Opened the observatory Sunday, 22 April, at 1800 MST, 100°F. First 100 degree opening of the year! This was planned to be a short session of observing Venus (which I hadn't viewed in over a month) and the thin crescent moon. I switched back to using the Wireless AutoStar II with the 8" LX200-ACF.

I began observing Venus at 1812 MST. Used 77X, 206X, and 364X. The crescent phase was lovely. I did some imaging using the iPhone 4 and D7000 DSLR. This image is a stack (using Keith's Image Stacker) of 324 frames at 30fps from the D7000, 1/250sec, ISO 500, at an image size of 640x424, taken at prime focus + 3X TeleXtender:

1842 MST, viewed the thin crescent moon at 77X against a bright sky background. Sunset was still about 20 minutes away. Took this image at 1854 MST, prime focus, 1/200sec, ISO 500:

The unedited photo above shows nearly the view that was visible in the 26mm eyepiece (77X).

1857 MST, picked up the thin crescent moon with my naked eyes. Tough object to see against the still bright sky before sunset. 1901 MST, the sun disappeared behind a distant mountain.

A few minutes later I took this (edited) image of the crescent moon, prime focus, 1/200sec, ISO 1000:

This image (slightly cropped) was taken 20 minutes after the sun disappeared, 1/30sec, f/40 (for increased depth-of-field), ISO 1600, 300mm. Earthshine is just slightly visible in the image.

Closed the observatory at 1930 MST, 81°F. Might be the last session for a few nights. Cloudy weather is forecast. Phooey. Clouds and the waxing moon will mess up my plans for DSO imaging.

Comments are welcome; use the Comments section below, or you can Email Me. Thanks.

Go to the previous report.

Return to the Cassiopeia Observatory Welcome Page.