Open: Saturday, 28 January 2023, 1812 MST Temperature: 61°F

Session: 1826 Conditions: Clear

Equipment:
12" f/8 LX600 w/StarLock
2" 24mm UWA eyepiece
2" 30mm eyepiece
2" 5.5mm 100° eyepiece
Focal Reducer

Camera:
iPhone 13 Pro Max
D850 DSLR

1818 MST: LX600 ON, StarLock OFF, High Precision OFF.

Viewed Venus, Jupiters, and Mars, 102X.

Viewed the Moon, 102X and 81X.

Attached the LiDAR Cover on the iPhone 13 Pro Max and mounted the iPhone on the 30mm eyepiece using the Levenhuk adapter. Took this afocal 81X image of the Moon using NightCap Camera (ISO 34, 1/2800sec, 1X lens).

Did lunar observing, 443X. There were many nice views along the lunar terminator.

Mounted the iPhone with LiDAR Cover on the 5.5mm eyepiece using the Levenhuk adapter. Took these afocal 443X photos using NightCap Camera.

1858 MST: Viewed Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF), 12x50 binoculars. Dust tail easily seen with binoculars. The bright Moon interferred with seeing the comet naked eye.

1901 MST: Wi-Fi ON.

Used SkySafari 7 Pro on the iPhone to GOTO the comet. Viewed the comet, 81X. Nice view. Dust tail short.

Mounted the iPhone with LiDAR Cover on the 30mm eyepiece using the Levenhuk adapter.

1909 MST: StarLock ON.

Took this StarLock autoguided afocal 81X photo of Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) using NightCap Camera (Long Exposure, Light Boost, ISO 12500, 1sec, 15 seconds, 1X lens).

Viewed the comet, 102X.

Mounted the D850 DSLR at prime focus + focal reducer, focused on the star Kochab, locked the telescope mirror, and removed the focusing mask. Slewed back to the comet using SkySafari on the iPhone.

Took this StarLock autoguided exposure (20 seconds, ISO 12800), slightly cropped. The coma is overexposed to bring out the ion tail. The bright Moonlit sky interferred with imaging.

I then took five exposures at one minute intervals to show the comet's rapid motion.

1955 MST: StarLock OFF, Wi-Fi OFF.

Viewed the comet, 102X.

2005 MST: LX600 OFF.

Close: Saturday, 28 January 2023, 2014 MST Temperature: 45°F

Session Length: 2h 02m Conditions: Clear

As I was leaving the observatory I saw some large animals near the house. There were three Javelinas. I waited a few minutes to let them leave the pathway to the house.

---

Comments are welcome using Email. Twitter users can use the button below to tweet this report to their followers. Thanks.

Tweet

---

Previous report

Cassiopeia Observatory Home Page