Observing Log for Mike Durkin 3/16/2024 about 8:30-10:00PM Locust Valley, NY Transparency: 8/10, Seeing 4/5 Temperature: 40-50 degrees Equipment: 15x70 Celestron binoculars Today I got my large Celestron binoculars back after about a year, so I wanted to test them out before I go to Buffalo next month and the solar eclipse. Started by using Sirius to try to set the focus M42 and the sword of Orion. The Moon, and the terminator seemed to highlight the eastern ridge of Mare Serenitatis. Double cluster in Perseus, but did not clearly distinguish the clusters. I also saw a couple of what I thought were fast moving satellites trafeling from west to east Owl cluster in Cassiopeia, I could only make out the "eyes" of the cluster and not the fainter members. M41 - not too hard to see, but there was significant light pollution which detracted from the view. In a dark sky this would probably look very nice. Beehive cluster in Cancer - a nice field of view in the binoculars. M81 and M82 - M1 was faint, but pretty certain I could make it out against the background sky. It was just a faint smudge, which was probably just the core. I'm less certain that I observed M82, but I do think I just barely glimpsed it. The neighbors dogs were barking in the house almost the whole time, although that didn't bother me too much. Other Log Entries <-- 2023 Jan  Feb  Mar   Apr  May   Jun   Jul   Aug   Sep   Oct   Nov   Dec