31 October 2008

31 October - 1 November

Ireland	Samhain
Isle of Man	Sauin
Scotland	Samhain
Wales	Nos Galan-Gaeok

• Beginning of the Celtic year
• Enactment of rites to get omens from the coming year from the gods
• Night of the dead and of evil supernatural beings

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Observing Location	Fordham road @ Grand Concourse, Bronx, NY
Observational Period	0800 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Clear Temperature 42° F Wind Light Breeze Humidity Moderate Barometric Pressure 30.48" Hg Steady Feels Like Brisk I can see boiling that is probably a combination of low altitude and bus/truck exhaust 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 Lib Category Solar Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20081031.0800 EDT Comments Distance Light Time 0.993 AU m 15s Angular Size 32' 16.6" Altitude 5.5° Heliographic Latitude (B0) 4.40° Heliographic Longitude (L0) 260.89° Parallactic Angle (P) 24.52° Carrington rotation number (CR) 2076 Nothing Seen   Groups Spots R North 0 0 0 South 0 0 0 Total 0 0 0 R = (Groups * 10) + Spots)

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NASA has moved the launch date for STS-126 again. The new date is

CNN article

The HST Repair Mission can't fly before Apr09 (CNN) or May09 (BBC) because that is the earliest the repair part that is needed to resolve the recent problems will be ready. In the meantime HST is gathering and sending images back to earth. NASA feels that they will be able to fly the HST Servicing Mission at any time without having an adverse impact on future Shuttle missions to the ISS and ISS construction completion.

BBC story

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Sunspots Observed

There have been some spots this month but they are mainly smaller spots than I can see with my small binocular. I saw spots on only two days this month.

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
May	6.50	18	0.36	2.25	5	0.45	8.75	18	0.49
Jun	5.25	20	0.26	12.00	8	1.50	17.25	21	0.82
Jul	5.05	15	0.37	15.25	10	1.53	20.75	17	1.22
Aug	5.00	18	0.31	2.00	3	0.67	7.50	18	0.42
Sep	5.00	18	0.31	2.00	3	0.67	7.50	18	0.42
Oct	6.00	18	0.33	6.00	5	1.20	12.00	19	0.63
TOTAL	47.52	147	0.32	67.00	65	1.03	114.52	167	0.69

Climate Summary for June 2008

Temperature

There were three days this month when the high temperature was equal to or less than the normal low temperature for the day.

	High	Mean	Low
Above Normal	12 days	12 days	12 days
Normal	0 day	0 day	1 days
Below Normal	18 days	18 days	17 days
Temperature Extremes	75° F		43° F
Maximum Deviation	12° F -16° F	9° F -12° F	8° F -9° F
Mean Monthly Temperature		59° F

Precipitation

Days with measurable precipitation	9
Days with a trace of precipitation	3
Maximum one day precipitation	1.92 in
Monthly Total	3.62 in

Heating Degree Days

Above Normal	18 days
Normal	0 days
Below Normal	12 days
Maximim on a day	25 degree days
Minimum on a day	0 degree days
Maximum Deviation	11 degree days -8 degree days
Monthly Total	329 degree days

Cooling Degree Days

Above Normal	1 day
Normal	18 day
Below Normal	11 days
Maximim on a day	2 degree days
Minimum on a day	0 degree days
Maximum Deviation	1 degree days -2 degree days
Monthly Total	3 degree days

30 October 2008

Here is the chart of the weather conditions for the past two days when we were having high winds. The peak sustained winds coincided with the lowest pressure. The rain preceeded the lowest pressure and most of the wind gusts followed it.

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Observing Location	PKR
Observational Period	1500-1515 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Clear Temperature 47° F Wind Gentle Breeze Humidity Moderate Barometric Pressure 30.36" Hg Steady Feels Like Chilly 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 Vir Category Solar Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20081030.1500 EDT Comments Distance Light Time 0.993 AU m 15s Angular Size 32' 16.2" Altitude 26.8° Heliographic Latitude (B0) 4.47° Heliographic Longitude (L0) 270.23° Parallactic Angle (P) 24.63° Carrington rotation number (CR) 2076 Nothing Seen   Groups Spots R North 0 0 0 South 0 0 0 Total 0 0 0 R = (Groups * 10) + Spots)

29 October 2008

I went out at 1100 EDT today to make a sun observation and had trouble making it to the end of the block due to the headwind. It has been gusty most of the afternoon and I am extending my charting of the weather another day. While I was out I got caught in a brief hail storm. Obviously I didn't need the welders glass since there was no visible sun although it was bright enough that there were shadows close to the bases of objects.

28 October 2008

The surf is already up in the toilet bowl. They are predicting higher wind gust tonight than we had last Saturday. I am going to graph them again. The rain is knocking the leaves out of the trees and there is supposed to be some flooding as a result of clogged storm drains. And in the Pocono Mountains they are supposed to get a couple inches of snow.

27 October 2008

It got extremely windy around here Saturday evening. When I went home it was just starting and I occasionally had trouble walking across the wind. There is a tree that must be nearly 100 feet tall in an inside corner of my building and as I was laying in bread reading I could see the whole tree whipping around. I decided to compare the conditions at the nearby airports.

Central Park

LaGuardia

JFK

Newark

White Plains

26 October 2008

Observing Location	PKR
Observational Period	1200-1215 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Clear Temperature 57° F Wind Light Breeze Humidity Moderate Barometric Pressure 29.90" 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 Vir Category Solar Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20081026.1200 EDT Comments Distance Light Time 0.994 AU 8m 16s Angular Size 32' 14.1" Altitude 36.5° Heliographic Latitude (B0) 4.87° Heliographic Longitude (L0) 324.63° Parallactic Angle (P) 25.23° Carrington rotation number (CR) 2076 Nothing Seen   Groups Spots R North 0 0 0 South 0 0 0 Total 0 0 0 R = (Groups * 10) + Spots)

25 October 2008

The Wild Swans at Coole The trees are in their autumn beauty, The woodland paths are dry, Under the October twilight the water Mirrors a still sky; Upon the brimming water among the stones Are nine-and-fifty swans. The nineteenth autumn has come upon me Since I first made my count; I saw, before I had well finished, All suddenly mount And scatter wheeling in great broken rings Under their clamorous wings. I have looked upon those brilliant creatures' And now my heart is sore. All's changed since I, hearing at twilight, The first time on this shore, The bell-beat of their wings above my head, Trod with a lighter tread. Unwearied still, lover by lover, They paddle in the cold Companionable streams or climb the air; Their hearts have not grown old; Passion or conquest, wander where they will, Attend upon yhem still. But now they drift on the still water, Mysterious, beautiful; Among what rushes will they build, By what lake's edge or pool Delight men's eyes when I awake some day To find they have flown away? William B. Yeats

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I was wondering how much of a stabilizing effect proximity to large bodies of water plays on temperature variation so I charted the temperature for my normal Central Park weather station and also LaGuardia Airport which is spitting distance from home and is right on Long Island Sound, JFK Airport which is on Jamaica Bay and right off of the Atlantic Ocean, Newark Airport which is near NY Harbor, and Westchester County Airport in Westchester County which is probably the farthest station from water. I also looked at Relative Humidity