Observing Log for Mike Durkin 6/5/2021 about 9:30PM-1:30AM Locust Valley, NY Transparency: 9/10, Seeing 4/5 Temperature: 60-70 degrees Equipment: 70mm Stellarvue refractor and Star Anayzer 100 Today I wanted to see if using the Imaging Source camera would be feasable for spectroscopy. I initially started with Spica and also using a filter wheel to get some added distance between the grating and the chip. That was too much distance, since I could not fit both the star and the spectrum on the chip. After that I just attached the grating the the 1.25 inch nosepiece for the camera. The rest of the star I looked at were Vega, δ2 Lyr, δ Sco, Arcturus and Altair. I did notice however that the chromatic aberration was significant, especially on the blue side. I'm also not trilled with focusing. The mount wobbles quite a bit with this setup, so trying to focus was a bit of guesswork. By adjusting the gain and frame exposure length, I was able to get some fainter stars. I was trying to limit the frame exposure length to 1 second, where I was able to get stars at least as faint as 4th magnitude. Perhaps I can do a little fainter. Next attempt to try to do spectroscopy I'll need to try something with the C8, maybe with a focal reducer or the 16 inch Dob with drift scanning, but I'll be worried about the cable length reaching the eyepiece. On the plus side I was pleased at how long the laptop lasted on battery alone. But on the negative side, the IC Capture software kept losing connection to the camera. Next attempt to try to do spectroscopy I'll need to try something with the C8, maybe with a focal reducer or the 16 inch Dob with drift scanning, but I'll be worried about the cable length reaching the eyepiece. Perhaps I can do a little fainter. 6/4/2021 about 11:00PM-12:00AM Locust Valley, NY Perhaps I can do a little fainter. Transparency: 8/10, Seeing ?/5 Temperature: 55-65 degrees Equipment: 15x70 binoculars A humid night after a big rainstorm in the afternoon. Measured variable stars RW Vir, FP Vir and α Her. I also tried to see if I could detect M87 or any other of the galaxies in that area in the binoculars but I couldn't see anything definitive. I also tried to see if I could detect M13 in Hercules and I am pretty sure I did see it, although at that point I was only using my hands instead of a tripod so the view was very shaky. Other Log Entries <-- 2020 Jan  Feb  Mar  Apr  May  Jun   Jul  Aug   Sep  Oct  Nov  Dec  2022 -->