PM Fri. June 3 - AM Sat. June 4 Observing

  This night was about as hazy as it could get and still be good enough to try to get some observing done. 

  At sunset skies were white with haze or very thin high clouds. The slim Waxing Crescent Moon (2.2 days since New Moon) was faint and ruddy looking low in the West-Northwest sky at dusk. I kept checking the sky until midnight, when it looked like there was finally some improvement, and I was outside with the telescope from about 1:00 AM until a little past 2:00 AM. It was mild with temperatures in the low 70's F. The humidity was about 65%. Winds were light. The sky stayed very murky the whole time I was out there. At best the limiting magnitude overhead to the naked eye was about 4.0 but it was usually closer to 3.5. 

  With the lousy sky transparency, I decided to just follow up on some of the variables I saw five nights ago, and looked at one variable that I hadn't been able to estimate on the morning of May 30th. Here's what was done tonight:

  At 1:07 AM (5:07 UT June 4) I looked at the area of UZ Bootis, and had to settle for an estimate of <13.2 magnitude. The 13.2 comparison star could be glimpsed often but there was no sign of a rare flare-up in brightness from this star. (There hasn't been one recorded since 2003.)

  At 1:19 AM (5:19 UT June 4) I looked for T Bootis, and saw nothing at the location of this nova from 151 years ago. I recorded it as <12.5 magnitude since the 12.5 star on the chart was the dimmest I could see.

  At 1:26 AM (5:26 UT June 4) I estimated T Coronae Borealis at 10.3 magnitude.

  At 1:42 AM (5:42 UT June 4) I estimated "Skiff's Star" (VSX J182726.0-043447) as 11.2 magnitude. This was my second estimate of this star, which was found to be variable only two years ago. I'm still the only observer in the AAVSO who seems to be looking at it since discovery! I used the comparison star sequence and chart that was emailed to me by Mike Poxon in the UK.

  At 2:02 AM (6:02 UT June 4) I estimated WW Vulpeculae at 10.6 magnitude. If my brightness estimates have been accurate, this star has brightened up slightly in the last five nights.

  Indianapolis is caught between wavering warm fronts and cold fronts as this month begins. It would be nice to see a nice cool high pressure system move in and stay! This mid-summer-like weather in June has led to some awful hazy and murky observing conditions so far.