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

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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.

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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

31 May 2009

Observing Location	Park Ave South @ 34 St, New York, NY
Observational Period	1945-2015 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Clear Temperature 72° F Wind Gentle Breeze gusting to Fresh Breeze Humidity Moderate Barometric Pressure 29.79" Hg Rising quickly Feels Like Cool It had been cloudy earlier and looked like impending rain but is clearing off as I am observing. The wind is strong and gusting. Dust is being blown up from the streets and is getting in my eyes. Transparency Excellent Seeing
Instruments	Naked-eye - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

Target Manhattan Henge Constellation Tau Category Solar Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20090531.2010 EDT Comments Distance Light Time 1.0140143 AU 8m 26.00s Angular Size 31' 32.76" Altitude 1.15° Heliographic Latitude (B0) ° Heliographic Longitude (L0) ° Parallactic Angle (P) ° Carrington rotation number (CR) 2084 It looks like the times listed in Space.com are wrong again today. I observed the Sun to be lined up with the center of 34 St and above the mountains on the NJ horizon at 2010 EDT. When I got back into the street on the next light change the Sun had moved to the northern side of the street and was 1/3 down. There is no way that the Sun would be lined up with the street grid at 2017 EDT. It was the usual observer pandemonium as people ran into the street to watch and photograph the Sun on each red light for the crosstown traffic. But added to the confusion this year was a backup of traffic heading east. I suspect that President Obama was still in town causing the delays.

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Sunspots Observed

I was not able to do any solar observing this month. TheSun has been a little more active this month than last but there probably wasn't anything there that I would be able to pick out with binoculars anyway.

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
TOTAL	4.75	16	0.30	7.75	20	0.39	12.50	28	0.45