Observing Log for Mike Durkin
5/25/2020 about 6:30PM-8:00PM Locust Valley, NY Transparency: 9/10, Seeing 3/5 Temperature: about 60-70 degrees Equipment: 10x50 binuculars and 70mm telescope First observing sincce the coronavirus hit. Glad to finally get out for something. My goal was to try tp see Venus. Usually I only see it when it is around 50% illuminated or so. Today is it supposed to be about 3% illuminated and over 50 arcseconds in size. I started looking at the moon since it was visible although a little tough to pic out against the bright sky. It was a 3 day old crescent and I had to wait a little later in the evening until I could start making out some features. There was a crater, possibly Langrenus or Petavius that was the most visible followed by Mare Criscium. There was some other smaller craters as well. It took me a little while, but I did finally see Venus. Just scanning the sky in the general area didn't work. Instead I had to use my app to estimate how many binocular FOV lengths away Venus was from the moon. Then I would move my binoculars in 1 FOV steps and I was pleasantly surprise that I was able t osee Venus in the binoculars that way. It was not visible wth the naked eye at this time of day. Viewing in the 70mm refractor was a pleasant sight. A very thin crescent that seemed to form a nice semicircle. There was some noticeable turbulance that did may the view shimmer a bit. <-- 2019 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 2021 --> |