Observing Log for Mike Durkin 11/26/16 about 7:00PM-9:00PM Locust Valley, NY Transparency: 8/10, Seeing 3/5 Temperature: 4555 degrees Equipment: Canon T3i DSLR Wanted to do some DSLR photometry, but some scattered clouds caused problems. I ended up only with γ Cas, κ Cas and ρ Cas. I also has a slight headache, so I did not try again later on to get any other stars that I wanted to. 11/18/16 about 9:00PM-10:30PM Falmouth, MA Transparency: 10/10, Seeing 3/5 Temperature: 45-55 degrees Equipment: 15x70 and 10x50 binoculars. I first tried using the 15x70 binoculars, but they were a bit too heavy to be using without a tripod. I did some visual measurements of T Cet, W Ori, Z Eri and α Ori. I also saw a meteor when looking around Cetus. It seemed to be a little faint with a small streak/trail. Could perhaps be an Andromedid or just a sporadic. I also saw a couple of rabbits hanging around while observing. 11/14/16 about 4:00PM-6:00PM Eastham, MA Transparency: 7-10/10, Seeing 3/5 Temperature: 45-55 degrees Equipment: Canon T3i Originally planned on going to the beach for some sunset pix. That didn't quite work out, so instead after we noticed some people coming into the parking lot for the supermoon, I also stayed to see if I could get the supermoon rising. I am reasonably happy with the images although the 75-300mm zoom lens is still not the best. 11/13/16 about 8:30PM-9:30PM Falmouth, MA Transparency: 9/10, Seeing 4/5 Temperature: 45-55 degrees Equipment: Canon T3i and 10x50 binoculars. First a quick image of the "supermoon" with my 75-300mm zoom lens. My initial impression is not too good. The moon looks a bit "soft". Then some visual measurements of variable stars χ Cyg, RT Cyg and RW Cep. I was also going to try α Ori, but Procyon hadn't risen yet and I need to use that as a comparison star. 11/6/16 about 9:00PM-11:00PM Locust Valley, NY Transparency: 9/10, Seeing 3/5 Temperature: 35-45 degrees Equipment: Celestron 8 inch SCT and others. DSLR photometery of P Cyg, CH Cyg, γ Cas, κ Cas and ρ Cas. I did get called for work during the session, but that didn't take too much time. Also note, that the timestamp on the images are still in EDT, even though the time shifted back to EST on this day. I want to sync the time on the camera before my next session. 11/6/16 about 6:00PM-7:30PM Roof of Berliner Hall, Hofstra University, NY Transparency: 8/10, Seeing 3/5 Temperature: 40-50 degrees Equipment: Celestron 8 inch SCT and others. Public outreach session for Professor Don at Hofstra. I manned a pier with an 8 inch SCT. I was mainly focused on Mars for the night, with a 25mm (80x) eyepiece. Mars did not look too great to me, since it has been getting smaller for a while. However the reddish color was obvious and I think that the gibbous phase may have even been noticeable. Also observed during the evening was the Moon, Venus, Albireo, Uranus, M31, M13, and M15. We may have also obsered Neptune at one point, but no one was sure of the star field. There was also a question of using a higher magnification eyepiece made it easier to cut through some of the light pollution. 11/5/16 about 12:00 midnight-1:15AM Locust Valley, NY Transparency: 9/10, Seeing 3/5 Temperature: 35-45 degrees Equipment: 70mm Stellarvue Observed variable stars AW Cyg, RU Cyg, ο Cet and S Cet. Other Log Entries <-- 2015 Jan  Feb  Mar  Apr  May  Jun  Jul  Aug  Sep  Oct  Nov   Dec  2017 -->