A rare night of relative clarity: stars visible to slightly dimmer than mag 7 with binos. Jupiter bright in the southwest. For the first time in what seems like months I even saw a Messier object. M13, the globular cluster in Hercules, was almost straight overhead. Averted vision helped through the 10x50s. But the two stars either side, SAO 65508 and dimmer SAO 65481 (mag 7.2) stood out as markers. It looked like a large faint smudge. M13 has the distinction of being the subject of my first ever blog posting just over a year ago, when it was the first Messier object -- let alone the first globular cluster -- I'd ever seen.
Mosquitos drove me indoors pretty quickly tonight though.
A day of foul smog, aggravated it's said by the burning of wheat stalks in neighboring Hebei Province. I noted this phenomenon a year ago. Not much has been done to stop the practice, it would seem. Officials are probably reckoning that the burning season will be over by the time athletes arrive for pre-Olympics training next year.
京城内忧外患未来两天继续闷热 7月将迎来雨季
http://www.qianlong.com/2007-06-12 14:47:40来源：法制晚报
京城天气正遭遇“内忧外患”。上午10点，市气象台和市环保局同时发出最新天气和环境状况：本市受南涝北热影响持续闷热；外省烧麦秸浓烟污染短时间难消散，导致今天空气三级污染。
烧麦秸浓烟短时难散
昨晚7点起，市环保监测中心监测数据图上，大兴的空气质量监测子站可吸入颗粒物突然开始迅速升高。北京周边和以南部分省市烧麦秸，产生的浓烟再度进京了。
截至今天凌晨2点，烟雾一路跨越前门、古城、中心城区、奥体中心，直达延庆。其中，南部地区空气中可吸入颗粒物浓度值最高时超过850微克/立方米；奥体中心站可吸入颗粒物浓度达到789微克/立方米，大大超过重度污染的指标。
市环保局特派三路监察队连夜前往大兴、通州和房山，今天上午传回最新巡查结果表示，北京地区范围内没有发现一处烧麦秸现象。而市区内烟雾污染浓度开始降低，但短时间内不会完全消除，今天空气质量降至三级轻度污染。
南涝北热“闷”京城
“这天儿真难受！”今天不少市民都有此感叹。除了外来浓烟污染外，京城正遭受持续阴沉闷热的天气。
据市气象台报告，今天本市上空云层厚，最高气温降至32摄氏度，但空气相对湿度较大，平均接近60%，因此，人体闷热感比较明显。
而目前我国南方部分地区正遭受暴雨袭击，北京这种“难受”天气是否受其反作用？市气象专家揭示了其中关联：每年入夏换季时，低纬度地区将发送一条名为“南支急流”的天气系统，沿我国一路北上。预计7月进入华北地区，届时北京迎来雨季。
但“急流”北上前，北京地区稳稳地受高压系统控制，因此持续高温少雨天气。市气象专家表示，未来两天，本市将一直处于阴沉闷热天气当中。
The ETX-90 has been fixed and should finally be on its way home, according to Meade. Customs clearance here, however, could prove an obstacle. Fingers crossed.
The bad news is that the pall of smoky haze persists (though local weather forecasts call the skies "clear"). On the evening of June 10, both Venus and Jupiter could be seen after dark in the northwest and southwest respectively, but Jupiter only barely and looking an unhealthy orange, while Venus too had an unusual orangey tinge. Arturus managed to cut through the haze, but Vega, though now quite high in the east, struggled.
A second day and night of thick haze, but still with no indication thereof from the city met office which resolutely calls the weather 'sunny' with patches of fog, despite a relative humidity of below 35%. It is a brazen lie. The sure sign of a bad day pollution-wise is the sight of Arcturus alone in the sky, not because there is intermittent cloud cover and it happens to be in a clear patch, but because it is the only celestial body bright enough to penetrate the haze. Anything closer to the horizon, even much brighter Jupiter, is completely obscured because of the thicker appearance of haze at lower altitudes. Arcturus has been on its own for the last couple of days. These NASA pictures from March (http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17591) show what we're up against. The official line is that there were no haze days that month. Readers of this blog will know otherwise.
A relatively clear night at long last, with four planets simultaneously visible after sunset (albeit requiring an about face to view both ends of the ecliptic) -- Mercury, Venus, Saturn and Jupiter. Limiting magnitude with binoculars was at best around 7 and at worst near the horizon around five. But mnaged to observe some of the horixon-hugging stars of Sagittarius -- a constellation that I have paid too little attention to I feel. 4 Vesta was plainly visible, much moved on since my last sketch of it on May 25.
