Observing Log for Mike Durkin 11/23/3003 9:00PM-12:00AM Oyster Bay, about 30-40 degrees 8" SCT The evening started on a bad note, somebody had on these obnoxious skylights to the east.  Fortunately, they stopped after an hour or so. This is my first time using the digital camera with the C8.  Saturn looked like a good target, so I used the 18mm Scopetronix eyepiece and took a few pictures.  Based on the quality of the images though, I think I didn't have the focus set right.  Also there was some wind gusts which made it harder to take pictures.   Also took a couple pictures of the moon.  The moon is too big in the C8 to get a full view of the moon, but I got some decent low zoom shots.  At high zoom, the wind was too much of a factor. Also decided to observe Saturn.  Able to see some detail on the disk.  There was an equitorial band and the southern polar region was very dark.  alse very easy to see Cassini division.  Sketched the background stars and matched up 4 of them to the moons, Tethys, Dione, Rhea and Titan.  Also some of the stars in the field match up with stars at around mag 11.5.   Was going to start on the Orion nebula, but clouds came in, so packed it up. 11/19/2002 4:00-6:00 AM RMSP about 30 degrees 10x50 binoculars Supposed to be the great Leonid meteor storm. Wasn't much of a storm, but a so-so meteor shower. As a rough guess, I'd say it peaked at about 600/hour, at least based on what Julian and I observed. Also noticed "moondogs", a brightening of the sky off to the side of the moon due to the type of clouds in the area. Also saw the following Messier objects with my binoculars: M41 in Canis Major: open cluster, moderatly faint. Would have been better in a telescope. M93 in Puppis: faint and small. Although an open cluster, looked a little like a globular. Also saw either M46 or 47, also in Puppis. I was not able to confirm which one it was since here was an exhaust trail for a jet that flew over that made it hard to determine. Jupiter and Saturn were out originally. Later on, about 4:30 or so Julian and I saw what at first we though may have been Spica or a light, however it turned out to be Venus.  From my binoculars, it appeared to be about half phase. Accoring to software and astronomydaily.com though, the phase is about 10-15% illuminated. The difference is probably because of the glare. Julian pointed out a satellite, which looked like a plane, except that it didn't have any blinking lights.  It moved roughly from the NW to SE, it started out very bright when it was nearly overhead and faded as it travelled SE. Turns out it was the Internation Space Station. I checked with Sky and Telescope's site, and the ISS was visible at 5:10 AM, which seems to match up with when we saw the object. Other club members also confirmed that this was the ISS. Wrapped up just before 6:00 as the sun was coming up. 11/15/2002 10:30-11:30 Oyster Bay 8" SCT First set up to see M42, the Orion Nebula. Could clearly see Trapezium. I Thought I saw some nebulocity in neaby star which may have been M43. I matched up the image I saw with some astrophotos on the net, and it does seem to be the case. I will verify on my next session. I also tried using the skyglow filter, however couldn't really tell if it helped since I was rushing. I only used the 30mm eyepiece to view the nebula. Next I looked at Saturn, however clouds started moving in, so only got to see it on and off for about 15 mins. Then tried observing the Moon, but the clouds also made that very difficult. Used the 30mm and 17mm eyepieces. After that I called it a night. 11/8/2002 10:00 PM- 12:00 AM Oyster Bay 8" SCT, and 10x50 Binoculars First use of the new 8" SCT I got, woo hoo!!! Anyway started with a rough polar align and then looked at Saturn. Switched between 17mm and 7.4 mm Plossl. Saturn looked fairly large in the field of view using the 7.4mm eyepiece. Showed Lily, Dave and Alice and they all seemed fairly impressed that they could see the planet with rings. Also noticed though that the sky seemed very turbulent. I tried using some of the Orion color filters to try to see the Cassini Division. Blue didn't seem to do too much. I think I was able to see it using the red and green filters. Seemed more obvious in the yellow filter. I'm also faily certain that I was able to make out some features on the disk, especially with the yellow filter. Also tried to look at the Pleiades in the scope, however the field of view is too narrow, even with the 30mm eyepiece. Better to see in binoculars. I thought I would try to catch the Orion nebula, but it would take too long to rise high enough to see, so I tried M1, the Crab Nebula. Using the Star atlas I star hopped into the region with a 30mm eyepiece, and was able to make out a very faint patch in the area. I skected some of the star in the area and it seemed to match up with the area if the left and right axis were switched. If that is the case, then I think I can say I bagged M1, finally. After seeing how dim it was using an 8", I'm not surprised that I never saw it before. To finish off I just took a quick look at M42 in binoculars. 11/7/2002 7:00-9:00 PM NY Hall of Science Various scopes Pretty cold, I'd say about 30-40 degrees, mostly clear When I got there, David had the large refractor set up on the double-double in Lyra, and was able to resolve. Afterwards we focused on the Ring Nebula, also in Lyra. We were able to find it, however it was very dim, it looked like a smokey ring. Also looked at the Pleiades in a set of binoculars where it looked pretty good. We finished up with Saturn in a 6" Dobsonian. Saw the rings easily and at least one of the moons. May have seen either a second moon, or a background star, not sure. Since it was still pretty low in the horizon, there was quite a bit of turbulence in the view.