Open: Wednesday, 5 January 2022, 1815 MST Temperature: 62°F

Session: 1709 Conditions: Mostly clear

Equipment:
12" f/8 LX600 w/StarLock
2" 24mm UWA eyepiece
2" 30mm eyepiece
Focal reducer

Camera:
iPhone 13 Pro Max
D850 DSLR

1820 MST: LX600 ON, StarLock OFF, High Precision OFF.

Viewed Jupiter, 102X. The shadow of the moon Ganymede was in transit across the planet's disk.

Then viewed the Moon, 102X.

Stepped outside of the observatory and took this handheld iPhone 13 Pro Max photo of the observatory and sky using the Camera app (Night Mode, 3 seconds, 1X lens).

Mouseover or tap on image for labels

Viewed the Moon, 81X. Mounted the iPhone on the 2" 30mm eyepiece. Here is the Moon afocal 81X taken with the iOS NightCap Camera (ISO 34, 1/250sec, 1X) and Earthshine (ISO 800, 1/12sec, 1X).

1844 MST: relaxed on the observatory patio bench.

1911 MST: took this handheld iPhone 13 Pro Max photo (Night Mode, 3 seconds, 1X lens) of the sky as seen from the bench. Orion is at the bottom, Taurus above center, Auriga at the upper left, and the Pleiades at the top center.

1924 MST: back inside the observatory. Viewed the Moon, 81X. The Moon was nicely projected onto the observatory, as seen in this handheld iPhone photo (Night Mode, 3 seconds, 1X).

Viewed M42 (Great Nebula in Orion), M43 (part of M42), and M78 (nebula), 81X. Then mounted the iPhone 13 Pro Max on the 30mm eyepiece to take some StarLock autoguided images for my Messier Catalog iPhone Astrophotography album.

1943 MST: StarLock ON.

M78, NightCap Camera (Long Exposure, Light Boost, ISO 32000, 1sec, 1 minute, 1X)


M43, NightCap Camera (Long Exposure, Light Boost, ISO 12500, 1sec, 1 minute, 1X)


M42, Camera app (Night Mode, 30 seconds, 1X)

2007 MST: StarLock OFF.

Viewed M42 (Orion Nebula), 102X.

Prepared the D850 DSLR for another attempt at imaging the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). This night it would be farther away and so likely fainter than my attempt the previous night.

2020-2034 MST: took a short break.

Mounted the D850 DSLR at prime focus + focal reducer, focused and SYNCed on the star Betelgeuse, locked the mirror.

2039 MST: Wi-Fi ON.

Used SkySafari 7 Pro on the iPhone to GOTO the JWST.

2042 MST: StarLock ON.

Took two StarLock autoguided images, 5 minutes, ISO 6400, White Balance 4550K, exposures separated by 30 minutes. Unfortunately, I was not able to image JWST.

2119 MST: Wi-Fi OFF, StarLock OFF.

Viewed M41 (open star cluster) and M79 (globular star cluster), 102X.

2130 MST: LX600 OFF.

2139 MST: took a Sky Quality reading.

Close: Wednesday, 5 January 2022, 2142 MST Temperature: 48°F

Session Length: 3h 27m Conditions: Clear, SQM 21.11

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