Observing Log for Mike Durkin 4/24/2004 from about 3 PM until midnight Oyster Bay Transparency: 7/10, Seeing: 5/10 Celestron Ultima C8 PEC Started observing the sun using the solar filter for the Celestron C8. I was a little disappointed that the seeing seemed very bad. There were 2 sunspot areas that I was able to see. Despite the bad seeing I think I shuold have taken a couple of pictures. After that I used the setting circles to find Venus and Juptier during the evening. I would first center on the moon, set the circles for the right coordinates, and then move to the coorindates for Venus and Jupiter. I was able to find both planets. M101: I tried to find it, an even though I know I was in the right area. I guess I need darker skies in order to be able to see it. M53: I found this when I was just randomly aiming my scope around the Virgo area. Observerd at 30mm(67x). At first I thought it was a galaxy rather than a globular cluster since I was unable to resolve any individual stars. M57: Finished off the night by taking a look at the Ring Nebula. 4/18/2004 about 9:00PM-11:00PM Oyster Bay, about 50 degrees Transparency: 7/10, Seeing: 10/10 Celestron Ultima C8 PEC Seemed to be a very hazy night and although no significant cloud cover, I could not make out the dimmer stars. Started with Venus. Seemed about 40% illuminated, although being low on the horizon there was a lot of chromatic abberation. I took some pictures with the digital camera including a blue filter to try to reduce the abberations. Next went on to Jupiter, which was very close to the zenith. Looked very impressive and I think the seeing was excellent for the night. teh south polar region had shading that semmed to extend almost all the way to the equitorial belts. The southern equitorial belt also seemed to be split slightly. The northern equitorial belt was more irregular in appearnce and seemed to have knots in it. The northern polar region seemed normal. Originally I thought I saw a shadow from one or two of the moons, but according to Sky and Telescope's almanac, I missed it by a couple of hours. Also according to Sky and Telescopre, the Great Red Spot should have transited 1-2 hours before I was observing, however I don't recall seeing anything like that. I did take some astrophotos, which I need to process and examine. Perhaps I will see if the GRS is there. Viewing Jupiter in the monitor of the camera was very impressive, despite the noisy quality. Finished with a quick look at Saturn, which was somewhat low in the west. It is definitly smaller in size than when I viewed it in recent months. I did see some turbulence in the air, although it was much slower than the turbulence I normally see when observing. Did see the Casini division, but couldn't make out any fine details. 4/10/2004 about 8:00 PM Oyster Bay, about 45 degrees Transparency: 5/10, Seeing: ??/10 10x50 binoculars Decided to try to observe Venus and Jupiter with the binoculars. I was haping to be able to make out the phase of Venus, but either the astigmatism in my eyes was causing problems or the optics in the binoculars isn't good enough. While observing venus, I just happened to find M45, or the Pleiades. Observedabout 15 stars in the cluster, with the brightest stars forming a dipper or cup shaped pattern. The cluster covered about 30-50% my field of view (1.5-2.5 degress). Also took a quick look at Jupiter. No significant details observed. Other Log Entries <-- 2003  Jan   Feb  Mar  Apr   May  Jun  Jul  Aug   Sep  Oct  Nov  Dec  2005 -->