Open: Tuesday, 18 April 2023, 1855 MST Temperature: 65°F

Session: 1854 Conditions: Mostly clear

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

Camera:
D850 DSLR

1857 MST: Sunset.

1900 MST: LX600 ON, StarLock OFF, High Precision OFF.

Viewed Venus, 102X.

Prepared the D850 DSLR for imaging.

1913 MST: High Precision ON.

Slewed to NGC2775 (galaxy), my first Herschel 400 imaging target for the night. The galaxy was not yet visible in the bright twilight sky.

1918 MST: Dome OFF.

1920-1945 MST: Relaxed on the observatory patio bench to watch the stars come out.

1947 MST: NGC2775 (galaxy) was visible, 102X.

Mounted the D850 DSLR at prime focus of the 12" telescope, focused on the star Regulus, locked the telescope mirror, and slewed to NGC2775.

2000 MST: StarLock ON.

For some reason, StarLock autoguiding was very erratic when imaging NGC2775, as it was on the previous session. I managed to get a short exposure of it using ISO 6400. For the other galaxies imaged this night, autoguiding was better and I use ISO 3200.

NGC2775 (galaxy)


NGC2811 (galaxy)


NGC2841 (galaxy) & satellite


NGC2859 (galaxy)


NGC2903 (galaxy)

2108 MST: Dome ON.

NGC2950 (galaxy)

2118 MST: StarLock OFF.

Viewed the following Herschel 400 galaxies, 102X: NGC2964, NGC2974, NGC2976, and NGC2985.

2132 MST: LX600 OFF.

2140 MST: Took a Sky Quality reading and reported the result to Globe at Night. Recently, the wind has put a lot of particulates in the atmosphere and so the sky is somewhat brighter than it should be.

Close: Tuesday, 18 April 2023, 2145 MST Temperature: 58°F

Session Length: 2h 50m Conditions: Clear, SQM 20.89

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