Friday, 16 August 2019, and Saturday, 17 August, were cloudy.

Open: Sunday, 18 August 2019, 1907 MST Temperature: 97°F

Session: 1375 Conditions: Partly cloudy

Equipment Used:
12" f/8 LX600 w/StarLock
2" 24mm UWA eyepiece
2" 4X Powermate
Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector

Camera:
D850 DSLR

There were clouds in much of the sky. Fortunately there was some clear sky as well. This is a view to the south where Jupiter and Saturn would appear once the sky was darker:

1918 MST: LX600 ON, StarLock OFF, High Precision OFF.

1920 MST: viewed Jupiter, 102X. Three moons were visible.

Began preparing the D850 DSLR for imaging of Jupiter and Saturn.

1932 MST: Jupiter, 102X. The Great Red Spot was coming into view. Seeing was not great due to clouds.

Mounted the D850 at prime focus + 4X Powermate + Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector. Took these images of Jupiter (1/80sec, ISO 1600) and Saturn (1/40sec, ISO 5000), both cropped from the full-frame photos.

1949 MST: done imaging.

1953 MST: viewed Saturn, 102X. Three moons were visible.

1959 MST: decided to end the session due to the clouds that were in much of the sky.

2008 MST: took this handheld D850 DSLR photo (f/2.8, 1 second, ISO 5000, White Balance 4000K, FL 24mm) of the southern sky with Saturn, Jupiter, the constellations of Sagittarius and Scorpius, the Milky Way, and some clouds:

Mouseover or tap on image for labels

2012 MST: viewed M16 (Eagle Nebula), 102X. The view was not very good due to the clouds.

2014 MST: LX600 OFF.

Close: Sunday, 18 August 2019, 2025 MST Temperature: 84°F

Session Length: 1h 18m Conditions: Partly cloudy

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It was nice to be able to spend some time in the observatory on the 10th anniversary of "First Light", 18 August 2009.

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