 6.1’ x 6.1’ Description: Cl, vL, vRi, pmC, *11 . . . 16 Arrowhead shape, stars have few metals

Target M27, Dumbbell Nebula, NGC 6853 Constellation Vul Category PlNeb Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20090920.0026 EDT Comments How do I describe this. It looked to me like I was seeing a large bright sphere that was overlapped on opposite sides by smaller darker spheres that did not touch each other. The impression I got was that the object was elongated horizontally. After Peterdescribed what he saw I could see the central bright area as an elongated vertical shape that was pinched in the center but I still had the impression of darker shapes out to the sides of the pinched off area giving me an overall impression of elongation in the horizontal rather than the vertical. At higher magnification the objects to the sides were not as visible. Cartes du Ciel graphic Belt of Venus sketch Mag.: 7.30 Surface Brightness: 11.20 Dimensions: 8.0’ x 5.7’ Description: ! ! vB, vL, bi-N, IE, PK60-3.1 Lord Rosse drew 18° invl

Target M15, NGC 7078 Constellation Peg Category GCl Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20090920.0138 EDT Comments Cartes du Ciel graphic Belt of Venus sketch Mag.: 6.40 Surface Brightness: 11.00 Dimensions: 12.3’ x 12.3’ Description: !, vB, vL, iR,vsmbM, rrr, st vS Stars Mag. 13

By this time my back and my feet were getting sore and I sent to the car to take an hour nap that ended up lasting 1.5 hours with the nap being confined to the last part of the time. I rejoined Perer at 0300 EDT.

Target M108 , NGC 3556 Constellation Category Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20090920.0407 EDT Comments Cartes du Ciel graphic Belt of Venus sketch, 37.5x Belt of Venus sketch, 120x Mag.: 10.00 Surface Brightness: 13.10 Dimensions 8.6’ x 2.4’ Description: cB, vL, vmR 79, pEM, H V 46 nearly edge-on; M97 is 48’ SE

Target M78, NGC 2068 Constellation Ori Category Neb Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20090920.0426 EDT Comments Cartes du Ciel graphic Belt of Venus sketch, 120x Mag.: 8.00 Surface Brightness: 12.00 Dimensions: 8.0’ x 6.0’ Description: B, L, wisp, gmbN, 3° inv, r Comet shaped; 2 Mag. 10 * invl, 53’ ‘ sep

Target Flame Nebula, NGC 2024 Constellation Ori Category Neb Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20090920.0429 EDT Comments a reflection nebula. Te pictures show a dark lane through its center and I remember seeing a dark lane in something but don’t know if this was the object. Cartes du Ciel graphic

Target NGC 2071 Constellation Ori Category Neb Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20090920.0430 EDT Comments Cartes du Ciel graphic Mag.: 8.00 Surface Brightness: 11.60 Dimensions: 7.0’ x 5.0’ Description: D*(10 & 14m)w vF, L chev H IV 36

A small reflection nebula near M78. As this image indicates, we missed a lot in the neighborhood, some of it probably to faint for us to see.

Target M42, Great Orion Nebula, NGC 1976 Constellation Ori Category Cl &anp; Neb Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20090920.0446 EDT Comments I have never seen M42 look so impressive. While observing I didn’t even think to observe the trapezium. I walked the scope up and down through the sword just appreciating all the nebulocity and clusters there. Cartes du Ciel graphic Belt of Venus sketch Mag.: 4.00 Surface Brightness: 11.00 Dimensions: 90.0’ x 60.0’ Description: ! ! !, Theta Orionis and the great nebula M42 Trapezium * 6.7-7.7m; >50 var* invl; M43 to NE

Target M44, Beehive Cluster, Presepe, NGC 2632 Constellation Cnc Category Ocl Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20090920.0447 EDT Comments Cartes du Ciel graphic Belt of Venus sketch Mag.: 3.10 Surface Brightness: 13.00 Dimensions: 95.0’ x 95.0’ Description: ! !, 200 memb to 14 mag

Target M41, NGC 2287 Constellation CMa Category OCl Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20090920.0448 EDT Comments Cartes du Ciel graphic Belt of Venus sketch Mag.: 4.50 Surface Brightness: 12.00 Dimensions: 38.0’x 38.0’ Description: Cl, vL, B lC, st 8 . . . 150 membersto 13 mag; orange * near center

Target Iridium 4 Flare Constellation UMa Category Satellite Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20090920.0457 EDT Comments Alt. 16.0° Az. 12.4° Mag. -2.5 I estimated the altitude correctly but missed the azimuth. I was looking where the handle of the dipper joins the bowl and the flare occurred to the left of the handle. Peter saw it and called it out but by the time I found it it had reached maximum brightness and was fading.

Target M35, NGC 2168 Constellation Gem Category OCl Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20090920.0506 EDT Comments Cartes du Ciel graphic Belt of Venus sketch Mag.: 5.10 Surface Brightness: 12.00 Dimensions: 28.0’ x 28.0’ Description: Cl, vL, eRi, pC, St9 . . . 16 Lord Posse counted 300*; orange * invl; NGC 2158 30’ SW

Target NGC 1528 Constellation Per Category OCl Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20090920.0510 EDT Comments Cartes du Ciel graphic Mag.: 6.40 Surface Brightness: 13.04 Dimensions: 24.0’ x 24.0’ Description: Cl, B, vRi, cC, H VII 61 80 * Mag 8 . . .; 1 deg NNW from bl Per

Target M50, NGC 2323 Constellation Mon Category OCl Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20090920.0510 EDT Comments Cartes du Ciel graphic Belt of Venus sketch Mag.: 5.30 Surface Brightness: 12.00 dimensions: 16.0’ x 16.0’ Description: Cl, vL, Ri, pC About 100 stars mags 9 . . . 14

Target M34, NGC 1039 Constellation Per Category OCl Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20090920.0544 EDT Comments Cartes du Ciel graphic Belt of Venus sketch Mag.; 5.20 SurfaceBrightness: 12.66 Dimensions: 35.0’ x 35.0 Description: Cl, B, vL, lC, sC, st9 . . . At least 80 true members; sev D* incl h1123 * O Struev 44

The following items were also observed but were not time stamped:

Target M31, Andromeda Galaxy, NGC 224 Constellation And Category Gal Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20090910 & 20090920 EDT Comments The Andromeda Galazy was oserved several times during the night with the telecope, the binocular and naked-eye. In the telescope it appeared elongated horizontally (I believe it was still in the NE sky when that observation was made. Cartes du Ciel graphic Belt of Venus sketch Mag: 3.40 Surface Brightness: 13.50 Dimensions: 189.1’ x 61.7’ Description: ! ! ! eeB, eL, vmE Local Group; nearest spiral

Target M32, NGC 221 Constellation And Category Gal Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20090919 EDT Comments Cartes du Ciel graphic It required looking to see that it was there. M108 was much more obvious tonight. Belt of Venus sketch Mag.: 8.10 Surface3 Brightness: 12.40 Dimensions: 8.5’ x 6.5’ Description: vvB, L, R, psmbMN M31 triplicate; Comp to M31

Target M110, NGC 2005 Constellation And Category Gal Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20090919 EDT Comments A stripe of nebulosity appeared beneath M31 on a slight angle. It was long. It was like a brush stroke with a brush that had had all of its paint used up. I believe that this is the first time I have seen this object. Cartes du Ciel graphic Belt of Venus sketch Mag.: 8.10 Surface Brightness: 14.00 Dimensions: 19.5’ x 11.5’ DescriptionvB, vL, mE 165 degreees, vgvmhM M31 companion; UGC 426;H V 18

Target NGC 6990 ?? Constellation Category Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 200909 19 0r 20 EDT Comments Cartes du Ciel graphic

Target M36, NGC 1960 Constellation Aur Category OCl Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 200909 19 or 20 EDT Comments Cartes du Ciel graphic Belt of Venus sketch Mag: 6.00 Surface Brightness: 12.00 Dimensions: 12.0’ x 12.0’ Description: Cl, B, vL, vRi, 1C, *9 . . . 11 in Aur OB1; incl Struve 737 10.7’ ‘ sep

Target M37, NGC 2099 Constellation Aur Category OCl Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 200909 19 or 20 EDT Comments Cartes du Ciel graphic Belt of Venus sketch Mag.: 5.60 Surface Brightness: 11.00 Dimensions: 24.0’ x 24.0’ Description: ! ! Cl, Ri, pCM, st L & S Total population 500); dark area near center

Target M38, NGC 1912 Constellation Aur Category OCl Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 200909 19 or 20 EDT Comments Cartes du Ciel graphic Belt of Venus sketch Mag.: 6.40 Surface Brightness: 12.00 Dimensions: 21.0’ x 21.0’ Descriotion: Cl, B, vL, vRi, iF, st L & S in Aur OB1; Burnham-shaped like Greek letter Pi (π)

Target M57, Ring Nebula, NGC 6720 Constellation Lyr Category PlNeb Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20090919 EDT Comments Observed in one of the GoTo scopes. I couldn’t focus it but it was big, bright and had an obvious hole in the center. Cartes du Ciel graphic Belt of Venus sketch Mag.: 9.40 Surface Brightness: 9.30 Dimensions: 1.4’ x 1.0’ Description: B, pL,cE central* var 14 to 16mag; PK63 +13.1

Target M13, Hercules Cluster, NGC 6205 Constellation Her Category GCl Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20090920 EDT Comments I observed this in the binoculars with difficulty. Cartes du Ciel graphic Belt of Venus sketch Mag.: 5.90 Surface Brightness: 12.00 Dimensions: 23.2’ x 23.2 Description: ! ! eB, vRi, vgeCM,*11 . . . Messier said round nebula contains no star

Target Mars Constellation Gem Category Planet Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20090920 EDT Comments Mars was observed around 0400 EDT in a GoTo scope and just looked like an orange ball. Object Class Classical Planet Elongation ° Distance Light Time (from Earth) 1.4843 AU m s Distance (from Sun) 1.5112 AU Angular Size 6.3" Magnitude 0.9 Central Meridian 318.46° Altitude 49° 41’ Cartes du Ciel graphic

Target Venus Constellation Leo Category Planet Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20090920 EDT Comments Venus came over the trees around 0430-0445 and was within about .5° of Regulus to its right. I observed Venus in a GoTo scope. I didn’t try to focus the scope to my vision but could tell that there was a bite taken out of the right side of the planet. Object Class Classical Planet Phase Elongation ° % Illuminated 87.>% Distance Light Time (from Earth) 1.430 AU m s Distance (from Sun) 0.7188 AU Angular Size 11.7" Magnitude -3.9 Altitude 9° 14’ Cartes du Ciel graphic There are threads of stars coming out of the center of the cluster in all directions. This may be the object I described as looking like an asterisk and Peter a spider. There are several other Messier open clusters that give this same impression.

We saw meteors throughout the night. Most of them were green but those toward sunrise were red. One particular one that I say tracked over at least 90° of the sky and dipped into the atmosphere three times brightening and leaving more burning material behind it each time.

Before sunrise we observed the Zodiacal Light. Tom pointed it out for us. It appeared as a very squat triangle of bright sky before the beginning of twilight. We have always joked about the pillar of light coming out of Times Square being our gegenschein but that is more akin to the Zociacal Light. Gegenschein would appear as an illuminated spot of light on the celestial sphere.

All of the Macksutov scopes had dew problems and their users left early. The Teleport had piddles of water on its flat surfaces but other than some eyepiece fogging that was quickly dissipated by the heater it had no problems. By the time we packed up there was frost on all of Peters bags and our jackets were wet. We had to wait for the car’s windshield to defrost before we could leave to observing site.

Since I hadn’t made any notes while I was observing I went to see the sketches at Belt of Venus to try to jog my memory as to what I had seen in the eyepiece. The sketches of the globular clusters weren’t that much help to me and those are the objects where I most needed the help. This points out the importance of making notes as you observe.

31 August 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
Jul	0.50	1	0.50	0.50	1	0.50	1.00	2	0.50
Aug	0.50	2	0.25	15.50	5	3.10	16.00	6	2.67
TOTAL	5.75	19	0.30	24.25	27	0.90	30.00	37	0.81

31 July 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
Jul	0.50	1	0.50	0.50	1	0.50	1.00	2	0.50
TOTAL	5.25	17	0.31	8.75	22	0.40	14.00	31	0.45

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.