Observing Log for Mike Durkin
9/26/2021 about 8:00PM-9:30PM
Locust Valley, NY
Transparency: 10/10, Seeing 3/5
Temperature: 55-65 degrees
Equipment: Stellarvue 70mm refractor
Visual measurements of variable stars Z UMa, α Her, RU Her, S Her and RS Her.
9/24-25/2021 about 11:00PM-1:00AM
Locust Valley, NY
Transparency: 10/10, Seeing 3/5
Temperature: 55-65 degrees
Equipment: Stellarvue 70mm refractor
M30 - Globular cluster. Faint, but could detect the core without much effort.
Unable to resolve any individual stars. Also tried to use averted vision and
nudging the scope to see if I could pick up more. Nudging seemed to help a
little.
M2 - Globular cluster. Brighter than M30 and easy to pick out with the 30mm
eyepiece. Also unable to resolve any individual stars in the cluster.
Moon - A waning gibbous phase, so one that I usuaully don't get to see. Main
craters of interest were Piccolomini and I think Neander, which had some highland
area next to it that was casting some interesting shadows.
Visually measuered variable star Z Del.
I had also tried W Lyr, but that seems to have been too faint.
9/19/2021 about 8:30PM-10:00PM
Locust Valley, NY
Transparency: 9/10, Seeing ??/5
Temperature: 60-70 degrees
Equipment: Hutach modified Canon T3i
DSLR Photometry of P CYG and CH Cyg, with a nearly full moon.
9/11/2021 about 10:00PM-1:00AM
Locust Valley, NY
Transparency: 9/10, Seeing 2/5
Temperature: 50-60 degrees
Equipment: Celestron Ultima 8 with PEC
Some "quick" visual observing. Also curious how long to set up and break down the SCT gear.
About 15 minutes to set up and 20-25 to break down.
Saturn: Was able to make out part of the globe's shadow on part of the ring. Also saw
the moon Titan and very likely Rhea.
Jupiter: The main object for the evening. When I first started, the image was very poor. It
slighty improved during the night, but I don't think my a great amount. Maybe due to actual
seeing conditions or air currents over the house nearby. Initially, Io was in front of the
disk of Jupiter, and in moments of clarity, I was able to see the shadow of the moon. Later
on in the evening, I saw Io move out in front of the disk. But I could not distinguish Io
while it was in front of the planet. Later on before I broke down, I think I was also able
to make out the Great Red Spot, but I wasn't sure since whatever I saw didn't differ in color
by too much. The cloud color between the equatorial gaps also seemed darker than I would have
expected. I sort of made out some features in the north in south polar regions, but they
were not very distinct.
Saturn Nebula: A planetary nebular that was pretty easy to find. Although a little
disappointing under high magnification. It did have an irregular oval shape to it, but no
sharp features at all.
M72: unable to make out at all.
M56: I may have been able to just start to see this globular cluster, but at that point the
neighbors came home and there was some light that got in the way.
9/3/2021 about 9:00PM-12:00AM
Locust Valley, NY
Transparency: 8-9/10, Seeing ??/5
Temperature: 55-65 degrees
Equipment: Hutech modified Canon T3i
DSLR photometry of P Cyg and CH Cyg. I thought about RS Oph as well since it is fading from it's
outburst, but it was a bit too low in the sky after I was done with the Cyg stars.
Then decided to try to image the Veil Nebula using the nice 200mm Canon lens I have. I have done
this target before, but maybe this will be a little better with due to lens quality? Clouds
ruined about half the images though since the sky was getting some clouds near midnight.
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Location: Long Island, NY Camera: Hutech modified Canon T3i Lens: Canon EF200mm f/2.8L II USM ISO: 80 Exposure: 60x15s seconds (15 minutes) Calibrated with dark and flat frames Processed in MaximDL and Photoshop with Astronomy Tools and GradientXterminator Not too happy with this version compared to my last one which was about 3x as long. Still having some trouble with star colors using this Canon Lens. |
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