Sunday, 11 December, 2022, I put the Dome Cover ON since there was rain and snow in the forecast. Clouds arrived mid-day Sunday. The rain (0.17") arrived before sunrise Monday, 12 December. About sunrise it turned to snow.

Precipitation totalled 0.46" on Monday. After some snow after midnight, the sky cleared Tuesday morning, 13 December, as seen in this photo of the observatory with the waning Moon at the upper left.

Click or tap on image for larger version

However, clouds returned mid-day. Total precipitation (from snow) on Tuesday was 0.25". The sky was clear Wednesday morning, 14 December, but became partly cloudy mid-day. The forecast for Wednesday night was for clear skies, so in the afternoon I removed the Dome Cover. The sky was clear as sunset approached.

Open: Wednesday, 14 December 2022, 1807 MST Temperature: 34°F

Session: 1813 Conditions: Clear

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

Camera:
D850 DSLR

Prepared the D850 DSLR for imaging.

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

1822 MST: Viewed the planet Mercury, 102X, very low in the southwestern sky. The nearby planet Venus had just set.

Viewed the planets Saturn and Jupiter, 102X.

1828 MST: High Precision ON.

Viewed NGC1333 (nebula), 102X. It was faintly visible. Then viewed the planet Mars, 102X.

Mounted the D850 DSLR at prime focus, focused on the star Aldebaran, and locked the telescope primary mirror. Slewed to NGC1333 (nebula).

1841 MST: StarLock ON.

Took this StarLock autoguided image of NGC1333 (nebula), 5 minutes, ISO 6400, slightly cropped.

1855 MST: StarLock OFF.

Viewed NGC1333 (nebula), 102X. Still just faintly visible.

1903 MST: Began observing more objects in the Herschel 400 Catalog, 102X: NGC40 (planetary nebula), NGC129 (open cluster), NGC136 (open cluster), NGC157 (galaxy), NGC185 (galaxy), and NGC205 (M110, galaxy).

By this point I was getting cold with the air temperature near freezing.

1935 MST: LX600 OFF.

Close: Wednesday, 14 December 2022, 1950 MST Temperature: 33°F

Session Length: 1h 43m Conditions: Clear

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