Observing Log for Mike Durkin


1/13/2025 about 9:00PM-11:00PM
Forest Hills, NY
Transparency: 9/10, Seeing ??/5
Temperature: 30-35 degrees
Equipment: 10x50 binoculars

Occultation of Mars by the Moon and in Forest Hills with is unusual for me. I was also going to try the Celestron 15x70 binoculars, but my hands were not steady enough and the 10x50 were good enough. Second contact seemed to havs started about a minute early, but I think that was because the planet might have been lost in the glare of the moon and I did not have a steady enough view with high magnification. Third contact was noticed about 30 seconds after the predicated time of my Sky Safari, but again this might be because I did not have a steady high magnification view.


1/11/2025 about 10:00PM-11:30PM
Locust Valley, NY
Transparency: 9/10, Seeing 4/5
Temperature: 25-35 degrees
Equipment: 127mm Maksutov-Cassegrain

Testing out the old Mak to see if I can use it for an AOS outreach event next month. Initial results look good, even though the D batteries were sitting around for at least a couple of years. After that I looked at a couple of objects:
Jupiter: all 4 Galilean moons visible. Two equitorial belts and the North and South Polar regions. The belts also showed some irregular shape.
Moon: Almost full, but a couple of days away fro 100%. Saw some crated near the edge.
Mars: Nice view even though is didn't seem too large. I think I saw a bit of a polar cap and I"m pretty sure some shading on the disk, although I didn't see enough to identify the regions.
M42: Observed the Trapezium and the core of the nebula. I tried to see if I could see more than the usual 4 stars of the Trapezium, and maybe I caught a glipmse of a 5th star but I'm not sure.


1/5/2025 about 6:00PM-7:00PM
Locust Valley, NY
Transparency: 5/10, Seeing ??/5
Temperature: 25-35 degrees
Equipment: Hutech modified Canon T3i

DSLR photometry of P Cyg.
Too many scattered thin clouds, so I hope I have enough valid light frames.
Also noticed 3 planets up and easily visible at the same time. Venus and Saturn by the Moon, and then Jupiter. Maybe if the view to the east was all the way to the horizon, I would also see Mars.




Other Log Entries
<-- 2024  Jan   Feb   Mar   Apr   May   Jun   Jul   Aug   Sep   Oct   Nov   Dec