Open: Wednesday, 25 January 2023, 1816 MST Temperature: 54°F

Session: 1823 Conditions: Clear

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

Camera:
D850 DSLR

1823 MST: LX600 ON, StarLock OFF, High Precision OFF.

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

Viewed the Moon, 102X.

The Moon and Jupiter were close together, as seen in this handheld D850 DSLR photo (f/5.6, 1/200sec, FL 300mm).

I mounted the D850 DSLR at prime focus of the 12" telescope and took these photos of the Moon (1/250sec and 3 seconds, ISO 400).

1846 MST: High Precision ON.

I began observing several open star clusters in the Herschel 400 Catalog, 102X: NGC1027, NGC1245, NGC1342, NGC1444, NGC1502, NGC1513, NGC1528, NGC1545, NGC1647, NGC1664, NGC1817, NGC1857, and NGC1907.

Mounted the D850 DSLR at prime focused, focused on Shedir, and locked the mirror.

1928 MST: StarLock ON.

Took these StarLock autoguided images of some Herschel 400 open star clusters, 1 minute, ISO 1600.

NGC1027


NGC1245


NGC1444


NGC1502


NGC1513


NGC1528


NGC1545


NGC1664


NGC1817


NGC1857

2026 MST: StarLock OFF.

I have now observed 96 Herschel 400 Catalog objects and imaged 93 of them since beginning this project in October 2022.

2031 MST: Viewed Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF), 12x50 binoculars. The comet was low in the northern sky and not visible to the naked eye.

2037-2100 MST: With the temperature at 37°F I took a short break to warm up while waiting for the comet to rise higher in the northern sky.

2101 MST: Observatory Wi-Fi ON, High Precision OFF.

Used SkySafari 7 Pro on the iPhone to GOTO Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF). Viewed the comet, 102X. The coma and a short dust tail were nicely visible.

Mounted the D850 DSLR at prime focus + focal reducer, focused on a star, and locked the 12" mirror.

2118 MST: StarLock ON.

Imaged Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF), StarLock autoguided, using various exposures. This exposure was 30 seconds, ISO 6400. The short exposure was needed as the comet is moving quite fast and will be moving even faster as it gets closer to the Earth (closest approach on 1 February). The photo shows the comet's coma, dust tail, and the long ion tail (faintly visible to the right of the comet). The comet was still low in the northern sky at the time of the exposure.

2126 MST: StarLock OFF, Wi-Fi OFF.

Viewed the comet, 102X.

2131 MST: LX600 OFF.

Close: Wednesday, 25 January 2023, 2143 MST Temperature: 35°F

Session Length: 3h 27m Conditions: Clear

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