Open: Wednesday, 8 February 2023, 1814 MST Temperature: 50°F

Session: 1832 Conditions: Mostly clear

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

Camera:
D850 DSLR

1820 MST: Dome OFF.

1826 MST: LX600 ON, StarLock OFF, High Precision OFF.

As a test, I set the StarLock autoguiding rates to RA 20% Dec 21%. I then cleaned the 24mm eyepiece. SYNCed the AutoStar on the star Aldebaran.

Viewed Venus, Jupiter, and Mars, 102X.

Prepared the D850 DSLR for imaging Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF).

1845 MST: Wi-Fi ON.

Used SkySafari 7 Pro on the iPhone to GOTO the comet. Viewed the comet. 102X. Dust tail visible.

Mounted the D850 at prime focus + focal reducer, focused on Aldebaran, and locked the telescope mirror. Slewd back to the comet using the iPhone.

1906 MST: Wi-Fi OFF, StarLock ON.

Autoguiding in Right Ascension was not good, so I set the StarLock autoguiding rates back to RA 60% Dec 21%. RA autoguiding was good then.

Began imaging Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF), StarLock autoguided, 15 seconds, ISO 12800. The second image is a merge of 5 exposures taken at 1 minute intervals aligned on the comet.

1918 MST: StarLock OFF, High Precision ON.

1924 MST: Began viewing some Herschel 400 Catalog galaxies, 102X: NGC1022, NGC1023, NGC1052, NGC1055, NGC1084, and NGC1407. I then viewed some Herschel 400 nebulae, 102X: NGC1501 (planetary nebula), NGC1535 (planetary nebula), NGC1788 (nebula), NGC1931 (nebula), NGC1980 (nebula), and NGC1999 (nebula). Next, I viewed the H400 galaxy NGC1964, 102X.

2004 MST: Dome ON.

Viewed my last Herschel 400 object for the night, 102X: NGC1961 (galaxy).

I have now viewed 110 Herschel 400 Catalog objects since starting this project in October 2022.

2009 MST: LX600 OFF.

Close: Wednesday, 8 February 2023, 2020 MST Temperature: 44°F

Session Length: 2h 06m Conditions: Clear

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