Open: Saturday, 5 December 2020, 1742 MST Temperature: 64°F

Session: 1566 Conditions: Clear

Equipment:
12" f/8 LX600 w/StarLock
2" 24mm UWA eyepiece
2" 5.5mm 100° eyepiece
2" UHC filter

Camera:
D7200 DSLR

1748 MST: LX600 ON, StarLock OFF, High Precision OFF.

Viewed Jupiter and four moons, then Saturn and 2 moons, 102X.

Prepared D7200 DSLR for piggyback imaging.

1805 MST: viewed Mars, 102X and 443X.

Viewed M45 (the Pleiades) star cluster, 102X. It would be my first imaging target once it was a higher in the sky.

1845 MST: mounted the D7200 DSLR with 70-300mm lens piggyback on the 12" LX600 using the ScopeStuff Camera Mount. Attached the Explore Scientific 2" UHC filter to the lens using the Sensei Filter Step-Down Rings. Here's the setup.

1856 MST: StarLock ON.

Did StarLock autoguided imaging of the Pleiades star cluster and then the Hyades star cluster using the D7200 DSLR.

Pleiades star cluster (f/5.6, 5 minutes, ISO 6400, White Balance 4000K, FL 300mm, UHC filter)


Hyades star cluster (f/4.5, 2 minutes, ISO 6400, White Balance 5000K, FL 70mm, UHC filter)

The open star cluster NGC1647 is at the upper left in the Hyades image.

1950 MST: StarLock OFF.

Removed the camera and re-attached the finderscope.

2002 MST: viewed M1 (Crab Nebula), 102X.

2004 MST: LX600 OFF.

2010 MST: took a Sky Quality reading using the Unihedron SQM-L.

Close: Saturday, 5 December 2020, 2016 MST Temperature: 48°F

Session Length: 2h 34m Conditions: Clear, SQM 20.94

---

Comments are welcome using Email. Twitter users can use the button below to tweet this report to their followers. Thanks.

Tweet

---

Previous report

Cassiopeia Observatory Home Page