Observing Log for Mike Durkin 8/5/2018 about 8:00PM-10:00PM Locust Valley, NY Transparency: 9/10, Seeing 3/5 Temperature: about 75-85 degrees Equipment: 127mm Mak I wanted to see if I could address any of the motor issues I noticed from tha night before at Sagamore Hill. I tightened one of the screws on the motor to keep it in contact with the declination gear. After testing it out, it seemed like it might have been a little better, but I am not sure. I looked at Jupiter with the 17mm eyepiece and 2x barlow. Saw all 4 moons ad one of the equitorial belts was very pronounced, but the other was much more subtle. I did not see the Great Red Spot. I also tried to see M4 by Antares, but light pollution seemed to be too much. Before I wrapped up I measured variable stars α Her (naked eye) and Z UMa (finder scope). 8/4/2018 about 8:00PM-10:30PM Sagamore Hill, Oyster Bay, NY Transparency: 9/10, Seeing 3/5 Temperature: about 75-85 degrees Equipment: 127mm Mak AOS outreach event at Sagamore Hill. The humidity was obscene, I was drenched in sweat in almost no time while getting my scope set up. Initially I looked at Venus before it set behind the trees. It looked close to half phase. Then as the main crowd came over, I shifted to Saturn using the 17mm eyepiece and 2x barlow lens. A lot of people did comment about how nice the view of Saturn was. Also during this time, I did notice that the declination motor had some issues in that it sometimes didn't move. After that I moved to Mars. Similar to the last time I looked I could not clearly make out any surface features, but it did seem a little better. Other Log Entries <-- 2017 Jan  Feb  Mar  Apr   May   Jun  Jul  Aug   Sep  Oct  Nov  Dec  2019 -->