Observing Log for Mike Durkin
8/22/2009 9:30PM-12:30AM
Locust Valley, NY
Transparency: 7/10, 4/5
Temperature: about 70-80 degrees
Equipment: 10x50 binoculars
It was very humid, sometimes even foggy, so I decided to just use the Nikon binoculars for variable
star observing. Despite the humidity and fog, at time the sky seemed cleared than usual.
I observed β Lyrae, η Aquilae, δ Cephei, and μ Cephei. I noticed a very golden color
to μ Cephei. After checking with some of the variable star charts and comparing some of my
measurements with measurements from other people, I think I still need practice estimating magnitudes.
The region around Cepheus appeared very rich with stars.
I also stumbled across M39 while starhopping. It appeared to be about 0.5 to 1.0 degrees in size, roughly
triangle shaped. I was able to resolve about 8 stars or so, and there was also other unresolved stars
that created some "fuzz"
8/15/2009 9:00PM-12:00AM
Locust Valley, NY
Transparency: 8/10, 4/5
Temperature: about 70-80 degrees
Equipment: Celestron Ultima 8 with PEC, 10x50 binoculars
It was kind of a hazy night so I wasn't sure how long I would have before dew started to form.
First I tried looking for M51. Even though I am nearly certain that I had the right area in my
field of view, I was not able to make out the galaxies. I find that kind of disappointing
since I was able to somewhat make them out from Dave and Alice's. Maybe one of the light pollution
filters would help. It also could be that it was a bit low to the horizon.
Once Jupiter rose, I started taking some webcam images. First I just used the webcam to create an image of
Jupiter and 3 of it's moons. After that, I first tried the 5x powermate, but for thatm the disk was actually too big.
So I had to step down to the 2x barlow. I think a 3x or 4x barlow would be better. Here are the image results:
 Camera: Toucam Pro. Telescope: Celestron Ultima 8 with PEC Stacked and processed using Registax. |
 Camera: Toucam Pro. Telescope: Celestron Ultima 8 with PEC Stacked and processed using Registax. |
After that, the scope started forming dew. I tried out the new 10x50 binoculars I got for free.
The quality didn't feel quite as good as the Nikon binoculars that I have, even though this
one has a screw to mount on a tripod. I scanned the area around Cassiopeia, and it didn't take too
long before these started getting dew as well.
After that I called it a night.
8/14/2009 10:00PM-12:00AM
Locust Valley, NY
Transparency: 9/10, 3/5
Temperature: about 70-80 degrees
Equipment: Stellarvue 70mm refractor
After seeing some talks at ALCON regarding variable starts, I thought I'd try to observe a couple as part of
the ε Aurigae, Citizen Sky program.
First though I took a quick look at Jupiter with the 40mm eyepiece. I could easily see 3 moons around
Jupiter.
I then looked at γ Cas, one of the variabl;e stars in the 10 star training program.
Observing the region around Cassiopeia with the 40mm eyepiece looked fairly impressive.
After that I looked at η Aquilae, another variable in the 10 star training program. I also noticed
what looked like a faint meteor in the field of view as I was observing this star.
I finished up around midnight because of dew. Mosquitoes were also a pain during the night.
8/1/2009 9:30PM-12:00AM
Southold, NY
Transparency: 7/10, Seeing varied from 2/5 to 4/5
Temperature: about 70 degrees
Equipment: AOS club scope, 14 inch Celestron SCT
I went out to Custer rather than use my own my own scope. When I got there Bill C. seemed relieved to have another AOS member there since he was feeling a
little burnt out.
When I first got there, he was showing people the double star Cor Caroli. From what I can remember one of the stars seemed to have a yellow tint to it.
After that, we showed people the moon. The shadows in Mare Humorum and Crater Gassendi looked nice. It would have been nice to get a picture of that.
After the moon we showed people Jupiter. They saw 3 of the moons and also noticed the equitorial bands. At this point the sky was not very stable, or Jupiter was just too low in the horizon for a steady image.
After that the crowds died out. I tried to find Neptune, however I was not able to confirm if I had it in the field of view.
We then tried M15 in Pegasus. That was much easier to find, however I wasn't able to resolve it well in the 14 inch.
After that we were looking through an 8 inch scope that a Custer member had set up outside on a pier. We saw M13, M52, M103. I was able to just begin to resolve M13, and M103 should have been a little more impressive, but I think the sky conditions were not good enough. We also looked at Jupiter a bit, and it looked much sharper than earlier in the evening in the 14 inch.
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