I opened the observatory Sunday, 8 January 2012, at 1828 MST, 47°F. The sky was partly cloudy, but I wanted to capture an image of the Full Moon. I also needed to test some software that I am reviewing. At 1835 MST, viewed Jupiter at 77X and 206X. Four moons were visible. Then went to the moon, which was low in the eastern sky. The moon would be precisely full in 6 hours. At 206X, a very slight terminator was visible. The moon was too low in the sky for imaging at this point. And the clouds didn't help. I began doing the software tests. The review will be posted when my tests are completed.

At 1906 MST, I completed the software tests for the night and began setting up for imaging the Full Moon with the D7000 DSLR at prime focus of the 8" LX200-ACF. Removed the diagonal, added a focal reducer and visual back, and mounted the camera. I then began waiting for the moon to rise higher in the sky. I also continued monitoring the clouds. At 1931 MST, the moon was high enough for imaging and since the clouds were still a concern, I began imaging. This is a 1/1000sec, ISO 100, cropped image:

I After completing the imaging, removed the camera, focal reducer, and visual back, attached the diagonal, and began some lunar observing at 77X using a moon filter on the eyepiece. The clouds were mostly gone by this point, but since I have a special project that would be started early the next morning, I decided to end the session.

Closed the observatory at 1952 MST, 41°F.

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