I opened the observatory Friday, 30 December, at 1809 MST, 66°F. At 1813 MST, I did some brief lunar observing at 77X and 206X with the 8" LX200-ACF telescope. Seeing seemed to be better this night than on recent nights. I selected two high magnification imaging targets: the crater complex of Theophilus, Cyrillus, and Catherina, and the crater Posidonius. Switched to the visual back and began setting up for D7000 DSLR prime focus imaging of the moon.

This is a 1/320sec, ISO 500, image:

I added a 9mm (222X) eyepiece for eyepiece projection imaging. This is a "Hat Trick", ISO 1000, image of the craters (left to right) Theophilus, Cyrillus, and Catherina:

And the Crater Posidonius, "Hat Trick", ISO 800:

All images are full frame (not cropped), taken in Raw format, and edited in Apple Aperture software. Final sharpening was done in GraphicConverter.

I ended imaging at 1845 MST. Switched back to the diagonal and at 1849 MST, viewed Jupiter at 77X, 133X, 206X, and 354X. Seeing was definitely better this night. The Great Red Spot was visible, just past the central meridian crossing.

Then I went back to the moon for some extended terminator and limb observing at 354X and 206X. Very good views, with excellent details visible.

At 1915 MST, returned to Jupiter. Added the moon filter to the 9.7mm (206X) eyepiece. By reducing the glare from the planet with the moon filter, details were easily seen in the North Equatorial Belt (NEB) and South Equatorial Belt (SEB).

Closed the observatory at 1930 MST, 56°F.

Comments

Go to the previous report.

Return to the Cassiopeia Observatory Welcome Page.