Observing Log for Mike Durkin
9/24/2010 10:00PM-1:00AM
Locust Valley, NY
Transparency: 7/10, Seeing 2/5
Temperature: about 75 degrees
Equipment: Celestron Ultima 8 with PEC and Toucam Pro
I used the webcam tonight to take some images of Jupiter and the moon.
I also observed Uranus which was near Jupiter with the 7.4mm(270x) eyepiece.
It was obviously a disk at higher powers and had a slightly blue color
to it.
The seeing this night didn't seem too good.
I also tried a new software program to capture the video, wxAstroCapture. It
seems pretty good, but I am beginning to think I really need to upgrade
my camera to something that can take more frames per second compared to
the Toucam.
 Jupiter and Ganymede
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 Mare Crisium
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 Crater Langrenus |
9/10/2010 10:30PM-11:00PM
Locust Valley, NY
Transparency: 4/10, Seeing 3/5
Temperature: about 65 degrees
Equipment: Orion 127mm Mak
I wanted to see if I could use the Mak with the heavy duty camera tripod. I would say
that the tripod was able to handle the scope.
So I looked at Jupiter with the 7.4mm(208x). One belt is still significantly faded.
I was ble to see 3 moons and a shode near the limb. After checking with Starry
Night it seems that one of the moons, Ganymede, was on the disk, but I didn't notice it.
It was the moon that was casting the shadow.
9/5/2010 9:00PM-3:30AM
Locust Valley, NY
Transparency: 9/10, Seeing 3/5
Temperature: about 60 degrees
Equipment: Celestron Ultima 8 with PEC, Hutech modified Canon Rebel XT
I tried to take a better image of NGC 7331. I did succeed, but I did have a problem where the front of the telescope
got some dew on it, even though I thought the humidity was low enough. On the plus side, it did give me a
change to recharge a couple of batteries.
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A better image of NGC 7331 and its background galaxies, also known as the Deer Lick group. Apparently I need even more exposure time in order to bring out the spiral arms better.
Update: Looking at the picture a little closer, I think I might have overdone the Astronomy Tools processing. It does look a little like a blotchy watercolor. It was either that or have it look grainy.
Camera: Hutech modified Canon Rebel XT |
9/4/2010 10:00PM-12:30AM
Locust Valley, NY
Transparency: 9/10, Seeing 3/5
Temperature: about 65 degrees
Equipment: Stellarvue 70mm ED
I wanted to do some astrophotography this night, but it was too windy. Instead
I did some variable star observing. I took measurements of Z UMa, SS Cyg,
W Cyg, S Del, U Del, and R Equ.
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