Observing Log for Mike Durkin 6/7/02 8-11:30 PM Robert Moses State Park 4.5" Newtonian A very clear evening, slightly windy. Venus and Jupiter were still above the horizon. May have been able to see the phase of Venus. Jupiter was too low on the horizon. So far the best observing night so far!!! Here is what I was able to see: M57 - The Ring Nebula: Wasn't too hard to find, but it is kind of faint and small, and seems "ghostly". Also tried to see if the Orion filter would help the nebula stand out, however wasn't able to really determine. M13: Globular cluseter in Hercules. A bit fainter than I was expecting, especially after seeing M5 trough the Lowell Observatory telescope. At using 7.4mm eyepiece (123x), may have been able to resolve some of the starts at the edge. M29: Open Cluster in Cygnus. Nice to look at M4: Globular cluster in Scorpius. Smaller than M13. M51 - Whirlpool Galaxy: I think I may have finally seen this in my scope!! While my scope was in the area I believe the galaxy was in, there was an area that was just slightly lighter than the surrounding darkeness. I wasn't even able to make out a definite shape. I also tried to split a couple of double stars, but with the wind, I couldn't say for certain. Also managed to see the Milky Way before I left. Looked more like hazy cloud in the east. I can also say that after seeing these Messier objects, that I can understand why a comet hunter would want to avoid then since most of them do seem to resemble a comet. Using the Turn Left at Orion book helped a lot.