Observing Log for Mike Durkin
7/31/2020 about 10:00PM-11:30PM
Locust Valley, NY
Transparency: 8/10, Seeing 4/5
Temperature: about 80-90 degrees
Equipment: Stellarvue 70mm refractor
Visual measurements of variable stars Z UMa, RY UMa and Y UMa.
Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE)- Defintely dimmer than the previous couple of weeks. Maybe a hint of a tail.
Looked at the nearly full moon (93% illuminated). Other than the craters and ridges by the terminator
I noticed that the moon was more than just white and grey. Some subtle color and different shadings of grey.
Jupiter - 4 moons on one side. Best observed with the 5mm eyepiece. I think I saw the Great Red Spot
and some additional cloud details beyond just the 2 simple belts.
Saturn - Observed with the 6.4mm eyepiece. Not as impressive as the view of Jupiter. The rings were easily
visible as was the moon Titan. No other moons were visible and unable to make out any details on the disk.
At first I was not able to see which part of the disk was in front of the planet, but occasionally during
moments of good seeing, I was able to see.
7/19/2020 about 12:00AM-1:30AM
Locust Valley, NY
Transparency: 5-9/10, Seeing 3/5
Temperature: about 70-80 degrees
Equipment: Hutech modified Canon T3i
Been a long time and the sky cleared up, so decided to try some DSLR photometry again.
Started with P Cyg. Had some odd color/brigtness sensitivity issues again with the DSLR since it was pointing
to the zenith. I took about 45 total light images, may want to stick to using the last 30.
I had also wanted to try CH Cyg and AG Peg, but it got too late and too cloudy.
7/18/2020 about 9:30PM-10:30PM
Locust Valley, NY
Transparency: 7/10, Seeing 3/5
Temperature: about 70-80 degrees
Equipment: 15x70 binoculars
Gary M. texted me asking about comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE), which inspired me to look up the details and try
to see if I cound find it. So I took out the binoculars and eve thoug I coud not easily
make out the comet naked eye, it was pretty easy to find in binoculars. It was a bit
dimmer compared to the week before.
After that I just did a quick scan around to see if I could make out any deep sky objects. The only
only I am sure I detected was M13. I aso tried some globular clusters in Scorpius and Ophiuchus, but
could never confirm.
There was a thin layer of clouds so I didn't bother staying out too long.
7/12/2020 about 3:30AM-4:30AM
Mill Neck, NY
Transparency: 9/10, Seeing ?/5
Temperature: about 70-80 degrees
Equipment: Hutech modified T3i and 10x50 binoculars
Drove out to West Shore road in Mill Neck since there was a convenient walkway by tje water that had
a good eastern view of the sky to see comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE).
When I got there, the head of the comet was fairly easy to see. It looked like one of the fainter
stars in the sky, maybe around magnitude 2-3.
In the 10x50 binoculars the comet looked very nice. I distinct head and I could see the tail extending
for about 2-3 degrees.
Then I started taking some pictures. First using the zoom lens set to 124mm:
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Location: Long Island, NY Camera: Hutech modified Canon T3i Lens: 700-300 zoom lens. Set to 124mm, f/6.3 ISO: 800 Exposure: 6x15s seconds (90 seconds) Mount: AstroTrac TT320X AG on camera tripod No dark or flat frames Processed in MaximDL |
Then the 50mm lens to get some of the horizon and to give some sense of scale:
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Location: Long Island, NY Camera: Hutech modified Canon T3i Lens: 50mm f/6.3 ISO: 800 Exposure: 6 seconds Mount: AstroTrac TT320X AG on camera tripod No processing |
7/4/2020 about 10:00PM-12:00AM
Locust Valley, NY
Transparency: 7/10, Seeing ?/5
Temperature: about 70-80 degrees
Equipment: Synguider II, Sky Watcher Star Adventurer and 50mm guidescope
Independence Day.
The sky looked clear, but I think humidity was high since the stars seemed a bit "muted". When
I packed up for the night, I was able to see some faint clouds as well. Perhaps the
full moon made the clous easier to see.
I first tested a similar set up to last time with just the guidescope and Synguider. This time
with a decent attempt at polar alognment. I spent more time trying to find a good focus than I
would have liked, but eventually it worked.
Then I attached the DSLR and pointed toward Cygnus. This time I think I used Deneb as the guide star.
I took some 30 second images of the region to see how the tracking was with autoguiding and
looking over the images, they seem to be acceptable. I did notice though that the star in the autoguider
would drift by about 1-2 pixels over a minute. So I wonder if the added load on the mount shifted
to polar alignment a bit.
The black and white cat showed up at the end.
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