Open: Tuesday, 22 January 2019, 1810 MST Temperature: 61°F

Session: 1327 Conditions: Clear

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

Camera:
D850 DSLR

1815 MST: LX600 ON, StarLock OFF, High Precision OFF.

Viewed Mars, 102X. Nothing impressive.

Next, I did an AutoStar One Star alignment to refine the star alignment, followed by a SYNC on the star Aldebaran. Also, tweaked the straight-through finderscope alignment.

I then prepared the D850 DSLR for prime focus galaxy imaging for my Extragalactic Supernova Project. I planned to image NGC676 and NGC772 this session.

1844 MST: Dome OFF (onto PZT).

Mounted the D850 DSLR at prime focus of the 12" telescope, focused on the star Aldebaran, and locked the 12" primary mirror.

1857 MST: the Zodiacal Light was very visible in the dark western sky.

1904 MST: High Precision ON.

Slewed to NGC676.

1906 MST: StarLock ON.

I then began imaging NGC676 (galaxy). Seeing was not good so StarLock autoguiding was bad. This was the best image I managed, StarLock autoguided, 5 minutes, ISO 6400, White Balance 5000K:

Since the seeing was so bad I decided to give up for this night.

1929 MST: StarLock OFF, High Precision OFF.

After removing the camera from the telescope I viewed M42 (the Great Nebula in Orion), 102X.

1937 MST: LX600 OFF, Dome ON.

Close: Tuesday, 22 January 2019, 1949 MST Temperature: 42°F

Session Length: 1h 39m Conditions: Clear

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