Friday afternoon, 19 March 2021, I participated in the virtual Leprecon Convention Opening Ceremonies via Zoom. Here are some of the convention guest speakers.

That evening I moderated the "Impacts of Satellite Mega-constellations" panel discussion with Dr. John Barentine of the International Dark-Sky Association and Gerald "G. David" Nordley, an astronautical engineer.

After the panel ended I opened the observatory for an attempt to image the newly discovered Nova Cas 2021 in the constellation of Cassiopeia. Unfortunately, it would be very low in the northwestern sky by the time I would be set up.

Open: Friday, 19 March 2021, 2030 MST Temperature: 66°F

Session: 1611 Conditions: Clear

Equipment:
12" f/8 LX600 w/StarLock
2" 24mm UWA eyepiece
2" 9mm 100° eyepiece

Camera:
iPhone 11 Pro Max

2033 MST: LX600 ON, StarLock OFF, High Precision OFF.

2036 MST: Wi-Fi ON.

Used Sky Safari 6 Pro on the iPhone to GOTO the star HIP 115566. This star is very close to the location of the nova in Cassiopeia. Unfortunately, as expected, the star was too low and hidden behind a tree. I will try again on the next session.

2044 MST: Wi-Fi OFF.

Viewed the Moon, 102X.

Took this handheld iPhone 11 Pro Max afocal 102X photo of the Moon using NightCap Camera (ISO 32, 1/1800sec, 1X lens).

Then did some lunar observing, 271X. The crater Julius Caesar and nearby rilles looked nice. Took this handheld iPhone afocal 271X photo with NightCap Camera (ISO 500, 1/120sec, 1X lens) showing Julius Caesar (just anove center).

2103 MST: LX600 OFF.

Close: Friday, 19 March 2021, 2112 MST Temperature: 62°F

Session Length: 0h 42m Conditions: Clear

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During the previous session on 18 March, I did a prime focus video recording using the D850 DSLR camera of an excellent pass of the International Space Station (ISS). The images shown on the report were individual frames from the video when the ISS was near the Zenith and at its closest to my location.

I decided to stack 10 individual adjacent frames. This is one of those video frames (cropped).

I stacked the 10 video frames using Lynkeos. This is the result.

And the image magnified 2X.

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