23 & 24 August 2013

I can't remember the last time I did any observing from TotL or even did any serious observing. It was clear this weekend so I was out both Friday and Saturday.

On Friday I was out alone. I started out at TotL_E for the Sun and Venus and also got Saturn and a bright ISS pass from there.

I moved to TotL for the bulk of the night and picked up M7 in Scorpius. There was an Iridium flare that I missed. It was faint and must have been behind the trees. Within a minute there was another ISS pass.

I finished off the night at TotL_W where I observed the Moon.

Saturday night I met Peter at TotL_E for Venus and Saturn. We missed an Iridium flare from there due to me not having an alarm set. We were right under a street light so once the sky got dark enough that it wasn't worth observing Venus any longer we moved over to TotL where Peter concentrated on the globular clusters in lower Sagittarius and I worked on open clusters over the top of the teapot. I also found Neptune tonight. When the sprinklers came up we moved over to TotL_W for some nice views of the Moon.

1 August 2013

The Mystery of Meteors by Eleanor Lerman I am out before dawn, marching a small dog through a meager park Boulevards angle away, newspapers fly around like blind white birds Two days in a row I have not seen the meteors though the radio news says they are overhead Leonid's brimstones are barred by clouds; I cannot read the signs in heaven, I cannot see night rendered into fire And yet I do believe a net of glitter is above me You would not think I still knew these things: I get on the train, I buy the food, I sweep, discuss, consider gloves or boots, and in the summer, open windows, find beads to string with pearls You would not think that I had survived anything but the life you see me living now In the darkness, the dog stops and sniffs the air She has been alone, she has known danger, and so now she watches for it always and I agree, with the conviction of my mistakes. But in the second part of my life, slowly, slowly, I begin to counsel bravery. Slowly, slowly, I begin to feel the planets turning, and I am turning toward the crackling shower of their sparks These are the mysteries I could not approach when I was younger: the boulevards, the meteors, the deep desires that split the sky Walking down the paths of the cold park I remember myself, the one who can wait out anything So I caution the dog to go silently, to bear with me the burden of knowing what spins on and on above our heads For this is our reward:Come Armageddon, come fire or flood, come love, not love, millennia of portents-- there is a future in which the dog and I are laughing Born into it, the mystery, I know we will be saved

Quite coincidental to the time of year I am about 1/3 of the way through The Fallen Sky: An Intimate History of Shooting Stars by Christopher Cokinos. Both the science and history are interesting but I am getting tired of reading about Cokinos' divorce.

30 January 2013

The past has no existence except as it is recorded in the present. John Wheeler

13 January 2013

I was out in Brooklyn today for a class and there was a noonish FITSAT-1 pass so I took my radio and antenna with me.

	Time UTC -5	Alt	Az
Beginning of Pass	1155:37	10°	WNW
Maximum Altitude	1158:43	60°	SW
End of pass	1201:47	10°	SE

I observed along Atlantic Avenue between Vanderbuilt Avenue and Claremont Avenue (Lat 40.682086, Long -73.968301) where there is a low southern horizon.

I didn't hear anything.

Today has been another cloudy and foggy day.

12 January 2013

I am just back from Pier 84 where I didn't hear FITSAT-1 again. It is cloudy and foggy and I am again wondering how much cloud cover attenuates the signals of satellites. I have read that it does affect GPS signals and I doubt that cubesats are putting as much power into their signals as a military navigation satellite does.

Again I heard that slight decrease in the aggressiveness of the static at several locations across the sky and don't know how significant it is. When I held it the longest I couldn't tell if I has tracking it of was holding my antenna in the same position in the sky. Might I be hearing radiation from a far distant radio source? I have no idea if a radio source would appear on the particular frequency I was listening to.

	Time local	Alt	Az
Beginning of Pass	0625:57	10°	WSW
Maximum Altitude	0629:00	42°	NNW
End of Pass	0632:04	10°	NE

11 January 2013

I went down to Pier 84 today for a lunchtime NIWAKA pass but didn't hear any code.  A couple of times there was a slight lessening of the static roar but is was just a minor decrease in volume and a reduction in the "granularity" of the static - its texture seemed to be more fine grained.

	Time local	Alt	Az
Beginning of Pass	1213:57	10°	NW
Maximum Altitude	1217:05	67	NE
End of Pass	1220:11	10°	ESE

There was another pass this morning at 0547 EST but the park doesn't open until 0600 and I have seen the NYC Park Police there on more than one occasion so decided to pass on that pass.

When I arrived a Robin alighted on the edge of the pier and flew off as I passed nearby.  It landed on the water between Piers 84 and 83 and was quickly attecked by a mob of around 25 Ring-billed Gulls.  They pecked at the back of its neck and one succeeded in lifting it partially out of the water.  When it started flapping its wings the gulls backed off and it flew under the pier where the gulls could not follow.

10 January 2013

I observed FITSAT-1 again this morning from Pier 84. I heard something that appears to have a pattern in it so I am calling it a success.

	Time local	Alt	Az
Beginning of Pass	0643:58 0643:24	10°	WSW SW	Online Observatory Heavens Above
Maximu Altitude	0647:09 0646:34	80° 81°	NW	Online Observatory Heavens Above
End of Pass	0650:20 0649:45	10°	NE	Online Observatory Heavens Above

Heavens Above graphic

By the time of the pass the stars were all but gone so of little help in pointing my antenna but at least I had observed them when I first arrived so knew more or less where the satellite should be at key times. And I forgot to bring my ClearSPOT with me so Satellite AR wouldn't work.

I was using my ICOM ID-31A D-STAR radio in the analog FM mode with my Elk Antennas 70cm/2m Log Periodic antenna. I had the radio set up to record received audio.

I heard a couple of gaps in the static when the satellite should have been coming toward me but they were brief and it was a long time before the next one occurred. About the time the satellite should have been nearly overhead I heard several bursts of code. Once the satellite was moving away from me I didn't hear it any more.

I downloaded the .WAV file of the "QSO" onto my computer and imported it into Audacity. I could see where the code bursts were in the waveform even when looking at the file in low resolution. I zoomed in so I was watching the seconds go past in near real time and the gaps in the static were real obvious as they went past. I slowed the audio down to 1/100th of its original speed but it is still too fast for me to copy. I can tell that there are dots, dashes, and differing amounts of static between them.

I expanded and zoomed my display to see what the waveform looked like and think I can make out code characters.

As a bonus I observed ISS on a visible pass before the FITSAT-1 pass. I don't have the ISS frequencies programmed in this radio so couldn't listen for any transmissions from its transponder.

	Time local	Alt	Az
Beginning of Pass	0628:29	10°	SW
Mazimum Altitude	0631:43	54°	SE
End of Pass	0634:57	10°	ENE
Magnitude	-2.5

Heavens Above graphic