Having just returned home from viewing the Total Solar Eclipse on 21 August, it was nice to get back in the observatory. Updating my web site had been delayed due to issues with the server that was hosting my domain. I decided to move my domain to another company and hopefully all is OK now. If you find any missing pages or mis-linked URLs please let me know.

My preliminary Total Solar Eclipse report is available. I will post my full report with lots of photos once I get them edited. Hopefully that should be soon.

Open: Tuesday, 29 August 2017, 1846 MST Temperature: 83°F

Session: 1137 Conditions: Mostly clear, hazy

Equipment Used:
12" f/8 LX600 w/StarLock
2" 24mm UWA eyepiece

Camera:
D7200 DSLR

1852 MST: sunset. SYNCed observatory clock to WWV. 1857 MST: LX600 ON, StarLock OFF, High Precision OFF.

1900 MST: viewed the near First Quarter Moon, 102X. Seeing not good due to thin clouds at the Moon.

Prepared D7200 DSLR for imaging. Then SYNCed the AutoStar on the star Antares.

1913 MST: viewed Jupiter and the four Galilean Moons, 102X. Seeing bad. Viewed Saturn, 102X. The moons Titan and Rhea were visible. Seeing bad here too.

Returned to the Moon. Mounted the DSLR at prime focus + focal reducer. Used the Ziv Right Angle Viewfinder, which was very handy.

Took this 1/640sec, ISO 400, White Balance Auto photo of the Moon:

Removed the camera.

1938 MST: SYNCed the AutoStar on the star Alpha Capricornus.

1945 MST: Wi-Fi ON. Used Sky Safari 5 Pro to GOTO Asteroid (3122) Florence. Tried to detect the asteroid by its rapid motion, but unfortunately was never able to identify it. Perhaps it was too faint for the bright moonlit sky. 2007 MST: ended trying to identify Asteroid Florence. And to make matters worse, the sky was now mostly overcast. Will try again on a future session. 2008 MST: Wi-Fi OFF.

2009 MST: LX600 OFF.

Close: Tuesday, 29 August 2017, 2026 MST Temperature: 81°F

Session Length: 1h 40m Conditions: Mostly cloudy

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While traveling for the Total Solar Eclipse, the 8th anniversary of "First Light" at Cassiopeia Observatory occurred on 18 August. It has been a fun and exciting 8 years in the SkyShed POD.

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