Observing Log for Mike Durkin 3/22/2003 8:00PM-12:00AM Oyster Bay, about 40-50 degrees Transparency: 3-9/10, seeing: 2-8/10 Ultima C8 Jupiter: Started with Jupiter. There was supposed to be a shadow of a moon until about 8:30 PM, however I wasn't able to see it. Also the seeing was very bad at first, probably because I didn't give the scope any time to cool down. Some clouds moved in a little later, but they cleared up and I was able to view again. The lower band in my field of view seemed to have a slight split in it. Other than some shading near the polar regions I still couldn't make out any other features. I definitely saw some structure in the bels as well. I usually used a yellow filter to observe, and the 7.4 and 5mm eyepiece. The 7.4 was the best to observe with tonight. M67: Viewed with 30mm eyepiece (67x). able yo see about 20-30 stars and about 30' across. M51 and NGC5195: Viewed with 30mm(67x) and 17mm(118x). Appeared as an oval fuzzy patch with 2 concentrated areas, M51 and NGC5195. No detail such as spiral structure observerd. Using the Skyglow filter seemed to help see some of the outer areas of the galaxy. M94: Viewed with 30mm(67x) and 17mm(118x). Just appeared as a small fuzzy spherical area. M65 and M66: Viewed both with a 30mm eyepiece, both objects were in the same field of view. M65 appeared as elongated fuzzy patch, maybe about 20-30' long and 5-10' wide. M66 was slightly brighter than M65, but not as large. M53: Viewed with 30mm eyepiece(67x). Fuzzy patch about 10' or less. Looked slightly oval in shape. Unable to resolve any stars. M64: Viewed at 30mm(67x) and 17mm(67x). Seen as a dim fuzzy oval patch. When using the 17mm eyepiece, I was able to see a bit more of the galaxy, but I couldn't make out the dark band that gives this galaxy the name, "Black Eye" galaxy. M3: Viewed with 30mm(67x), 17mm(118x) and 7.4mm(270x) eyepieces. Last time I observed this, the moon was out, and I was unable to resolve any stars due to the glare of the moon. Now however, I was able to start to resolve some of the stars. With the 17mm and 7.4mm eyepiece I was able to resolve some of the stars even near the core. Very impressive. 3/15/2003 10:30 PM-1:30AM Oyster Bay, about 30-40 degrees Transparency 9/10, seeing: 4/10 Ultima C8 Jupiter: Finally a good chance to observe using the C8. Unfortunatly the seeing seemed worse than normal. Best seen using the 7.4mm (270x) and the yellow filter. Every now and then I would be able to see the main cloud belts pretty clearly. Even saw some structure in the belts, but the GRS, wasn't on this side of Jupiter at this time. I also saw some shading in the polar region. M44: tried to observe at lowest magnification, but the cluster is much to bug for a 30mm and the C8 (67x) M3: Had a difficult time finding due to the moon, which was about 80-90% illuminated. Best seen using the 17mm eyepiece (117x). Appeared as a spherical hazy patchabout 10-20' in size, no structure observed. May have been able to resolve some of the outermost stars of the cluster, but the glare of the moon made it difficult to be certain. The moon was too bright to observe anything dim. I tried finding M51 and some galaxies in Leo, but the moon was almost constantly in my eye. It also interfered with findinf objects in the finderscope. I used the Zaurus and Personal Sky Chart a bit for this session. It was helpful, but it seems to be missing some Messier objects!! It is a decent progrom, but the navigation seems a bit awkward, and getting deep sky objects to show up could be a little better. Hopefully they will get the Messier objects straightened out. 3/9/2003 11:00 PM Oyster Bay, about 30-40 degrees Transparency 7/10, seeing: 7/10 10x50 binoculars Most of the evening it was mostly cloudy, but around 10-11PM it cleared up a little bit. It was also a bit windy and cloudy could be seen moving quickly across the sky. I was able to view Jupiter and M44 in the same field of view in the binoculars. The cluster was fairly wide and I could make out about 15-20 stars in the cluster. Also I've been playing a little with Personal Sky Chart for the Sharp Zaurus. Doesn't seem as well made as the Palm alternative. DSOs aren't displayed as prominently as I would like. However seems to be more than adequate as a generic star atlas. I currently have a database that goes down to mag 13.0.