Open: Friday, 9 February 2018, 1821 MST Temperature: 79°F

Session: 1200 Conditions: Partly cloud

Equipment Used:
12" f/8 LX600 w/StarLock
2" 24mm UWA eyepiece
1.25" Binoviewers 20mm

Camera:
D850 DSLR

I first SYNCed the observatory clock.

1830 MST: LX600 ON, StarLock OFF, High Precision OFF.

1832 MST: viewed the planet Uranus, 102X. Switched to the William Optics Binoviewers, 122X. Good view of the planet's disk.

My plan for this session was to just do some Deep Sky Object (DSO) observing using the binoviewers.

1851 MST: slewed to M31 (Andromeda Galaxy). It was faintly visible against the twilight sky, 122X.

1915 MST: began DSO observing using the binoviewers, 122X: M79 (globular cluster), M42 (Great Nebula in Orion), Castor (double star), M81 (Bode's Galaxy), M82 (Cigar Galaxy), NGC2392 (Eskimo Nebula), NGC1977 (Running Man Nebula), NGC1990 (faint nebula), NGC2024 (Flame Nebula), and M78 (nebula).

1947 MST: I decided to image some DSOs in the constellation of Orion using the D850 DSLR. Slewed the 12" telescope to the star Rigel (which would by the focus star using a Bahtinov Mask). Mounted the D850 at prime focus, focused, and SYNCed the AutoStar.

2021 MST: StarLock ON.

Took the following StarLock autoguided images (cropped), White Balance 3570K:

NGC2024 Flame Nebula, 5 minutes, ISO 1600


NGC1977 Running Man Nebula, 1 minute, ISO 6400


Horsehead Nebula, 5 minutes, ISO 6400

2045 MST: StarLock OFF.

Removed the camera. Viewed M42 (Orion Nebula), 102X.

2053 MST: LX600 OFF.

Close: Friday, 9 February 2018, 2104 MST Temperature: 56°F

Session Length: 2h 43m Conditions: Mostly clear

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