Observing Log for Mike Durkin
10/16/2010 about 9:00PM-1:30AM
Locust Valley, NY
Transparency: 8/10, Seeing 2/5
Temperature: about 50-60 degrees
Equipment: Stellarvue 70mm, Celestron 8 inch SCT
Today I wanted to try imaging M33. I spent quite a few minutes trying to get polar
aligned. I still don't quite have the hang of it, but I think the alignment was
good enough for the short tube refractor.
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Telescope: 70mm Stellarvue, piggybacked on Celestron Ultima C8 Camera: Hutech modified Canon Rebel XT ISO: 800 Exposure: 61x90 seconds, 25 dark frames Processed with MaxDSLR, Photoshop with Astronomy Tools plugin I really need to start doing flat frames. There was some vignetting in the original uncropped image and dust shadows, which can be seen near the HII region above. |
10/10/2010 about 8:30PM-10:30AM
Locust Valley, NY
Transparency: 9/10, Seeing 2/5
Temperature: about 60-65 degrees
Equipment: 127mm Mak
Tried to observe comet 103P/Hartley. I compared to location for the comet in
my iPhone program and Starry Night, and there was a significant difference.
I was eventually able to find the comet in the location specified by Starry
Night.
The comet was faint, and I would estimate that the portion that was visible
to me was about 15-20 arcminutes. It was best observed with my 30mm(51x).
I also used an Orion Ultrablock filter and that actually seemed to help a
little bit. The comet did seem slight oval, in the rough direction of
Andromeda.
After that I took a quick look at Jupiter. All 4 moons visiable, unable to
see any shadows or the GRS. Notced one dark "bar" on the southern edge of the
visible belt.
10/9/2010 about 9:00PM-12:00AM
Southold, NY
Transparency: 10/10, Seeing 2/5
Temperature: about 50-65 degrees
Equipment: Rich H's Dobsonian and the 14 inch AOS scope.
Probably the best sky I have seen at Custer. The Milky Way was clearly
visible, maybe even some of the dark lanes.
Using Rich's homemade 16 inch Dobsonian, we were able to find comet
103P/Hartley. It filled roughly 1/3 of the field of view, and seemed
slightly oval in shape.
Later on I also saw M15, M31, M110, and M33 through Rich's scope. M33 appeared
as a ghostly oval shape with a hint of the arms.
I also looked at M2 and Jupiter through the AOS scope. There was a clear
white spot on one of Jupiters belts. Some other observers thought
that might have seen a moon's shadow earlier in the evening.
10/8/2010 about 10:00PM-2:00AM
Locust Valley, NY
Transparency: 10/10, Seeing 3/5
Temperature: about 60 degrees
Equipment: Modified Canon Rebel XT and 50mm lens, Celestron Ultima 8
with PEC
The Hydrogen α was made with 4 frames, 5 minutes each, dark frames subtracted. That was to bring out the nebulae. The second image is a combination of the Hydrogen α image and normal RGB image of the area around the Double Cluster. The RGB image was taken with 14x15 seconds to show the stars and the comet. All images were taken using a Canon Rebel XT and a 50mm lens. |
10/2/2010 about 9:00PM-12:00AM
Locust Valley, NY
Transparency: 10/10, Seeing ??/5
Temperature: about 60 degrees
Equipment: Modified Canon Rebel XT and 50mm lens, Celestron Ultima 8
with PEC
This evening I wanted to try the Hydrogen-α filter in the camera.
First I had to figure out how to focus. I made a crude Hartman mask
out of paper that seemed to work.
I took some quick test images of the area around γ Cyg and the North
American Nebuala, and I was able to see the Hydrogen &alpha regions.
However right after I set up the SCT, the remote cable release for my
camera broke, which was very frustrating.
I packed it in after that.
10/2/2010 about 11:00AM-4:30PM
Cradle of Aviation Museum
Garden City, NY
Transparency: 10/10, Seeing 2/5
Temperature: about 70 degrees
Equipment: 127mm Mak with solar filter
Astronomy Day at the Cradle of Aviation, run by AOS. I started out looking
a little at the moon. Nothing too special.
Then I put on the white light filter. There was one noticable sunspot area
near the edge of the disk. Later on I also noticed a couple of very tiny
sunspots near the middle of the disk.
A couple of other AOS members had Hydrogen-α telescope looking at
the sun. There were some very nice prominences and at least 1 filament.
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