Time: 3/14/2002 9:00-10:30 PM
Location: Jones Beach
Temperature: about 50 degrees
Equipment: 4.5 inch Newtonian.
Sky started out partially cloudy. I went to Jones Beach mainly to test out my collimation. I’m trying to see if I can see Airy rings around stars. I started with what I’m pretty sure was Arcturus in the East, but I wasn’t able to see any rings, although based on the shape of the de-focused star, I’d say my collimation is off by quite a bit.
After Arcturus was clouded over, I shifted to Sirius. I think I was finally able to see some diffraction lines around the shadow of my secondary mirror and the spider vanes with the 25mm eyepiece.
I’m also pretty sure I saw the “sickle” in Leo tonight, however I didn’t confirm.
The sky was mostly clouded over by the time I left