Open: Thursday, 19 January 2023, 1816 MST Temperature: 56°F

Session: 1820 Conditions: Mostly clear

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

Camera:
D850 DSLR

SYNCed the observatory clock to WWV.

1822 MST: LX600 ON, StarLock OFF, High Precision OFF.

Viewed Venus, Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars, 102X.

1830 MST: High Precision ON.

Slewed to NGC613 (galaxy). I planned to re-image this Herschel 400 Catalog object as clouds hindered my imaging of it on the previous night. It was not yet visible in the twilight sky. I then prepared the D850 DSLR for imaging.

1841 MST: NGC613 (galaxy) was now faintly visible in the twilight sky, 102X.

Mounted the D850 DSLR at prime focus, focused on the star Rigel, and locked the telescope primary mirror. Slewed to NGC613.

1853 MST: Zodiacal Light was visible in the western sky.

1854 MST: StarLock ON.

I did some framing test exposures while waiting for Astronomical Twilight to end (1910 MST). With the sky now fully dark except for some skyglow in the southern sky where the object was located, I took this StarLock autoguided, 5 minutes, ISO 3200, exposure of NGC613 (galaxy).

1917 MST: StarLock OFF.

Viewed NGC613, 102X. The view was much better now.

With some clouds appearing in the sky, I observed more objects in the Herschel 400 Catalog, 102X: NGC615 (galaxy), NGC651 (M76, Little Dumbbell Nebula, planetary nebula), NGC720 (galaxy), NGC772 (galaxy), NGC779 (galaxy), NGC869 (open cluster), NGC884 (open cluster), NGC891 (galaxy), NGC908 (galaxy), and NGC936 (galaxy).

I have now observed 83 of the objects in the Herschel 400 Catalog and photographed 73 of them. The photos are available in my Herschel 400 Catalog Astrophotography Album.

1952 MST: LX600 OFF.

Close: Thursday, 19 January 2023, 2003 MST Temperature: 41°F

Session Length: 1h 47m Conditions: Mostly clear

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